GEAR TEST // HILLEBERG SOULO
RRP $950www.us.hilleberg.comTe s te d byNATSUMI PENBERTHYPhotos byJAKE ANDERSON
W
HEN GEAR REVIEWERS talk about
Hilleberg the Tentmaker, the word
‘perfect’ is sometimes bandied around,
along with ‘expensive’. Many think Hillebergs are
worth the money. The tentmaker’s name is
actually Bo Hilleberg, and he’s a bit of a legend. In
the 1970s his Swedish company was the fi rst to
link tents to their fl y so both could be pitched in
one step (i.e. fast) and used silicone-infused nylon
fabrics (i.e. tough). Forty-plus years on, this fabric is
still at the forefront of tent tech, with a stretchy
plasticity that’s waterproof but really hard to tear.
In fact, in 2012 Outside magazine listed Bo’s fabric
leap among the 100 most important outdoor
innovations of all time. The Soulo sits smack-bang
in the middle of Hilleberg’s 25-tent line. It’s
one-person, three-season and free-standing. Part
of Hilleberg’s Red Label mid-everything range, it’s
designed to be mid-durable (the fl y’s tear
strength is 12kg), light-ish, and very adaptable. At
2.1kg the Soulo is light, but not the lightest. Super
lights at this level get below 0.8kg, but the
trade-off is durability. The Soulo on the other
hand gets the bomb-proof thumbs-up from
some hardcore campers. Lonnie Dupre , for
example, used it on his fi rst winter solo ascent of
Denali. We however took it on a slightly milder
adventure – a multi-day hike through New South
Wale’s incredible northern Budawangs, where the
tent was quickly dubbed the Hille Hilton for its
beautiful iodised-gold poles and pegs. It is indeed
quick to set up and pack down. The freestanding
design also came into its own when we discussed
how to get a sunset shot from the top of a climb- the raison d’être of our trip. We weren’t game to
be climbing down in the dark, so camping up top
it was. Bonus: You get sunrise as well. Downside:
Jake, my companion, had a tunnel tent, and our
camping options were exposed sandstone,
creating pegging issues. My freestanding Hilton
was reassuring. Temperatures got to about 5
degrees at night, so condensation (thanks to the
Southern Highlands humidity) on the inner tent
was an issue. There’s only one upper vent in the
Soulo, perhaps the result of designs for lower
humidity, higher altitude northern hemisphere
climes. If you sleep warm (which I do) and it rains
(which it did), in the tropics and sub-tropics do
the usual thing and open the door zipper to
create airfl ow and minimise condensation. The
only other issue I had with this otherwise stellar
tent was the vestibule and position of its pole.
While brilliant for stashing gear, if it rained hard
you would want the extra footprint (sold
separately) under your gear, and the pole position
did make it a bit trickier to get an expansive view
from the inside out. The advantage is that you can
perch half in and half out and cook in your
sleeping bag (remembering to keep airflow
through the area) when it rains, so it’s a marriage
of compromise. In fact this tent is a bit like a
marriage all-round: if you want just one tent to
cover all bases, invest and you’ll find long-lasting
comfort. As with most all-in-one packages, there’ll
be a few compromises, but you’ll get a super
solid, lifelong mate.USE OF SPACE
FREESTANDING
BUILT TOUGHHOT
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