My tent pole snapped at 2am in the Smokies and I fixed it with a stick

I was camped about 4 miles up the Chimney Tops trail in the Smokies last October. Storm rolled in around 1am and winds were hitting maybe 30 mph. One of my aluminum tent poles just cracked right at the middle ferrule. I had no backup pole and the rain was starting to come in sideways. I grabbed a fallen branch about the same diameter, cut it to length with my pocket knife, and shoved it through the pole sleeve. It held for the rest of the night, but the tent sagged a bit on one side. Got back to the car the next morning soaked but not miserable. Has anyone else used a field repair like that for a broken pole that actually worked?

3 comments

3 Comments

terry67724d ago

My buddy Mike tried the stick fix in Shenandoah a few years back and it went about half as well. He snapped a pole at 3am in a drizzle near the Hawksbill Gap parking area and found a dead branch that looked perfect, but didn't notice it was rotten until he shoved it in there and it crumbled like wet cardboard. He ended up lashing the broken ends together with a shoelace and wrapping the whole thing in duct tape, which gave the tent this weird hump shape that collected water all night. He told me he woke up with a puddle in his lap and a bent pole that never fully straightened out again.

the_eric24d ago

You ever have one of those fixes that you know is janky but you're just praying it holds? I did almost the same thing in the Whites a few years back on the Kinsman Ridge Trail. Broke a pole clean in half right at the first bend, snow was already coming down. Found a green sapling, whittled it down with my multi tool, and jammed it in there. Thing sagged like a hammock half the night, but it got the job done. I still had to tape it back together at the ranger station the next morning because the stick started to splinter. That little field patch saved my trip though.

jesse_green5524d ago

Pretty clean fix honestly. A broken pole at 2am in the rain is one of those things that makes you wonder if you should just pack it in and hike out in the dark. That branch trick works way better than people think, even if the tent ends up looking like a sad lean to. I've done the same thing with a ski pole once on a rainy night in the Adirondacks, just lashed it to the break with some paracord. It wasn't pretty but it got me through till morning.