[pct-l] shelter question

[kmurray at pol.net (kmurray@pol.net)]

"The discussion on this list about different types of tents got me thinking
of why do we need any shelter in the first place.  Back in the old days  John
Muir, Norman Clyde, Henry Thoreau, King, Coby, Thompson, Carson, etc.,  etc.,
did not normally use tents.  If they set up a shelter system,  they used
canvas/oil lean-to open shelters with a roaring fire on the  open side if
it was
cold. That was about it.  If they came back today  and saw the big deal
and all
the discussions about tents and tarps they  would laugh. I can just imagine
what they would call us big bad backpackers in  the modern age - may be
not to
our face, but certainly behind our backs.   It would not be nice or a
complement.  We would be highly  embarrassed."

Well, I have a different take.

First, I don't think you can compare things that are not comparable.  For
example, the main reason that such people did not use tents, was that
there were no personal tents back then, designed for backpacking.

Second, the cutting up of a live tree to make a shelter was perfectly ok
then, on a path that might not see another person for a decade. Not
reasonable now.

Third, going into the backcountry was an act of suffering, back then. 
Very heavy weights, cold, having to go through a complex drying process
every time it rained for hours....this was not easy work.

It is hard for us to imagine what these mountaineers endured, and dealt
with on a daily basis.

One of the best essays on the experience is the fantastic book on Orland
Bartholomew's first winter traverse of the JMT, solo, in 1928. No sleeping
bag, no shelter.  Amazing. Title is "High Odyssey". Gene Rose really
painted the picture in such a way that experienced people can actually
feel the cold.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0944194087/102-7183757-9020942?v=glance&n=283155&v=glance

Modern shelters free us from all kinds of things.  We need to worry about
the weather a whole lot less, as we don't need to do a daily prep of an
hour or two to set up a camp, cutting down branches, gathering dry
wood.....all of which can get messed up if we get drenched.  The advent of
portable shelters gives us freedom to wander simply, that the mountaineers
of yore DID NOT HAVE, when survival was a daily process that we largely
avoid.

Clyde said it best, there is room for all, "de gustibus non disputandum est"