Originally Posted by
skookum
It was the cheaper tents that had no problem and my lightweight tent that broke. The pole was just not strong enough and it snapped. Cheaper heavier sturdier poles survived.
Most cheap tents I've seen use brittle fiberglass poles. When I was in Iceland, all the locals used this style of tent - I thought they were insane.
No, they were experts at properly staking and guying out their tent walls, and placing their tents in the hummocks of hills or near a sparse treeline for a windbreak. I never saw one collapse.
Did you use all the guylines? Did you orient the tent's sloped side into the wind? Did you have everything taut or was there flapping? I have seen ultralight tents from Big Agnes survive some serious wind. I was in one!