What do ultralight fast- and backpackers do when they have to wait out long storms and nights in their expensive paper bag Cuben Fiber shelters? They sketch.
Early 1990s
The Cuben Fiber composite fabric was developed by some mad scientist in some secret lab. Nobody really remembers exactly. The fabric was initially used for yachting and windsurfing sails because they like shiny things. Since those users also tend to be affluent, the fabric was deliberately made expensive. This will later upset the ultralight backpacking community and divide it into bipartisan camps: those who are willing to pay (whether they can or not), and those who are not.
Early 2000s
The weight-obsessed ultralight backpacking community starts to get interested in this new, shiny, and wrinkly paper bag material. Things felt like a cool secret first. Few people knew what Cuben Fiber was—yet alone where Cuba was—or cared where all of this was going. But one thing was clear: weight mattered. Although others argued that length mattered too. The debate remains open and has become somewhat more complex with new attributes to consider, such as color, smell, feel, animal testing, and gluten-freeness.
Sep 17, 2012
Appalachian Trail (AT) thru-hiker Soreballs finds the first Cuben sketch just south of the Annapolis Rock in Maryland. The artist remains unknown to this day. The sketch is now exposed in the Appalachian Trail Museum in Pennsylvania. Chemists determined that a black Sharpie Permanent Marker was used by the artist. The Sharpie was never found.
Jun 8, 2013
The first sketch on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) was seen by an unknown hiker as she passed a Cuben Fiber tent in the early morning of Jun 8, 2013, somewhere near Crater Lake, Oregon. She snapped a picture and posted it on Instagram a few hours later, when she had reception. The post was later removed and so was the account. Perhaps inspired by the 2012 sketch appearance, the artist also used a black Sharpie. However, witnesses argued that most likely the thru-hiker artist was a free spirit who does not like to be inspired by others.
New trends
To this day, using a black Sharpie has remained a de facto standard in the Cuben sketching community, although other colors have been seen. Independent observers have argued sketchers who use other colors tend to have a higher Myers–Briggs score for introversion.
While some thru-hikers opt to decorate their tents or tarps with sketches from the very beginning, others adopt to the philosophy that this should be part of the journey. The community has remained somewhat split over this issue. Decide what feels right for you.
If you search for Cuben sketches on Google, you will find a vast range of amazing sketches that ultralight backpackers all over the world—and increasingly others as well—have created.