Bushwalk Australia

Mountain hardwear Direkt 2

This was my single number 1 most anticipated gear for 2012, so apologies for the lengthy review. There is a lack of solid reviews online about this one so I wanted to write abit about it, and will add more info as I get more experience with it. All the current reviews I could find were just single paragraph reviews which werent very informative.

Desgined in conjunction with speed alpinist Ueli Steck, Mountain hardwear set about to trim their previous alpine assault tent, the EV2 designed by Ed Veisturs and came up with the Direkt 2, as part of the himalayan project in 2011.
https://vimeo.com/42405898

Other assault tents I have had experience with in the past include:
- Black diamond lighthouse (epic)
- Hilleberg jannu
- Black diamond firstlight (nanosheild)
- Brooks Range Rocket
- Brooks Range Propel
- Bibler i-Tent
- Rab Summit bivi

Firstly specs:
On paper alone, this is truly a remarkable tent - A true mountaineering tent weighing 1.09kg for the tent and poles. Stakes? use your climbing pro, nuts, pitons, etc etc

http://www.mountainhardwear.com/Direkt%E2%84%A2-2/OU9613,default,pd.html

I currently have 5 hilleberg tents, and why need another tent? For mountaineering, you generally need a nice solid tent to set up basecamp for several weeks at at time. You wait for a good weather window, and you shoot for the top. On shorter summits, a bivi is enough for backup but longer summits are more comfy in a tent. Required is a belaying partner, hence ruling out 1 man tents like the soulo (thanks Stu! it's still comming with me on remote solo trips). Hilleberg’s answer to the alpine assault tent is the Jannu but at nearly 3kg, it is 300% heavier than a direct 2 and makes climbing quite awkward. As I found out, even the Jannu is not indestructable.

Comparisons to other assault tents:
Note that all these tents below are proper 4 season tents, among the strongest in the world for their weight.

My Lighthouse was just crap.
It can rain and sometimes does actually rain unexpectedly in the mountains. The epic material was simply relying too much on chance that it wasn’t going to be pouring. In good weather, its breathability is the best in its class with nil condensation.

Bibler i-Tent, the gold standard.
one of the strongest tents in the world for 2kg. Used this over 10 years and was still going strong, but with tents half its weight entering the market in direct competition to it’s class, I wanted to try something new. Its a safe bet to get this tent, but Condensation was bad.

Rab Bivi: this thing was awesome and I got this based on its similarities to the iTent but being breathable with its eVent fabric. It breathed very well and was totally waterproof. Even had a donut hole for me to tie in to my harness on dodgy campsites. However, it was just far too low and not comfy even though i could just barely sit up. 2 people wont be able to sit up simultaneously . This would have been the most aerodynamic due to its low height.

Brooks Range Rocket and propel:
well the cuben died in the rocket. With the Propel, very neat design except set up was way too fiddly. It was perfect in wide open space but over this past winter I learnt something very important. I tried setting it up on a ledge in Mt Cook NZ and realised how I really really needed a tent where poles were setup from the inside like all other assault tents.. I only had about 50cm between the edge of the tent and a 700m vertical drop and really did not enjoy getting out to adjust the sagging silnylon. At 600g, its still one of the lightest 2 man tents I own. Being in a class of its own, it will always have a special place in my gear closet.

BD firstlight (nanosheild) This tent has been a favourite of mine, especially its that I only picked it up for $200. Bonus, Its often found for $250 in the US. The nanoshield handles rain much better than epic, but it still leaked bad in hard rain after several hours. Again you really are taking a good chance and hoping your weather window stays good. But as we all know, the mountains create their own weather systems and general forecasts could be correct down at the valley floor but gale force up in the mountains.

HENCE, I had to try the Direkt 2, especially after it got the thumbs up from Ueli steck using it at over 8000m in the Himalayas for 2 months in April last year.

