High Peak’s Jasperlite offers lightweight performance, but with the security of a dome-style tent.
By Todd Horne
High Peak offers an array of alpine/style tents and sleeping bags that have high-end features, but at an affordable price. One of the latest alpine tents to come into the product line, is the Jasperlite. Part of the company’s Alpinizmo line, the Jasperlite is a two person, dome-style tent. It’s free standing and weighs 3-lbs, 10-oz in packed weight.
The tent is incredibly simple and easy to put up. It only took us a matter of minutes to unfold it from it’s carrying sack, assembling two 6.9mm diameter aluminum poles and attaching the tent. The main body of the tent is made from a nNo-see-um netting side panels and features a durable seam-sealed ripstop nylon tub floor. The separate rain fly provides the weatherproof protection, and is made with silicon impregnated Ripstop nylon. We liked the two vents at the top of the rain-fly that provide extra ventilation, and keeps condensation from building up inside.
With the rain fly on, the Jasperlite features two entry points on each side and incorporates a built-in vestibule that is large enough to protect your gear. We liked the lightweight, anodized aluminum stakes the tent came with. Other lightweight stakes are too flimsy and sometimes bend if you push them into hard soil. These are thick enough to withstand a beating from a rock to set them in place.
With the mesh sides and lightweight design, one might think the Jasperlite isn’t for cold temperatures, but with the rain fly on, we managed to stay warm in near freezing temperatures at night, using our High Peak Mt. Ranier sleeping bag.
While the Jasperlite is a dome tent, it’s only 38-inches tall at the center, it’s still enough room for a tall backpacker to sit up comfortably. But there’s no gear loft or any kind of storage pockets. Then again, you give up some of those amenities for lightweight. We were able to easily pack the tent back into the stuff-sack on the first try, and like that the stuff sack is only 17.3-inches long and about four inches in diameter with the tent inside. So it will easily stuff into your backpack or can be strapped out on the side.
For those of us who want to go lighter into the back country, but want to avoid the inconveniences of some super-ultralight tents, the Jasperlite is a great compromise. It’s light enough to reduce your overall weight, but it doesn’t feel like you’re sleeping under a lightweight rain-fly that might rip apart under a 20 mph gust of wind. The Jasperlite makes you feel secure under a traditional dome tent and with the stakes and guy-lines properly attached, it’s a sturdy piece of gear that you can depend on.
Specifications:
- Size: (23″ + 52″ + 23″) x 84″ x 38″
- Trail Weight: 3 lbs. 8 oz.
- Pack Weight: 3 lbs. 10 oz.
- Fly – 20D 400T Silicon PU 1500mm
- Bottom – Taped Seamed Nylon Ripstop
- Sides – No-See-Um Nylon Mesh
- Poles – 6.9mm Aluminum
- Stakes – Aluminum
For more information, visit www.highpeakusa.com
