Words: Conan Marshall

Founded in 2018, French outdoor start-up Samaya is creating ultralight tents field-tested under extreme conditions.

The team talk about their identity and flagship product: the Samaya 2.5.

You are based in Annecy, near Chamonix, an area of outstanding natural beauty. How has living here inspired your work?

Situated next to the mountains allows us to go up and test our prototypes in real conditions. We have a great community in Chamonix with athletes and guides who can test the gear.

By living so close, it’s a great way to have a break sometimes and take free-time with the team to sleep in our tent in the middle of nowhere! Yeah we have a great playground here in this part of France.

Your first product, Samaya 2.5, is the lightest four-season tent ever designed, can you tell us more about this product?

The Samaya 2.5 is the perfect balance between lightness, comfort and performance! The product is the result of two years of testing and development on more than 15 prototypes. We use very technical materials and all is developed with detail. Its minimum weight is 1538g for a 6.2L packed volume.

The Samaya 2.5 is the most technical tent on the market with an unique construction. Also, we worked a lot on Samaya’s DNA, we want to make a real difference, in the communication of our values and our design. This is our identity.

What is unique about Samaya and your products compared to the rest of the market?

We’re on a mission to reinvent the tent and facilitate relationships with nature. This year, we will reveal 5 new products in a World Premiere program. Our aim is to bring a subversive solution, inspired by committed practitioners. We have the opportunity to become one of the most innovative manufacturers on the market over the next 10 years.

Samaya wants to go beyond the specialized mountaineering market, and positions itself as a concept which is aesthetic and niche but open to the general public. We extend our area of influence to professionals and amateurs alike.

It looks like you have been on some real adventures while field-testing the equipment, can you tell us about Samaya teams road trips around the world?

Head of research Ghislain Pipers and Sale manager Arthur Jallas, have both come from high-level sports careers and they peronsally enjoy mountaineering and expeditions abroard. So this gives us the opportunity design and create products to answer their use and find the perfect product fitting all conditions.

We test our gear in the field. At first, it was in the Alps and Mount Blanc, with a lot of high-altitude camping, even at 4808m at the top of the Mont Blanc. Then, they did the Northern route of Mount Elbrus (in Russia) in May 2019, with the last camp at 5000m and with extreme conditions (-30°C during the night, more than 100 km/h).

There’s been quite a few mountaineers test our tent during expeditions in Pakistan, Nepal, China, Peru and Argentina, and they really enjoy the product their using. This was the perfect feedback we needed to further develop our gear.