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In September 2016, I hunted caribou again, north of the Arctic Circle. We took a 4-season double-wall dome tent (Cabelas XPG-4) for sleeping and a single-wall teepee (Sierra Designs Origami-3) to use as a cook shack. For three days the wind blew at 28 mph (I took an anemometer) with gusts sometimes as high as 41 mph. Both tents made it through the wind storm. The dome tent required no maintenance but the teepee required constant maintenance. The dome tent worked fine and wasn’t affected much by the winds. The teepee really took a beating and I had to retire it after the hunt because there was so much damage that it wasn’t worth repairing. The storm lasted only three days. If it had lasted any longer, I think the teepee might have met its' match.

The dome tent wasn't much affected by the wind and it was pretty quiet for sleeping. The teepee was really noisy in the wind. I don't know if I could have slept with all that noise.

We camped on a gravel bar and since the teepee had no floor, there was a constant inflow of fine sand blown into the tent. We sealed the tepee down to the ground as good as we could. But the sand got into everything. What a mess. I wonder how much sand I ingested in my food? My Sierra Designs Origami-3 is the old style without the skirts. I think maybe the new style with skirts would have kept out the sand. But because of the tall profile, it would have still taken a beating in the wind.

KC

We have a 6 man Kifaru tipi thats been to AK. Its survived winds worse than yours. I'm thinking design issues or setup issues. Ours has never been noisy either. From CO to AK.

We were in a floored tent this fall in AK, and we had sand all over it, even with the doors zipped shut, every time you opened the door, it would blow in or you would track it in.

YMMV.

BTW those winds you mention are mild winds for the AK region from what we've seen over years of trekking to Alaska every fall. FWIW.

Our floored tent was a cabelas outfitter of some type IIRC.

Was there no other option than to erect the tent on an open river bar? No brush or bank with low vegetation?

We really looked for an alternative tent platform. Everything within 1/2 mile of the lading site was real steep or marsh. Too bad because a nice grassy tent platform would have improved the situation.

KC

Rost:

Yep. I've seen worse winds myself. If the winds had been higher, the teepee would not have survived.

I wonder if those winds were actually as high as you think? Did you have an anemometer or Windicator? I took an anemometer to accurately measure the winds, in anticipation of long shots. I think it might be common for people to overestimate wind velocity.

This is the anemometer that I took on the trip.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...mp;psc=1&refRID=EQ354FTQZ57D8WVJ84AX

KC

I've used the cabelas xpg tents for a decade or so I'd say. I use the 6,4, and 2 man tents everywhere but Kodiak. I've had them to Kodiak twice and had one bust to severe winds. Now only my cabelas XWT tent goes to Kodiak. But those dome xpg tents are a great tent!

I'm suspecting its the brand vs brand quality very possible. There is nothing to push against really in tipi shape IMHO, it always just goes around. But if you are gettting wind under it, then you have to make sure it gets out of it again too. Either open or totally sealed.

I'm a long range guy from the 80s.. I've had Kestrels since I can remember... there is never a time when one isn't in my packs... just in case I feel the need to take a longer poke...

I don't recall for sure which trip, but I know I've seen over 60 on ours a couple of times.

This trip our flight out was delayed to what we heard were gusts in the triple digits at ANC that morning....

That was a breezy stretch.

I know it got breezy enough at the house to tip over a Knaack box.

A proper pitched tipi is hard to beat in the wind.
A number of years ago I had a Kifaru 8 man pitched that weathered a 108 mph gust with sustained winds of 85. Scary as hell to be in. Measured with both a Kestral and a Brunton wind meter.
I was prototyping the Arctic stove and had the tipi pitched in front of the cabin. I ran out, took a couple wind readings and went right back in.
As Rost say, you need to have them tight to the ground and staked very well.

We've always had a more stable tent in a tipi than a regular tent.

This falls hunt was in a cabelas of some type. It was LOUD when the wind was around 35 or so....

But the wife still likes a floor. So we don't use the tipi that much except if we do lightweight hiking stuff. And then if its only the 2 of us we use a paratipi more often...

I live and hunt in OK and use a 6-man Seek Outside Tipi and the winds you encountered are not unusual here. My hunting buddy and I also used the tipi on a 5-day hunt elk hunt in CO at 12,000 ft. In a brief, but heavy wind one evening it made it through the storm without a problem. As Ed T indicates, a properly pitched tipi is hard to beat in windy conditions.

Gravel bars/river bottoms don't particularly lend themselves to good staking options either. We frequently end up tying the tipi out to rocks, or at the minimum stakes with rocks on top. Guy lines are almost always to rocks.

A tipi/mid is much more dependent on good tie-out/staking than a free standing tent (until the free standing tent tries to take off or crush).

That said, my SL5 and Hex3 have always done very well in the wind.

Never had a desire to stay in a tent in 80 plus MPH winds ...but I've used an anemometer pretty frequently and have measured 60 and seen reports of mid 80's at various nearby wind stations when I've been in a large 12 Person tipi. They have done fine. I have a friend that had a large pine fall 5 feet from a large 12 Person tipi in a big wind event. I didn't measure it , but suspect 60's. Good staking is critical.

The key is to keep the sand from blowing into your vagina. Did I just say that?

Me neither, but I've never had a desire to be out of the tent in that kind of wind either.

I'm going to suspect staking was not great.

We have all kinds of stakes... its a PITA, but we have some that have to be 18 inches long... just in case.

And then there are the rocks/logs things...

sometimes its just not the fault of the tent, or the owner, as there could be no option as to what the land offers. You just have to make do.

One thing to know in AK, if you ain't setting your stuff up in anticipation of 60mph winds, the territory might not be kind to you...

Having read enough posts by the OP on the subject of tents, I'd say his conclusion was foregone before he left for the trip...

You're just defending the immoral profiteers who make tipis.

Yeah, I was thinkin' the same thing.