REVIEW
Ive spent a total of 5 nights in it so far, and wasn’t impressed on first impressions in my lounge. Poles appeared flimsy and theres no way this could have compared to my MSR fury or other 4 season tents. However, once pitched into the snow and all guy lines yanked tight, this thing handles tautness better than any other tent I have seen.
- Hard to explain, but it’s geometry and guy line positions allow the tent to become very very stable. I gently balanced both my and my partner’s pack on top of this tent (~30kg) and the poles did not break! Half this weight will flatten any hubba hubba series tent. (Warning: Dont try! its been done before!) This is because it has special plastic tensioning material along the poles, and in the direction of the guy lines (this is not stated in its description). Due to this, you can really crank the guy lines super tight without fear it’ll damage your fabric.
2 people could actually sit up comfortably in this tent (I’m 5’8).
Setup is same as the bibler tent.
Water tight. We had some consistent rain all night in 2 nights, and there was no water leakage like the nanoshield or epic materials.


HOWEVER
The tent has no mesh door. Didn’t bother me much but did bother my climbing partner when we slept with the door partly open.
There is only 1 tiny vent. Now in his marketing video, Steck said he was amazed there was no condensation. I really don’t know how we can replicate his success, but we had quite a bit of condensation! The first lights vents are smaller, but there are 2 vents and less condensation than the Direkt 2.

Mountain hardwear have done wind tunnel testing, and while they refuse to give exact specs and details, a rep did reply to me that it was found to have failed with wind within 10kph of its trango elder brother. Obviously we dont know if different wind directions were used or not since the trango will likely handle wind better from more directions due to its numerous poles, and weighing nearly 4-5 times more. But for your info, The MH trango is one of the bread and butter tents on the harshest places on earth. For me, hearing this was bliss

Is it the ultimate tent? Very very close!
It has my ideal weight, and ideal size. Any taller than 6 foot and you’ll suffer.
Its packed size is about half of an A4 sheet of paper, and 15cm high. It’s poles are very compact due to having many short sections.
I only wish it had eVent matieral or at least, mountain hardwear’s proprietry DryQ fabric of some sort. But then you really are starting to creep up in weight. I have found out that the quasar jacket breathes really well (made of MH’s DryQ Elite).
For alpine assaults, weight is much more important than your creature comforts as long as it can keep you alive and looking at it that way, the Direkt 2 wins.

Summary
The Direkt 2 can be considered one of, if not THE MOST lightest gnarly-weather tent in the world.
Get it if you need something that sets up easily, can be pitched on minimal space, and already have an awesome spacious snow tent for your base camp, Eg the 5kg Hilleberg Savio. For trekking-only trips, my sweet spot is about halfway mark around 2.5kg for a 3 person tent.

If you don’t mind abit more of a fiddly setup and can spare leaving your trekking poles behind, and really need a vestibule, then the Propel is even 40% lighter, but you sacrifice a lot of leg space. With 2 people, you will likely end up spooning each other in the propel. Not too bad for those lonely cold nights in the harsh mountains, but normally, I reserve that for the misses.

If you don’t mind the weight, then something from the rab eVent Bivi tent range is as good as you can get, but its 100% heavier.

If money is more of an issue, then the nanoshield firstlight tent will give you the best bang for your buck though it is not completely rain proof so you must bear this in mind if the weather suddenly starts closing in.

Thanks for the review.

Have you had the Direkt 2 out in any decent winds (say 60km/h +) and how did you find it?

One thing that really annoys me with the Akto is how much it flaps around and makes noise in strong winds. Last winter on the main range the wind changed direction during the night & it felt like someone kept pushing me with every gust of wind.

Yeah great report thanks. An event version would be neat, but heavier I guess.

My little Rab has had some blizzard use now, so far very happy. I'm getting used to the limited head height, and sleeping diagonally. It's very peaceful in a big blow. Some of the best nights sleep I've ever had in a blizzard.

Havent had any strong winds.
With 8 guy out points, I reckon it would be just as strong as the I-tent which only has 4 guy outs.

Phil, your Rab would be one of my picks as the best do-it-all single skin shelter. Both your rab and direkt 2 should handle wind and snow like any other mountain tent should.

I was tossing up either upgrade to yours for more space+ weight, or go the other way and shed off half a kilo and suffer more condensation.
For me, I would only use it with a basecamp tent, so I decided to go lighter. If it's my main tent, for snow camping trips, your rab would easily be a better choice.