Last year, Samaya impressed mountaineers, ski tourers and backpackers the world over with the ultralight Assaut 2 tent, grabbing itself an ISPO Gold Award. Not two full years later, it's back in the award show seats for the new Radical 1, an even lighter, smaller tent that barely breaks half a kilogram while delivering near natural-disaster-proof levels of Dyneema and Cordura protection through the worst weather the high alpine can heave at it. It's a serious tent built for serious explorers ... willing to pay a serious price.
Samaya has essentially expanded its Ultra lineup by reworking the Assaut 2 into a one-person tent, spinning Dyneema Composite Fabric into a narrow, freestanding dome supported by a pair of crisscrossing Easton carbon fiber poles. It's laminated that fabric with an expanded Teflon (ePTFE) membrane to deliver 20,000-mm waterproofing across the walls and floor, coupled with advanced 40,000-g breathability. As on the Assaut, the corners are reinforced with Cordura to provide hardwearing durability on the rock-splintered ground that awaits above tree line.
The Radical 1 packs down into a backpack-able package measuring just 11 x 4 in (29 x 9 cm). It weighs a mere 1.5 lb (680 g) when fully packed, and the most gram-conscious users can shave that down to a minimum packed weight of 1.4 lb (635 g).
What makes the Radical 1 really impressive isn't merely that it's one of the lightest tents in the world, it's that Samaya developed it from the ground up for four-season use – more specifically, for the extreme climates involved in high-alpine mountaineering. The select few other freestanding tents that weigh in at 2 lb (907 g) or less, such as the 1.1-lb (499-g) Terra Nova Pulse Ultra 1, 1.9-lb (862-g) Mountain Hardwear Nimbus UL1 and 2-lb Big Agnes Fly Creek UL1, are built for three-season use, not winter weather.
The Radical 1 is designed primarily as a single-person tent, but Samaya says it can be used for two in a pinch. The floor length of 79 in (200 cm) is roomy enough for most people, but the 28 inches (70 cm) of width is sure to feel very snug for all but the sveltest, most smitten couples. That said, in cold weather it can pay to huddle up – Samaya says cold-chamber testing indicated the Radical 1 can warm up by 36° F (20 °C) in just five minutes with two people inside.
The Radical 1 launched earlier this year and earned Samaya another ISPO award at the 2022 ISPO show last week in Munich. The tent is available for order in Europe and the US for a price of €1,500 or US$1,500.
Source: Samaya, ISPO
