Ultralight Backpacking Tents - Marmot Aura

Ultralight backpacking tents are designed to shed some of those all important pack lbs however still maintain the room and durability that is required on the trails. Many of the early ultralight backpacking tents had some serious issues with lightweight materials because they were delicate and had poor resistance against the elements. Luckily today the materials are a lot better and the structure is much more resilient against mother nature's worst.

The Marmot Aura is one of my favorite tents that I have in my collection. This tent topped Outside Magazine's gear of the year award in 2008 and in my opinion is yet to be ousted.

Stats at a Glance:

Weight: 4.4 lbs

Dimensions: 88'L x 50'W x 40'H

Capacity: 2 people

Seasons: 3

Price: $240 - $250

Doors: 2

Here are two of the top reasons that I think the Marmot Aura is one of the best ultralight backpacking tents on the market.

Size:

The Marmot aura is the biggest tent that I have found for its weight, it has a full 30 sq feet of interior space and two vestibules, one at each door, that are an additional 9 sq feet a piece. The pole construction make the walls nearly vertical so that you have a ton of usable space and headroom. The two doors are a huge plus especially when you are camping with another person.

Protection from the elements:

I have been lucky enough not to get caught in the snow with this tent but have read countless reviews of people who have. They say that the Marmot Aura held up beautifully with the weight of the snow even though they had to push the snow off from the inside. They also reported that the catenary cut floor with the raised taped seams kept the base of the tent bone dry. I have unwittingly tested the waterproof floors on a kayaking camping trip on the Edisto river. The whole trip was rain on and off, it subsided enough to set my tent up and have some dinner and drinks around the fire. During the night we basically experienced Armageddon which pounded us with 30 mile an hour winds and torrential thunderstorms. The next morning I woke up in about a 3 inch puddle. I could literally see the water line from inside my tent. I was dry as a bone the entire night and morning. I was not expecting to stay dry but was very pleasantly surprised, the Marmot Aura took the elements a lot better than some of my buddies Ultralight backpacking tents.

The Marmot Aura is really hard to top when it comes to ultralight backpacking tents, the only con that I can think of is that it takes a few times of setting it up to master, but once you get the hang of it you can pitch it in a few minutes.

To check out how this tent stacks up against my other top choices for ultralight backpacking tents and to find pictures and the best pricing options visit: Ultralight backpacking Tents