About 3 years ago I found the tent of a lifetime the Sierra Lightning. Since then it has seen me through some of the worst and best weather the pacific northwest has to offer or at least that is what I thought until last weekend. Four friends and I decided to climb Mt Adams on a fall weekend. We left on Friday morning and climbed to the 8,500 foot level where we decided to set up base camp. Now those of you familiar with Mt Adams know the south climb is a day climb but we wanted to spend a few nights on the mountain. The weather forecast was for a slight chance of precip on Saturday but mostly good clear late summer weather. We arrived at our campsite and found running water in the adjacent glacier. We watched an unbelievable sunset and then we settled in for dinner. Not shortly after dinner did the wind start to come up gusts in the mid to upper 20mph zone not that much to worry about but we all took the time to check that we had staked and guyed out our tents. With the wind blowing constant bedtime came early, as my dog and I cuddled up in my Sierra lightning I noticed the wind was increasing and by about 10:00pm the steady wind was about 40mph. So far so good we were holding our own and the tent was shaking it off with out a problem. Around 2:00am the first 60mph gust hit and boy did it flatten the tent. I felt the poles come down and press against me as soon as the gust let up the tent sprang back into shape. I pulled on my headlight and started inspecting the inside of the tent when the next major blast hit us. I watched in amazement as the tent flexed under the onslaught of 60+mph winds. As I lay awake listening and watching fearing I would have to bale out I noticed a bright flash in my peripheral vision. Oh no the last thing I needed in all this was a thunder and lightning storm. A few more flashes and I realized that the lightning was being made by my lightning. The wind and dryness at altitude had caused static to build between the rain fly and the poles. I lay awake watching as the tent flattened out under the onslaught of wind and the display of static lightning. The next morning I crawled out of my Sierra Lightning to find it had survived the night with no damage unfortunately the same could not be said for some other tents that had ripped rain flys and broken or bent poles.

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Mt. Adams