Stone sheep trip 2011 and kifaru paratipi review

[Bighorn hunter]

Made it back up again this August to look for a ram for my buddy and hoping to add one with lamb tips to my wildlife room. Had a great trip with seeing tonnes of sheep,goat,moose,elk,caribou and a couple pocupine.

Used my paratipi last season for the first time and it worked well, did not take the wood stove that trip because of weight, but this year decided to take it to see how it worked. Got rained on most nights and ended up having to set up the tent in the middle of a major rain storm. Kinda wondered in the past how well this would go as there is no floor in these tents. Got the tent set up and fired up the wood stove, about a half hour later we brought in our sleeping pads and bags and waited out the rain storm in style. My partner was snubbing his nose at the stove pre trip but was loving it after seeing how well it worked.

As stated we saw a tonne of game just could not find a band of rams with a shooter in it. We did see a couple of different bands but I think the outfitter must have beat us to it. Was still a great trip and nice weather overall.

The para tipi weathered through a number of wind and rainstorms and I am quite impressed with the set up for a light weight camp. Tent and stove are right around 6lbs I believe. The stove will only burn for around a hour and if you are chilled or wet restoking ever fifteen min is required. Great set up to relax by and to make getting out of the sleeping bag a bit nicer.

Here are a few pics of the trip.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG_0564_Small_.JPG
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG_0545_Small_.JPG
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG_0557_Small_.JPG
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG_0580_Small_.JPG

Cheers
BH

[gbear]

Sounds like you had a good trip!

[d6dan]

Yup, good trip regardless. Nice pics. Love the quillpig pic.:-D Thanks for posting..

[kennyj]

Great photos. Glad you had a good trip.
kenny

[srupp]

THANKS! Great photos especially love the one with the sheep on the cliffs..

cheers
Steven

[guest]

Incredible Pic's with the sheep in the rocks, very cool!

Thanks for sharing

CT

[bigneily]

Very nice, Always good to hear about other hunters experiences with gear...

[358mag]

Sounds like a great trip good review on the Kifaru Tipi one question were did you find enuff wood to burn up in the alpine ????

[Bighorn hunter]

With the size of the stove you don't need a lot of wood. We camped right By the creek and there was more than enough dead scrub brush to keep the stove going

[BlacktailStalker]

A bit of time in that kind of country is all any man needs to come home with a smile, nice pics Cam.

[358mag]

With the size of the stove you don't need a lot of wood. We camped right By the creek and there was more than enough dead scrub brush to keep the stove going
Thanks for the info

[whitetailsheds]

Good stuff Cam....thanks for posting. North pretty soon for ya?

[Mountain Hunter]

With the size of the stove you don't need a lot of wood. We camped right By the creek and there was more than enough dead scrub brush to keep the stove going

I'm curious as to what size stove did you get?

I'm going up to the alpine for mule deer first week of rifle season in the Kootenays with a new unproven Supertarp and additional vestibule with a 'small' stove. Should be good as I've been snowed on last two years up there on previous trips. Thanks.

[moose2]

Great pictures did you use a pole kit with your tent or did you use a stick and trekking poles. If you used a kit what is the weight please. Its a good looking tent I might have to save $760.00 for the option of staying warm on the Oct mountain hunts.
Mike

[Bighorn hunter]

The size of stove I have is the para stove, and I did go with the peg and pole kit. Weight on the peg and polls is 1lb 11oz.

Whitetailsheds, as for going north, my dam buisness partner has been going hunting quite a bit and has now told me he is going to make another run at the tat october 1st so have had to cancel my trip to the NWT for my dall:(. Will have to plan it for next year I guess

Cheers
BH

[budismyhorse]

Hey BH....How about the wood? Any trouble getting fires going with wet or soaked " dry " scrub? I've had trouble with wet pine with bark.....

[shantz]

Great Pics. Looks like you guys had a great trip.

[Bighorn hunter]

Hey BH....How about the wood? Any trouble getting fires going with wet or soaked " dry " scrub? I've had trouble with wet pine with bark.....

Was worried about that myself so went to wallmart before the trip and found some colmen solid fuel pucks. They came in a 24 pack and each one is about a inch wide and 5/8s of an inch thick, burn for roughly 8 min each. When we had to set up in the middle of the rain storm I just lit a couple of the pucks and started feeding in the kindleing. Worked great. Just had to use my leatherman to hold them when I lit them so was easier to place in the stove.

Cheers
BH

[gearjunkierob]

Thanks for the post - great read. I like the idea of the Kifaru paratipi. I own a Black Diamond Megamid tent that is a similar design yet doesn't look like it pitches nearly as tight as the Kifaru and lacks the stove jack. It's served me through a number of adventures but it really needs to be staked out well as the wind tends to work it's way under the tent and turn it into a big balloon that threatens to blow away! The Kifaru looks like a nicer setup altogether. I'm curious as to how the tent stood up to the stove use....did any cinders melt through the tent? Guessing this fabric (looks like sil-tarp in the photo) is less resilient to sparks than canvas? Please let me know! Thanks Cam!

[Bighorn hunter]

Hey gearjunkierob

Had zero issues with the stove and sparks. The stove has 2 small screens that fit into the stove pipe where it connects to the stove. They seem to do the job of keeping any hot sparks from going out the chimeny. Haven't tested the fabric with sparks but it doesn't look like it would do well IMO. As for wind getting under the tent, was not an issue and we had some serious wind while we were there.

Cheers
BH

[thepitchedlink]

I have a tipi and stove. The screens do a good job of keeping the sparks away, but i do have 2 little marks where some embers have touched the fabric. I think that the stove pipes are long enough that everything just drifts away. I've had out in some pretty stuipd winds, probably a good 50-60mph gusts and the tent was still there...quite impressed actually. Wind doesn't seems to get under the edges, it never feels like it's going to turn into a balloon...but I like any Tipi style rig, it needs to be staked out well to work properly.