Without a quality tent in the mountains, let’s face it, you’re up sh** creek with no paddle. There are two ways to get out of this situation, head back off the mountain seeking shelter in terms of a hotel or come prepared with a tent that can handle any sort of weather condition.

Luckily we are in the golden age of quality, bomb-proof gear options. For the past several years now I’ve been using and putting Stone Glacier’s line of tents through all the facets of mountain hunts. I’ve camped on a high ridge above 12,000 feet getting blasted with high winds all night, woke up with snow blanketing the landscape and have spent countless nights laying in my tent listening to the pounding rain while I was enjoying the evening staying dry while preparing for the next morning’s hunt.

I’ve been using Stone Glacier tents for various hunts since 2018. I first started off with the Skyscraper 2P and then quickly picked up a SkyAir ULT tarp with a mesh insert, vestibule and footprint. These two tents are certainly are capable of handling any hunting situation.

The Skyscraper 2p

The Skyscraper 2P tent is a tent that you can use all season long (easily can be used as a four-season shelter). From summer scouting trips all the way through late fall, this tent will keep you dry and handle any weather conditions. What really makes this tent stand out in my opinion is its durability!

The durability of the Skyscraper 2P comes from a WebTruss pole system that aids in creating a solid pole configuration that has an end goal that equals strength.

For a tall guy who’s 6’5” tall, this tent is roomy enough that allows me to fully stretch out. Which is something I have to watch out for on other tents. Plus… I can easily sit up and change/get ready in the morning due to the extra head space.

Specs

It is worth noting that the setup of the Skyscraper is super simple and most importantly, I find this tent is also easy to set up in the wind. There’s nothing worse than messing with a tent in the wind that is extra difficult to set up. Note: If you leave the WebTrusses attached at the corners, the setup is even quicker. I found that connecting them at the corners is easier than leaving all the tent body loops connected.

Two People Means Two People!

Stone Glacier lists the Skyscraper as a two person tent, and I will definitely say that you can accomplish a full on backpack style hunt with two people sleeping in the tent each night. In 2020 my friend Zack Boughton and myself went on a high country muzzleloader hunt together and to save weight, we just used my Skyscraper. Even with two guys well over 6 foot tall plus all of our gear, backpacks, and muzzleloaders in the vestibules, it worked wonders! So… if you really want to save some weight and split up parts of the tent, this is a great option.

Large Vestibules

There are vestibules and then there are true vestibules that are made for hunting. And the two vestibules on the Skyscraper are the ticket! Vestibules are a great thing to have when you have a lot of gear that you don’t want to bring in your tent or gear that you want to stay dry and out of the elements. Plus, the double doors are nice when the weather is warmer, just open up the vents and let the air flow through.

It's worth mentioning that I own the original version of the Skyscraper and so you might notice that the photos of my tent, don't match up to how the new version works.

If you're looking for a new tent, the Skyscraper checks off all the boxes. You can use this tent for spring bear hunts, through scouting season and it will be a bomb-proof design later in the fall when the wind and weather conditions are seemingly against you.

Skyair Ult

I’ve used so many different shelters for early season hunts up to this point in my life that I now have a closet of tent skeletons that no longer get used. I was always searching for a tent that can handle rain (possibly snow) and wind, yet would be extremely ultralight. A few years ago I stopped staring at the spec sheet and finally picked up the SkyAir ULT.

Before I picked up my SkyAir ULT, I was able to pick Chris Neville’s brain since he had purchased one for his elk hunts the previous fall. Fast forward to the present day, and the SkyAir ULT has seen some gorgeous nights on the mountain, and it’s seen some nasty weather while camped in the alpine and it’s still going strong.

This shelter is an ultralight backpack hunter's dream!

What I Love

Plenty of room in the SkyAir ULT shelter setup.

This tent is extremely modular. You can make this setup crazy light by just using the SkyAir ULT tarp, or you could pick and choose options to make it a true tent. I’ve elected to run the full system (SkyAir ULT Tarp, Mesh Insert, Vestibule, and Footprint). One quick note about the footprint. I know a lot of people don't use them, but to me, if I spend all this money on a tent, I want to protect the bottom of the shelter from any wear and tear. Sometimes the best spot for a shelter, might not be a nice small patch of grass and there could be endless amounts of small rocks or tree roots. So I will gladly carry the extra couple of ounces to get more years out of my shelter.

I really love the SkyAir ULT setup when I’m trying to save a few ounces on a tough backpack hunt. I’ve added weight in a few other places on my gear list the past year, so being able to cut weight in my camping setup is a huge bonus. What I also enjoy about these style tents is the small footprint. This means they can be pitched in areas that a larger tent simply can’t fit. This is a huge benefit when the places you want to camp are kind of questionable at the top of the mountain in-between a ton of rocks.

Being a single wall design, if you close the vestibule completely, you could have some condensation in the morning when you wake up. To mitigate this, if it's not going to rain, I'll just tie one side of the vestibule up and leave half of it open.

One thing to consider is you need to utilize two trekking poles to pitch the tent, or in a pinch, you could find a random stick that could work. The nice part about using trekking poles, when you take an animal and are packing out, at least you have some trekking poles with you that will help in the descent off the mountain.

Specs

The beauty of this system is you can have a full-on shelter (tarp, mesh insert and vestibule) that weighs in at a crazy light 22 ounces!

Front Entry Design

Due to the trekking pole and minimalist design, the SkyAirULT is a front entry shelter. This means that you only have one door and you must go in and out the front of the tent. While getting in the tent isn’t as smooth as just rolling in a side entry tent, but it’s not the end of the world. After all, you are saving a ton of weight so you're going to give up small things. One thing worth mentioning, with a front entry shelter you should be quick to get in and out of your tent if it’s raining out.

Also, it's worth mentioning that this shelter still has plenty of room in the front vestibule to keep your backpack, boots, and miscellaneous gear dry.

In Conclusion

The great part about both these tents is their modular design. You can make either tent work for an early season hunt by just using the bare-bones design or add other additional pieces that will make them work all season long.

If you want something that can be used all season and in any weather condition, then I feel the Skyscraper 2P is the perfect option. If you’re looking to save some weight and space in your backpack in the early to mid-season, then the SkyAir ULT tarp with the mesh insert and vestibule is going to be the ticket.

Let me know if you have any specific questions about either of these tent options. I'd be happy to dive into some specific details about them in the comments.