Mountain Hardwear - Direkt 2 - 2-person tent

Sleeping in a cramped bivy or suffering through a storm in a bare-bones shelter just to shave a few ounces just isn't worth it. The Mountain Hardwear Direkt2 Tent was designed for burly alpine conditions, but weighs a jaw-dropping two and a half pounds, so you don't have to compromise protection to travel ultralight on your summit push or ski objectives. The single-wall Direkt2 is, in fact, the lightest mountaineering tent Mountain Hardwear has ever made. Ever.

It's no weak-sauce bivy, though; the floor and walls are made of 30D nylon ripstop and coated in waterproof polyurethane and silicone, while the DAC Featherlite aluminum poles let you pitch from the inside, minimizing the time you spend exposed to harsh conditions. Each corner has two guy-out points for increased stability, and Mountain Hardwear's proprietary Evolution Tension Arch design stabilizes the Direkt2 against wind and snow loads using only two weight-saving poles. It can get stuffy (not to mention stinky) if you're trapped in the alpine during a storm, but there are two zippered mesh vents with integrated snow flaps to get some air moving through your shelter, so you don't have to suffer the weight penalty of nose plugs or clothespins. For ultralight missions in serious weather, the Direkt2 is damn near unbeatable.