We anticipate a couple of easy issues from our tents nowadays: a domed roof; two vestibules, two doorways and two vents for 2 individuals; poles that information you thru simple setup with out the necessity for a physics diploma. However when these configurations hit the market over time by a number of iterations of the REI Half Dome line, beginning with the very first in 1980, they had been uncommon—and infrequently revolutionary.
“Typically you create a brand new product in a class,” says David Mydans, a former REI senior product designer who formed the best way tents had been designed on the co-op for many years. “Typically you simply change the class itself.”
This 12 months marks the forty fifth anniversary of the primary Half Dome, which is a formidable (mile) marker in itself. So, too, is the tent’s stake in placing REI on the map as one of many innovators in designing, and never simply promoting, gear. However all that’s simply the icing on our s’extra. We’re elevating our YETI Ramblers to the countless memorable nights within the backcountry that the Half Dome has facilitated, from tenting with the grandkids to weathering surprising snowstorms.
“The entire iterations have been in service of livability,” Mydans says. “We simply wish to assist individuals get exterior and to make it as great an expertise as we are able to for them, in order that they do it extra.”
What’s the key behind the Half Dome’s longevity? “It’s a Goldilocks,” says REI Co-op senior design engineer Shon Hancock. He labored on a number of iterations during the last decade, together with the 2025 updates: Half Dome 2, Half Dome 2 Plus and Half Dome 3. “It has an incredible utility throughout a broad vary of tenting pursuits.”
That versatility is as a result of the Half Dome tent balances need-to-have sturdiness and comfort with nice-to-have options and creature consolation. With roughly 71 cubic ft of inside quantity, the 2-person mannequin gives a spacious haven—anticipated for automobile tenting, luxurious for backpacking. On the flip facet, its modest 4-pound, 10.3-ounce (minimal path) weight fits these carrying it over lengthy trails and delights these toting it from their SUV to the fireplace ring. On all 2025 variations, the full-coverage rainfly protects campers and their sleep methods from windy and moist circumstances and rolls again for stargazing and ample air flow. Setup is even breezier with color-coded poles and an up to date hub design. And naturally, the Half Dome’s signature attribute—two massive, vertical, D-shaped doorways—gives bunkmates with their very own entrance door and vestibule.
“When somebody comes into REI and says, ‘Hey, I need a actually good tent to make use of for all types of issues, particularly backpacking,’” Hancock says, “the Half Dome 2 is a no brainer.”
It’s not simply the (admittedly biased) co-op designers who assume so. “If we had been to advocate a single tent for year-round tenting in nearly each local weather,” Backpacker wrote in 2002 upon bestowing the tent with an Editors’ Selection Award, “this could be it.” Eight years later, Outdoors Journal echoed that approval with a Gear of the Year Award for the 2010 Half Dome 2 mannequin, including, “It’d be tent at any value, but it surely’s an unimaginable tent at this [$179] value.”
A Historical past of Tent-Making
The legacy of tent-making at REI goes again so far as 1938, when co-founder Mary Anderson hand-sewed tents for members in her Seattle house—at the very least when she wasn’t scaling mountains or creating the co-op’s mail-order enterprise. REI historian Will Dunn says these early tents had been possible two or three easy pup tent designs from patterns.
The primary iteration of the Half Dome didn’t hit the market till the spring of 1980. Although the two-person tent had just one door and a window, members knew it was one thing particular. That’s as a result of the Half Dome numbered among the many first tent fashions to undertake a curved roof structure.
Although tent design traits had been altering within the Seventies, the preferred choices of that point remained pup tents, these doghouse-like A-frames with roots in army surplus, or wall tents large enough to face inside. The previous was light-weight with cramped dwelling quarters, whereas the latter was spacious however cumbersome and heavy. Each used straight poles and tightly strung cords with waterproof cloth and weren’t the only to arrange.
Developments in versatile, lighter but nonetheless sturdy pole supplies utilizing fiberglass and aluminum extrusions made the dome silhouette potential. “This was an enormous step ahead in making a tent that was actually for anybody,” says Dunn. This was a tent designed for leisure, not army or survival, makes use of. With the Half Dome, “we had been focusing our vitality on ensuring that whenever you went exterior, you weren’t solely going to outlive it; you would possibly be capable to get pleasure from it as effectively.”
