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The  Black Diamond Distance tent is a good example of the kind of tent I look out for – it’s spacious for one person (although Black Diamond says it’s a two-person), has a good head height and is very lightweight. It achieves its lightweight tag by being single skin and utilising your trekking poles as its support structure. Also, there’s no porch for storing gear – so using the Distance tent needs a bit of thought.

The included adapter works with certain  Black Diamond trekking poles but also with most others using Velcro loops, in my test I was using a pair of  CAMP trekking poles. I set them to 125cm which seemed to work perfectly, if you have adjustable length trekking poles this gives you the edge when pitching the Distance tent as you can set them to the perfect length for the pitch. If you have fixed length poles then you need them to be about 125cm long.

The Distance tent is amazingly quick to set up – it only needs 4 pegs and then setting the trekking poles in place. It comes with two extra guys, I attached one to the rear to keep it taut but couldn’t see how to use the other one effectively.

On the first morning, there was little or no condensation and I got the tent down dry so it was a perfect start, on the second night however the conditions were warm and still and it began to rain as I was unpacking at my wild campsite. I hurriedly pitched the tent and got inside, by the morning there was a lot of condensation and my gear was starting to feel damp, I managed to get most of it away dry but the tent itself was very wet.

When this happens you really need a decent weather day in order to get the tent dry, however, I didn’t get one, when I pitched the tent again, I dried it out with my trekking towel and was good to go again.

Had there been two of us using the tent there would have been more condensation and it would have been impossible to avoid touching the tent sides in the morning. I’d say it only really works for two people for a single night or when you have favourable weather. There’s a huge vent at the front of the tent and half the door can be unzipped to reveal a mesh window, both are good features but they can only be effective if there’s a wind – even a light breeze will keep the airflow going and reduce condensation.

Another issue with not having a porch is what to do with wet gear – I carried a large drybag that took everything I didn’t want in the tent and I left it outside, I even put my boots in it because even though they were wet I didn’t want them getting any wetter.

So, there are some negative points with this tent – too small for two people, no Porch, condensation may be a problem…. So why do I like it so much? I think it’s because of the space, the fact that it’s so easy to set up and I like that it’s very robust, it’s the kind of kit you can rely on – you know what it can do and you know what it can’t, I love it.

Mark Richardson
Mark was the founder of Ultralight Outdoor Gear back in 2006 and has completed long distance backpacking routes in some of the remotest parts of the world. His favourite hikes have been Torres del Paine (full circuit), the John Muir trail and the Markha Valley trail (Ladakh, India). Although semi-retired Mark has not lost any enthusiasm for minimalist backpacking and is tackling Scotland’s Munros choosing multi-day backpacking routes over the more usual guide book excursions. Read more from Mark Richardson