Pitching tents on rocks

[mountnman]

Does anybody have any ideas to secure tents to rocks considering you cannot drive tent pegs into rock? The last thing i want is my tent rolling away with all my equipment in it in a bit of wind!!!

[dancier]

This only works if you have reasonably sized rocks and sticks nearby. For each loop of the tent thread a stick through it and put a rock on each end of the stick.

[Son of a Beach]

In some cases taking extra cord and tying directly to large rocks works ok. Although on a really windy night I've heard the large rocks scraping along as the wind blows the tent. A bit scary when you know it's dragging in the direction of the cliff a short distance away.

[ollster]

This may seem obvious, but don't put them inside the tent with you. (no this was not my idea, I've just seen it done, and it ruins the floor of the tent).

[mountnman]

Thanks for the responses. I thought it was something to do with putting rocks on the loops, but it makes much more sense to put a stick through it and place the rocks on top of the stick.

[samh]

After a couple of bad experiences camping on rock I try to avoid it where possible. However that does not always work. What i lernt from past experience;
- Even large rocks can move once it gets a bit windy, ripped one of my cords once which was tied around the rock
- Plenty of extra cord is always very handy.
- You can also get rock pegs which are a bit like a long nail, I have never tried those myself but would like to in the future.
- If you have a tunnel tent dont forget to tie down the ends of the poles (hope you get what I mean) or just get another tent, tunnel tent are a pain when you try to pitch them on rock

[ILUVSWTAS]

This may seem obvious, but don't put them inside the tent with you. (no this was not my idea, I've just seen it done, and it ruins the floor of the tent).

Hey we climbed Spinal Tap months ago!

[ollster]

Hey we climbed Spinal Tap months ago!

Yeah, well, I was outta ideas... and we were in the area.

Back on topic... make sure you use a groundsheet too. If the wind picks up it can cause your tent to grind against the rock and can cause damage.

[wildwanderer]

Returning to this topic.

I'm planning on camping on rocks soon.

Any further suggestions/experience on the stick method? I'm assuming tent pegs layed flat with rocks resting on them would work as well or better than sticks?

Any other methods?

[Moondog55]

Bags like stuff sacks filled with stones or dirt or maybe a few pitons in cracks. Pitons are very secure [ usually anyway] and a wild idea some supaglue on the end of cord and stuck to bedrock

[crollsurf]

+1 for tying out around a rock. No sticks required but the rock can still move so adding more rocks if needed

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[vagrom]

There are probably very exposed places well known in each state. Tassie's known for inclement conditions and Mt Anne's Shelf Camp takes the cake I think. SW Tassie's highest peak.
If you camp low you risk a creek running through and camping high means rock. There are lots of rocks sitting about because of this. But i've never heard of wrecked tents - just scary nights. Our Salewa broke a roof pole.

So if you ever do the Anne Circuit you might be (un)lucky enough to recount a story. It's spectacularly exposed to northerlys, not westerleys, but a quiet evening can turn into a nightmare. And I can't think that platforms would make much difference in this place.

Next day you pass a memorial plaque at The Notch, but only if the weather improves. In March 2000 we had to backtrack to Condominium, one tent of three still dry.

[Orion]

I have cord attached to the stake points of my tents and use that to loop around rocks. It's useful for staking as well. In my home range rocks are so ubiquitous that I frequently go for entire trips with a non-freestanding tent without using any stakes at all. I often just leave them at home since they are usually dead weight.

The main thing is that you need a certain critical mass of stone, particularly if you're camping on rock itself, which can be slippery. If the rocks aren't readily available where you plan to go you'd be better off with a freestanding tent.

[Moondog55]

Titanium skewers are reputed to OK with hammering into thin cracks. If you know you will need to camp on rocks perhaps it may be worthwhile to make up some short titanium skewers or make up something like the old Chouinard RURPs using 2mm titanium plate and carry a small hammer

[rcaffin]

Rocks over solid sticks, as already mentioned. I think I added some more later.

This was in Windy Creek in KNP. It was 3/4 of the way down from the top and the ONLY viable campsite we saw in the creek or on the banks. Very flat and very horizontal: what more could you want? Some daylight when we got here would have been nice ... You may notice the absence of side guys: given how deep we were in the valley (gully? slot?) I didn't bother. We had a good night.

WindyCreekTent4.jpg (65.85 KiB) Viewed 16859 times

The valley was very slow going: ALL big boulders.

Cheers
Roger

[Osik]

All good advice here, extra lightweight guyline almost always finds its way into my pack...you never know when a rock may provide the only possible pitching site

[Gadgetgeek]

Just as a thought, some chunks of seatbelt webbing, maybe a foot long or so, with a hole melted in one end to attach to your guy-loop. Stack the rocks on that?

[eggs]

That last one reminds me of trying to pitch in a similar spot.
We didn't go with a rock option.
Tried to cut into some of the button grass and ended up with people getting into the tent to flatten it enough to get some purchase into the ground.
It was an uncomfortable spot.