Nordisk Telemark 2 LW Tent Review

At only 950 grams the Nordisk Telemark 2 LW is currently our lightest 2 person backpacking tent. It is suitable for 3 season use, even in high winds and has plenty of useful features.

Pitching

Pick the tent up in its stuff sack and it feels lovely and light. Nordisk have made sure that its not a burden to carry in your rucksack! Getting the tent out of the stuff sack would be easier if there was a little piece of material to grab onto. Once you’ve got the tent out of the stuff sack its quick and easy to put up. There are four short poles in the flysheet which remain in place when the tent is packed away. These form the four corners of the tent. There is a one other DAC Featherlite NSL Aluminium pole, which forms a single arch across the middle of the tent. The first time you slide the pole through the pole sleeve you realise how thin the fabric is. At first this is a bit disconcerting, but as you continue to insert the pole the strength of the fabric becomes evident.

Stability in High Winds

The tent comes with 4 DAC pegs, each weighing 12 grams, and one guyline. As with most ultralight tents, it is likely that you will wish to buy some additional pegs if you are going to use the tent in windy conditions. For best results the tent should be pitched so that the arch is perpendicular to the direct of the wind, as shown in the video below.

In wind tunnel tests the Nordisk Telemark 2 LW has been able to withstand wind speeds of 17.5 m/s (39 mph). On the Beaufort Scale, winds of this speed are classified as a Fresh Gale in which “Some twigs broken from trees. Cars veer on road. Progress on foot is seriously impeded.” That is certainly an impressive wind speed to stand up to.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/6hKLfzqudBo?rel=0

The hydrostatic head of the flysheet and the groundsheet is 2000 mm and 6000 mm respectively. These figures are slightly lower than for other ultralight tents but, considering that a hydrostatsic head of 1000 mm will cope with rain in 35 mph winds, they should be more than adequate.

Inside the Tent

Inside the tent there is enough room for two people, however you would need to sleep on mattresses that are tapered at the feet end since the foot end of the tent is a little narrow. Lengthwise, there is plenty of room even if you are over six foot. There is also enough room to sit up in the middle. The four small poles provide additional space inside the tent. There are vents above the inner and outer doors to help reduce condensation.

Features

One interesting feature of the Telemark 2 LW is that you can adjust that division of space between the porch and the inner. There is a cord linking the ends of the arched pole, which provides additional stability. The position of the inner can be moved along this cord, towards or away from the flysheet. Moving to towards the flysheet provides more space inside the tent, whilst moving away from the flysheet increases the size of your vestibule.

At its widest the vestibule only has enough room for a medium sized rucksack or a couple of pairs of walking boots. A larger vestibule is the only improvement that could be made to this tent. However, this is somewhat addressed with another feature. It is possible to remove three of the small poles from the flysheet and screw them together to form a single pole. This can then be used to turn the outer door into a kind of tarp. This provides a handy area in which to cook when its raining.

The design where the ground sheet connects to the inner is slightly unusual in that the seam is at ground level instead of being several cm higher, as in the bathtub style. However there is a strip of flysheet material around the lower section of the inner and all the seams are tape sealed, so there should be no ingress of water in the event of pitching the tent in a puddle.

Other features include two zips on the inner door, two hanging loops and two pockets. The inner is connected to the flysheet with plastics clips and ‘O’ rings, of which there are 3 spares provided. Similar clips are also used to hold the outer and inner door opens.

Finally I must mention the little magnet that holds the storm flap in place over the zip on the fly sheet. This seems a little gimmicking but is much easier to use than, for example a popper, especially when you have your gloves on.

Summary

If you are looking for a 2 person ultralight backpacking and wild camping tent, then the Nordisk Telemark 2 LW is an excellent choice. At only 950 grams it will not weigh you down, yet it still has all the features that you would expect. Inside there is room enough even for taller campers. Whilst the vestibule is a on the small side, the division of space between the inner and the vestibule can be adjusted. Additionally the fly sheet door can be opened out into a tarp using the small end poles from the tent.