Bushwalk Australia

Anyone have any advice on how I should pitch my mid on rock?

Looking to set up a base camp for a week or so on a big flat granite rock, there's no spots for pegs at all. How secure would guylines and rocks be?

I don't have a free standing tent nor do I want to purchase one.

Cheers

I can't think of another way besides rocks. That's what I've done when I've pitched my homemade duomid on a granite slab. The rocks need to be big or stacked in order to limit sliding under tension. They still sometimes slide over time.

Big solid stuff sacks may help if all you can find are small rocks
The UL sacks sold for snow will not last long on granite
I've never tired setting up a single pole tipi on rock so I can't offer any additional advice

Better find big rocks and some rubber sleeves to protect those guylines.

Thanks guys,

I guess rocks is the way, I was just hoping someone would have a miracle solution.

Would there be any cracks in the granite??

beean wrote:I guess rocks is the way, I was just hoping someone would have a miracle solution.

You are not hoping for Araldite, are you?

Actually Superglue Gel or 5 minute epoxy and some small eye-nuts would work

http://www.bunnings.com.au/romak-35-x-3 ... t_p3961215

I remember a rock climb in central Australia where we needed to superglue some protection and aid on a totally blank wall. it's probably still there as we were possibly the only people to ever climb there

One possible solution is to have an above ground dead-man anchor to use to pile rocks over it.
Something like this :

Tortoise wrote:Would there be any cracks in the granite??

Yup, plenty of cracks however my rock gear will with me on my rack.

GPSGuided wrote:

beean wrote:I guess rocks is the way, I was just hoping someone would have a miracle solution.

You are not hoping for Araldite, are you?

That's the ticket. Unfortunately I want to take my tent home with me afterwards.

Moondog55 wrote:Actually Superglue Gel or 5 minute epoxy and some small eye-nuts would work

http://www.bunnings.com.au/romak-35-x-3 ... t_p3961215

I remember a rock climb in central Australia where we needed to superglue some protection and aid on a totally blank wall. it's probably still there as we were possibly the only people to ever climb there

Where was this Moondog?

Franco wrote:One possible solution is to have an above ground dead-man anchor to use to pile rocks over it.
Something like this :

That looks like the go Franco, thanks.

I've used Franco's suggestion of a peg as a deadman. But a few wraps of guyline around a small rock works just as well. Guylines do get damaged this way over time of course, but string is cheap.

In our local mountains the ground often doesn't accept pegs very well and large rocks are easy to find. So I just leave the pegs at home and use rocks as anchors 100% of the time. I have these nice shiny Ti pegs that I've never used.

Yeah I've used the guyline around a rock method before but came back to find it had worn through after a few hours.

The spot is Applebee dome in the Bugaboos, which is pretty windy. Usually I just get the partner to take the their tent however this time I've got that job.

Rocks are plentiful up there however. I might see if I can rig up some protectors with some heatshrink I've got lying around..

Our mate Bill Delano posted this precis

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum ... ry-1974-75
I won't say where the wall is exactly but it parallels the Alice to Uluru road

How about some of those climbing nuts? If there are cracks and fissures, these will do a fine job.

Moondog55 wrote:Our mate Bill Delano posted this precis

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum ... ry-1974-75
I won't say where the wall is exactly but it parallels the Alice to Uluru road

Rad story, thanks for the link. You ever have a crack at Mt Connor?

GPSGuided wrote:How about some of those climbing nuts? If there are cracks and fissures, these will do a fine job.

I've got a bunch but I'll need them for climbing.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

No Not Mt Connor

How about some tough garbags or fabric shopping bags filled with rocks???
John

beean wrote:I've got a bunch but I'll need them for climbing.

Only need 4-6 to set up the tent.

If you can find a crack a 4 inch nail will hold a tent, I get the impression cracks are either ultra fine or non existent
Start sewing those HD stuff sacks or find some sandbags to fill

Beean,
what mid do you have ?

Franco wrote:Beean,
what mid do you have ?

It's a Bear Paw Pyratent.

Thanks for that.
Something else that came to mind , and again it may or may not be obvious, is the use trekking pole sections as "dead man" holds above ground.
Of course this only works if you have a spare pole or two and if those sticks that everyone seem to find just around the campsite are not in fact there...
Something like this :


Back to the "guyline around rocks" bit, it works best if the guyline goes to the tent from under the rock and it is at a better angle.
I only have had one or two guylines set up like that (at a time)
I protected the line with a chux in the right spot. ( I always have spare Chux, it's like Windex * to me)
*From My Big Fat Greek Wedding

BTW, when I posted the trekking pole sections/dead man bit last time nobody liked that but I don't mind.

That's a good one Franco.

Having three poles to break down should provide enough sections for solid guying, although I don't like leaving the grip ends on the ground here as pack rats and squirrels tend to eat the grips for the salt.

There's plenty of big, flat rocks there which I could use to keep the line flat up until the tent.

I'm going on a trip early next week so I'll try and see which of the suggested methods work. Except araldite, it's too heavy

araldyte is available in 5gram kits