A few days ago we had a wind storm. Sustained winds were 35-40 mph and there were gusts to 60 mph. Besides hanging closer to the ground, I was wondering what else should be done when hammock camping in these conditions. What have you done; what do you do in these conditions?
I've been taught to keep the tarp taut.
The game is the best teacher.
A 4-season tarp with doors is my solution. It works. The only time I have ever been worried was last Thanksgiving in the Pine Barrens. The forecast called for 2 inches of rain and 30 to 40 mph winds, but that's not what we got. We got 5 inches of rain and 50 to 60 mph gusts! I've never seen anything like it - at least 10 or 15 people ended up going home or sleeping in their cars. Some even slept in an army surplus tent, on the ground!
People I've hung with for years ended up bailing out. The wind gusts were ripping stakes out of the ground and within 15 seconds, their hammocks and quilts were soaked. It was the worst storm I've ever hung in. Luckily, my tarp didn't fly away, and my quilts were only mildly wet. Overnight low of 31* F, but I was toasty warm.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
I'll hike through the night to find a natural wind break.
What type of stakes were you using SS?
Treed ridgelines hangs are my usual haunts.
I set up away from the edges & wind funneling saddles...still get buffeted wildly on occasion but don't catch the full brunt of those roaring freight train winds.
Expect plenty of wind changes during the hours of darkness.
Low dense bush provides a buffer & can also deflect the winds up & over your tarp.
I tie off to natural vegetation if I can, saves me getting up to fix a pulled stake.
If the trees are stunted, twisted, broken limbed, with a uneven canopy, short on one side & long on the other( like a aerodynamic cyclist's helmet)...expect a wild night, bouncing around as the tree's you hang from flex to & fro.
Every campsite is different, choose your site wisely with a worst case scenario in mind.
Last edited by ofuros; 03-01-2019 at 12:16.
Mountain views are good for the soul....& getting to them is good for my waistline.
https://ofuros.exposure.co/
Where conditions are favourable to be dry, l have put tarp back into tarp skins, this prevents the tarp whipping or cracking so as to try at least to sleep, a TC can prevent wind blowing through, however creates more of a sail for hammock to toss about, hammock tie outs can help here!
Similar to what others have said:
1: a sheltered spot when possible. If I'm on a ridge that runs north-south, with the wind blowing from the west, I may drop off of that ridge heading east, and go down maybe one third to one half towards the bottom, or whatever distance the wind seems maximally blocked. Or if in the right kind of country, I maybe can find a big boulder/Cliff to put it between me and the wind. Thick enough vegetation my also help some to block the wind. All of that can be very helpful, but of course the wind might shift during the night and come at you from a different direction.
2: whenever possible, attache to vegetation rather than using stakes.
3: under quilt protectors can be of great help if that wind does shift on you, and/or if you don't have a really big tarp. They have saved me from excessive windchill during times when I could neither find a Sheltered spot(camping with buddies on the Lake shore, lucky to find enough trees to hang from) nor did I have anything but a small asym tarp.
4: it seems to me that it might be easier to set up a tarp in high winds when that tarp is inside snake skins.
Plain old aluminum stakes - nothing special.Originally Posted by ylnfrt
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Snakeskins on the tarp make it easier to manage in high winds. And yes, tarp doors are the best for high winds.
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