The Mydans Contact
By the flip of the century, the Half Dome had develop into one of many best-selling merchandise within the co-op’s lineup. (The Half Dome 2 and Half Dome 3 stay the No. 1 promoting tent at REI immediately.) Mydans, nonetheless, utilized experience earned over a long time of stitching his personal tents (beginning as a young person) and numerous nights tenting to make the Half Dome even higher. When he bought the inexperienced mild to introduce two vestibules, two doorways, and two vents for 2 individuals, he created a Half Dome mannequin in 2001 that was bigger than its predecessor with out compromising on weight (or value, for that matter). “We had been being attentive to the house within the tent, the breathability of the tent, the air flow of the tent and the doorways and comfort of the tent,” Mydans says. “It at all times got here right down to livability.”
The optimistic reception from the outside group was great. There was that Backpacker Editors’ Selection Award for The Half Dome 2 in 2002 (after testers experienced the tent’s competence in a shock mountain tempest). Different awards adopted, together with recognition within the Backpacker Gear Hall of Fame as an all-time favourite. “The fast and enduring embrace of the Half Dome 2 isn’t only one factor,” Dunn says. “Its intuitive, sturdy design and accessible value make it everybody’s tent, but it surely’s the livability that makes it the straightforward alternative for any tenting expertise.”
Backpackers and members, too, have raves and memories of their own. REI Co-op Member Cyndi Gyugyi first purchased her Half Dome in 2005 for her son’s highschool backpacking journey to Kings Canyon Nationwide Park. One other son later used it for Boy Scout tenting journeys. “It has weathered rain, snow and scorching warmth over time,” she shares, “and it’s nonetheless in service and awaiting its subsequent journey!”
From Then to Now
Over the a long time, the Half Dome has developed together with supplies expertise and outside traits. The poles are actually made with light-weight 7000-series aluminum. They function HubCheck
, a quartet of small home windows within the pole hub that reveals if the poles are absolutely secured. The rainfly has been up to date with rugged 40-denier ripstop nylon with polyethylene coating, which gives further sturdiness and safety. Colorways have ranged from daring teals, purples and a golden orange hue dubbed “lion” within the mid-2010s to immediately’s extra pure palette—achieved partially by a water-saving solution-dying course of–of stone inexperienced, earthen grey and golden sulphur.
The tent’s pocket sizes, location and supplies have modified, too, to suit the wants of immediately’s backpackers and the tech they bring about alongside. In the meantime, the ground dimensions have expanded (with out including vital weight) to accommodate wider sleeping pads (or furry pals) with the Half Dome 2 Plus and extra campers with a 3-person version. Most lately, your complete Half Dome household launched a far-easier-to-pack top-loading stuff sack, primarily a duffel bag with a cinch-down string.
Hancock likens the Half Dome’s evolution by the work of product groups to the artistry of a bonsai tree, which is likely to be handed from gardener to gardener for a whole bunch of years. “Every designer who has been charged with the duty of taking good care of the Half Dome 2 has carried out so with the purpose of preserving its magnificence and utility,” he says, “whereas additionally recognizing that the issues that we would like in a backpacking tent are going to alter as the best way we benefit from the outdoor adjustments.”
To find out when these tweaks are mandatory and what they need to be, co-op designers flip to the last word advisors: its members. Why? Though the designers are gear wizards who personally spend a formidable variety of nights snoozing in tents, they wish to understand how members use their Half Domes and what may make the tent much more journey prepared. “Getting views from prospects,” Hancock says, “people who find themselves in numerous circumstances and have totally different needs and calls for for the performance of their tent, is a vital factor.”
REI designers pore over buyer critiques–taking each optimistic and damaging feedback into consideration–and speak instantly with buyers. Questions posted to REI.com in regards to the merchandise present additional perception into wanted options, functionalities and instruction guide descriptions. So, in the event you’ve ever questioned if it’s price taking the time to share your suggestions on a product, the reply is “sure.” That suggestions is what has stored the Half Dome line a straightforward alternative for outdoorspeople of every kind.
This spirit of collaboration over time, throughout designers and with member enter, has formed the Half Dome into what it’s immediately. “The Half Dome household actually will get at one thing that has been core to REI since we based in 1938,” Dunn says. “It’s at all times been about specializing in group wants that guarantee alternatives for everybody to spend time exterior.”
What’s going to the Half Dome household seem like in one other 45 years? It’s laborious to say. Perhaps designers will make it even bigger however simply as light-weight. Or maybe they’ll use new materials that breathe higher whereas preserving the weather at bay. What we all know for positive? Identical to our members, the staff at REI will proceed to not simply assume exterior the field when iterating the Half Dome, they’ll adamantly, tenaciously assume exterior.
The put up Design That Only Gets Better with Time appeared first on Uncommon Path – An REI Co-op Publication.