Mountain Hardwear Shifter 3 Tent Review
Bottom Line: A medium weight 3-season, 3-person tent for the budget conscious backpacker that needs a tent that is as good for car-camping at the lake, camping out during a music festival or used as a multi-day backpacking tent. All the bells and whistles are included as standard, including the footprint to protect the base of the tent and a mesh gear loft inside the tent. First Impressions and Observations: This tent weighs in at 6lb 9oz (2.96kg) but that weight is likely going to be lower depending on your needs. It comes with some extra pegs, a mesh gear loft and a tent footprint which, if you wanted to go light, could be left at home without reducing the functionality of the tent. Without these the tent would be <5lb 9oz, which, when you consider splitting the weight between 3 people would come in just under 2lbs each. Not bad for a reasonably priced tent that doesn’t scrimp on space or features! When I first pitched it I could tell that Mountain Hardwear did a lot of work to utilize the vestibule space. This tent has 2 vestibules and depending on how you “shift” (see, this is were the name Shifter comes from) the fly over the main tent body you can have either a wide open vestibule with a mesh door or a more private vestibule and a solid canopy door. I feel this incorporation of a 50/50 mix of mesh and solid canopy will also allow this tent to be used in early Spring and late Fall when the temperatures are lower. I’d definitely have no issue using it in sub-zero temperatures but then I’m crazy like that. The only concern I’d have is if this tent would hold up in strong winds as it only utilizes two crossed poles. There are extra guy line points so if strong winds were expected they could be used to add increased stability. One of my only gripes with this tent is the added shoulder vestibule. This allows for greatly increased storage space in one of the vestibules but, the shouldered area of the vestibule has two small poles inserted into it that can’t be removed, they are sewn into the fly. I’m not a tent roller, I like to stuff my tent into a stuff sack and compress it. I’ve done this with all my tents and I find it is a quicker, more space efficient way of carrying my tent. With these poles inserted into the fly I can’t compress the fly in a stuff sack. I worked around this by just stuffing everything but the section...
Amazeballs
I wanted to share one of my absolute favourite recipes. You have probably seen quite a few versions of “snack or energy balls” around, but as a lover of everything that is almond I love this one. No cooking, no fussing and no prep time required. These are a cinch to make. Just throw the ingredients into a food processor, wiz it up and then roll into balls.Within minutes you will be enjoying a delicious healthy treat. Here is the recipe: Amaze Balls (Raw Cacao Almond Balls) Ingredients: 11 dates 1/2 cup almond butter 1/4 almond flour (optional) 1 cup raw almonds 1/4 raw cacao powder or nibs 1 tbsp raw honey 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 2 tbsp hemp seeds 2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 goji berries (soak for 1-2 minutes in water to soften) 2 tsp chia seeds sesame seeds Directions: Place all the ingredients except for the sesame seeds in a mixer and wiz until smooth. With your hands roll the mixture into small balls. Then pour the sesame onto a plate or in a bowl and roll the balls in until covered. Place the balls on a plate and refrigerate until hard. Tip: If you love the taste of sesame,try toasting the seeds before hand. It really adds an extra layer of flavour! Enjoy! (This recipe has been shared and adapted from one of my lovely friends who was kind enough to make and share more than a few versions of this recipe with me until it became what it is...
