High Stakes Tent Anchors

Getting your tent shredded by wind or snow is an educational experience you only need to do once to appreciate how bad it is.  They don’t just kind of explode, but go in a chain reaction of snapping poles and ripping fabric which leaves you wrapped in a cocoon of nylon and sharp aluminum pole ends.  Fun!

Most good quality tents can take very high winds if they are secured properly, which can be problematic in soft snow.  A good trick is to use those worthless looking little stakes which often come with tents, but instead of driving them in like nails, bury them as mini deadman anchors and attach them to the tent with a length of accessory cord.

Ingredients:

6-10 eight-inch aluminum tent stakes
6-10 forty-eight inch lengths of 3mm accessory cord.

Tie the cord into loops with a Fisherman’s knot.

Girth hitch the accessory cord loops to the tent loops.  I usually leave them on the tent.

Girth hitch the other end of the accessory cord to the tent stake.

The finished anchor looks like this:

Set the tent up, pull the anchor taut, note where the stake is in the snow, dig a hole with your shovel at that point, then cut a slot for the accessory cord, place the stake down in the hole, bury it, then stomp the snow down around it.  After a few hours, the snow should set up and the anchors will become bomber.

As an added bonus, these anchors are fairly easy to dig out afterwards and the accessory cord can take direct hits from a shovel.  If it gets cut, just tie it back together. The aluminum stakes are also good if you happen to be on firm, dry ground where you can pound them in.

 Here’s a little video of a tent withstanding a 45-knot storm using this type of anchor. 

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Tags: tent, tent anchors, tent stakes, winter camping

Category: 14 Travel