using trekking poles for tarp tent support

I can make a short story long, so bear with me because it may useful to others.

I was planning on trekking in Langtang National park in Nepal, a trek that climbs up a narrow valley from 1500 m to 4000 meters. About a 3 day trek, depending on your fitness, 4 days for me.

I wanted to go beyond the nominal end of the trek to the head of the valley and camp over night so that I could get both morning and evening light.

While my Sierra Designs tengbu tent is good, it is a bit heavy for backpacking at 6-7 lbs., so I bought a go-light shangri la 1 tent for the one evening I needed shelter.

I set it up in my yard, but didn't get it pitched properly, although I have found postings on the web which show the tent pitched quite tautly. It has no floor, and I wound up with it staked out on too large a footprint. I did have trouble getting my trekking poles to stay in the pole pockets. Go-lite told me where to stake the tent, but it was windy when I tried to pitch it. I couldn't get the tent pitched, largely because I couldn't keep the trekking poles in the socket. I didn't have time to solve the problem, and wound up using my sierra designs tent with a fast pitch ground cloth which allows me to use just the fly.

That actually worked out reasonably well. I quickly found that, as per usual, I was grossly over-estimating my fitness and under-estimating the difficulty of the trek. I had to use a porter; I've seen porters used by catered tours carrying four or five duffel bags and the mess tent. My load was small potatoes for him. The tent provided roomy and sufficient shelter overnight for both of us while we had some snow.

The roominess was an issue. The employer needs to make sure that his porter / guide has sufficient equipment for colder temperatures. nepal is very poor country and guides don't have the sophisticated equipment their clients do. The shangi la tent would have been inadequate, although there were several empty huts used by yak herders. We actually pitched the tent inside a small walled corral and cooked inside the (smoky) hut.

Any way, I was pitching my tent with the handles of the trekking poles upwards. The pouch actually looks like it is supposed to fit, but doesn't want to stay centered. Putting the tips of the poles upward would likely solve the problem, but I am afraid of putting a hole in the tent, although the pouch is reenforced.

Since I find that I often get only one answer when I ask more than one question and this has rambled a bit, my questions are:
1. Are poles on tarp tents or this tent in particular, generally used with the handle up or down.
2. Can I do something like putting a rubber cork or perhaps a pvc cap over the tip?

I don't know about GoLite tents, but the Henry Shires Tarptents and a number of other brands are made with a grommet at the top of the tent for the point on the trekking pole to fit into, so the poles go point up, handle down. You do have to be a bit careful that the pole point doesn't slip out of the grommet, which can lead to a nice hole punctured at the peak of the tent (been there, done that).

My ZPacks Hexamid Twin is made to accommodate the poles with handle up. This is the first tent I've seen do that, but there are a lot of different tents out there with which I'm not familiar.

Your tent should have come with instructions for pitching, or at least a link as to where to find the instructions online. It's a good idea to practice putting the shelter up and down several times before heading out on a trip with it.

I looked around on the net a little and saw pictures that seemed to have the poles upside down. While I still would not want to pitch the tent directly on the pole tip, the pocket is reinforced and I can use a rubber trekking pole tip or save a few bucks and use a cane tip purchased at Wal-Mart.

The instructions are very generic and don't say much more than to set the tent on the poles and stake it out. I e-mailed the mfg. and received instructions describing the exact measurements on placing the stakes, which is critical when the tent doesn't have a floor. He also told how one could mark the measurements on the trekking poles. I've also figured out that I can stake down the straps to minimize problems about the rounded pole ends slipping on the ground.

I agree that it is a good idea to practice pitching the tent. I always do with a new tent, and didn't take it with me because I couldn't even pitch it in my yard, let alone at13000 feet in the Himalayas, 10 mi. from Tibet.

Will try again with some expectation of success this time.

I have a Shangri La 3 that I purchased for winter use, in snow. It is a different shape than the 1, and quite useful in wind and snow. It also came with an aluminum pole (adjustable) and in total weighs 2.5 lbs. It has a reinforced cup at the peak in which to nest the pole.

In your situation I would put the tip up. The base of the handle of the pole would make (and does make, with my shelters that require trekking poles) a better support.

All shelters that are non-freestanding take practice to use, and before you do anything in snow or in conditions where the shelter will be severely tested, I highly recommend doing a short trip in less severe conditions closer to home.