SD Lightning XT 4 wins Backpacker Editors' Choice Award

Backpacker
April 1, 2009
Featuring: Sierra Designs Lightning XT 4

Through the summer and fall, this shelter won plenty of fans on test trips from Colorado to Vermont. But then came the clinching moment in Wales, in a rain- and hail-blasted camp high on the Glyders-a sharply rising 3,000-foot range in Snowdonia National Park-with 40-mph gusts that knocked testers off their feet, seven staffers sat comfortably in the Lightning, playing cards and toasting the creation of an all-new tent category: ultralight and ultra-large.