Holiday GIft Guide 2010: Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 Tent
An ultralight, two-person tent that's livable.
If your favorite hiker is looking to lighten up, get him or her this two-pound, two-ounce wonder, which won our 2010 Editors’ Choice Award. It stomps on bivy-sack turf when it comes to weight and bulk, yet what’s remarkable is its livability-per-ounce. With 28 square feet of floor space and a 38-inch peak height, it’s merely compact, not coffin tight.
Testers (under six feet) could change clothes, play Yahtzee, and sleep without overlapping pads. “And when packed, it’s so tiny and light I kept thinking I forgot the tent,” says one tester. In the Alps and in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, the Fly Creek proved totally weatherproof, repelling hard rain and wind. And the double-wall construction, with mesh ceiling panels, kept even a hint of condensation from accumulating. $350; 2lbs. 2oz.; bigagnes.com