The Cuben Wedge is a simple tarp shelter design borrowed from the groundbreaking ultralight backpacker Glen Van Peski of Gossamer Gear. I have spent countless hours reading Glen Van Peski's gear lists and trip reports and I have purchased lots of gear from Gossamer Gear. I noticed he was using a very lightweight shelter called the Cuben Wedge, so I decided to make one for myself.
This tarp shelter is made using 0.51 oz/sqyd cuben fiber from Zpacks.com. Due to the simple design there is no need for a ridge line, which saves weight and simplifies the entire process. The tie outs with heavier 1.43 oz/sqyd cuben fiber material. The guy lines are lightweight Z-line also from Zpacks.
The first time I used this shelter was on a trip in the Anza Borrego Desert in winter. While camping on a large flat plateau we had heavy winds all night with gusts up to 50 mph starting at 3:00 am. Although all of the other shelters were blown down and damaged during the night, the Cuben Wedge made it through (I did have to lower the pitch into storm mode during the night).
The final weight: 3.5 ozs including guylines.
Here are a few pictures:
This tarp shelter is made using 0.51 oz/sqyd cuben fiber from Zpacks.com. Due to the simple design there is no need for a ridge line, which saves weight and simplifies the entire process. The tie outs with heavier 1.43 oz/sqyd cuben fiber material. The guy lines are lightweight Z-line also from Zpacks.
The first time I used this shelter was on a trip in the Anza Borrego Desert in winter. While camping on a large flat plateau we had heavy winds all night with gusts up to 50 mph starting at 3:00 am. Although all of the other shelters were blown down and damaged during the night, the Cuben Wedge made it through (I did have to lower the pitch into storm mode during the night).
The final weight: 3.5 ozs including guylines.
Here are a few pictures:
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| The tarp is 9 feet long before the side tapers, which allow for even more space to store gear. |
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| Hanging out before the winds started howling that night. |
Cool! Did you use just one sheet of DCF and just trip the ends into triangles, or did you have to combine sheets?
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