If you’re gearing up for a solo long-distance backpacking trip and want to eliminate as much weight as humanly possible from your kit, take a look at the Big Agnes Fly Creek HV Ul1. It might just be the lightest 1-person double-walled tent you’ll find geared for 3-season backpacking. Yes, you could save even more weight by running with a tarp or other ultra-minimal kit, but if you like the protection and comfort a tent offers, then the 1 pound, 11 ounces trail weight of the Fly Creek HV UL1 is just about perfect.
The Fly Creek UL1 utilizes Big Agnes’ DAC Featherlite Pole system, which allows for steeper walls and a larger interior than lower poles, without increasing size and weight. In fact, the poles are practically non-existent in terms of weight, but there’s a comfortable 20 square feet of floor space, which is more than enough for one person (plus gear). The body simply clips onto the poles with the clips, which have been designed to be as light as possible.
The tent body itself has a nylon ripstop floor, rated to 1200mm of waterproofness, with a PU coating, as is the rainfly. The seams are all taped with PU as well. An ultralight mesh roof both cuts down on weight and keeps the whole setup breathable, and the dry-entry vestibule provides some room to store gear and ensure that no rain or snow gets into the tent as you do. Inside, there’s a bunch of storage pockets, including some media pockets for routing headphones, and gear loops for the Big Agnes Entertainment System. (Though we wholeheartedly recommend leaving the devices at home).
All that and the HV UL1 only weighs 1 pound, 11 ounces packed in your bag. It’s definitely too light for 4-season use, and at particularly high altitudes. But for ultralight backpacking the rest of the year, it will serve you well without adding much weight to your pack – at all. If you want the lightest solo tent possible, this is a worthy contender.
