#Trek-Iceland*: my Ultimate gear Guide

• 2-person  (+1 australian shephard, make it, snugg)
• peak height: 39 in (100 cm)
• floor area: 84 x 50 in (213 x 127 cm) 29 sq ft (2.7 m²)  
• weight: 3 lbs 14 oz (1.75 kg)
• waterproof, all season tent
• packed size: 18 x 6 in (46 x 15 cm)  
• Freestanding, 2-door, 2-vestibule, near-vertical walls
• awsome fact, it comes with everything you need to get started! 

The MSR Hubba Hubba NX 2 isn’t just a tent, it’s a timeshare in survival, paid off in full the first time the weather decides to test your life choices.

I’ve pitched this thing in calm sunshine, sideways rain, and Icelandic winds so strong they could peel paint off a battleship. Every time, it’s popped up with the same quiet confidence as a veteran worker who’s seen worse and isn’t about to quit now.

Setup is idiot-proof, which is good, because my brain doesn’t work right after 14 hours on the road. The color-coded poles snap together with a crisp click that says, “Relax, you’re not sleeping in the truck tonight.” Even in bad weather, it goes up fast enough that you can be inside, dry, and smug before your buddy has even untangled his guy lines.

Once pitched, it’s roomy. Not “stretch out like a sultan” roomy, but enough for two people, two sleeping bags, and the polite amount of personal space needed to keep the peace. Pockets in all the right places keep your headlamp from vanishing into the tent’s Bermuda Triangle, and the near-vertical walls mean you’re not constantly headbutting nylon.

Case in point: South coast of Iceland. The wind doesn’t blow here it can attack. The Car was rocking on its shocks, the dog was giving me the “i didn’t sign up for this” look, and my girlfriend was asking, in that calm-but-not-calm voice, if I was sure we could camp here. Out came the Hubba Hubba. I dumped it on the gravel, poles snapping together while the wind tried to fold them into modern art. The first gust caught the tent body and almost turned it into a $500 kite, but I got one corner staked just in time. Then another. Then the fly went on, not gracefully, but with the frantic determination of a man wrestling a ghost.

Five minutes later, I was zipped inside. The storm hammered at the rainfly like it was trying to negotiate rent, but inside? Dead calm. Warm. Dry. The dog curled up, my girlfriend unrolled her sleeping bag, and for the first time that day, I realized I was grinning.

Ventilation is excellent, no waking up in a condensation sauna , and the rainfly is borderline arrogant about keeping water out. I’ve seen storms throw everything they had at this thing, and inside it felt like a completely different climate zone. Still wear something like a balaclava or beany, the tent, wont stop -15c.

The whole thing packs down to about the size of a loaf of bread and weighs under 4 pounds, which means you can throw it in a backpack without feeling like you’re hauling a rolled-up anvil. 

Downside? In really foul wind, it’s “freestanding” in the same way a folding chair is freestanding on a moving ferry. Use the guy lines unless you enjoy chasing your home across a field.  Stake it down, its iceland.

Bottom line: The MSR Hubba Hubba NX 2 is the kind of coworker you hope for on the worst day of the job, and makes sure you survive to complain about something else in the morning.