How do I pitch a tent in strong wind?

A tent survives wind by presenting a small area, by shedding air over a smooth shape, and by transferring the load into the ground through guys and pegs. All three are things you control when you choose and set up the pitch, and none of them can be fixed at two in the morning.

Safety

What you'll need

• All the guy lines the tent came with
• Enough pegs, plus stronger ones for the main guys
• A mallet or a rock (optional)
• Spare cord (optional)

Step by step

1. Choose the pitch before anything else.Look for natural shelter — a wall, a bank, a hedge, a fold in the ground — but not directly under trees, where falling branches are the real danger. Avoid the top of a rise, and avoid a hollow where water collects.
2. Watch out for wind curling behind an obstruction.The lee side of a solid wall or a building is not always calm: wind rolls over the top and comes down behind it, sometimes from the opposite direction. A hedge or a permeable barrier gives better shelter than a solid one.
3. Work out the wind direction and check the forecast.Wind commonly backs or veers overnight, so a pitch that is perfect at eight in the evening can be broadside on by three in the morning. Orient for the forecast direction, not just the current one.
4. Point the lowest, narrowest end into the wind.A tunnel tent goes end-on. A dome presents its smallest face. The door should be in the lee, because a door facing the wind balloons the tent every time it is opened and puts the whole load on the fabric from inside.
5. Lay the tent out and peg the windward end first.Two pegs into the windward corners before anything else, so the tent cannot take off. Keep a knee, a foot or a hand on it at all times until it is anchored — an unpegged inner tent will genuinely leave and it will be gone.
6. Put heavy kit inside at the windward end while you work.Rucksacks in the corners hold the tent down while you fit poles and peg out the rest.
7. Fit poles by feeding, not flicking.In wind particularly, feed each section through by hand. Flicked poles land hard, crack, and a broken pole in a gale is a very bad evening.
8. Use every guy point.Not just the obvious ones. The guys people leave unpegged in fine weather are exactly the ones that would have held the tent, and manufacturers do not fit them for decoration.
9. Set the guy lines at about 45 degrees.That angle splits the load between holding the fabric out sideways and holding it down. Pegged too close to the tent, the line pulls almost straight down and does nothing against the wind; pegged too far out, it pulls sideways and levers the peg out of the ground.
10. Drive pegs at 45 degrees leaning away from the tent.So the pull acts across the peg and into a wedge of soil rather than straight along it. A vertical peg, or one leaning towards the tent, levers out. Push them fully in — a peg standing proud has far less holding power and is a trip hazard.
11. Match the peg to the ground.Thin wire pegs are useless in anything soft. Wide plastic or V-section pegs hold in sand and soft turf; long pegs or rock pegs suit stony ground. On very soft ground, bury a stuff sack full of sand or stones as a deadman anchor with the guy tied to it.
12. Tension evenly and re-check before bed.The flysheet should be taut with no flapping panels — flapping fabric destroys itself and keeps everyone awake. Walk round and re-tension after the tent has settled.
13. Slacken slightly if heavy rain is coming.Wet fabric and wet cord shrink. A tent tensioned bone-tight in dry conditions can tear a pegging point out overnight in rain.
14. Know when not to camp at all.If the forecast is for gale force winds, a lightweight tent in an exposed place is not a shelter and there is no technique that changes that. Move to a sheltered site, use a building, or go home.

Tips

• Mark guy lines with reflective cord or tape. In the dark they take feet out and worse.
• Carry a few spare pegs and a few metres of cord. Both fail at the worst moment.
• Practise pitching the tent once in the garden before relying on it in weather. Working out the pole order in a gale is not the time.

Common mistakes

• Pitching broadside on to the wind — It presents the largest possible area to the wind and loads the poles in the direction they are weakest. Almost every collapsed tent on a windy campsite is one that was pitched side-on.
• Leaving guy lines unpegged because it looks calm — Wind gets up overnight and nobody wants to peg out guys at three in the morning in the rain. Guys take three minutes when you pitch and are the difference between a tent standing and a tent flattened.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask