Thread: who's running a tipi ? either hot or not

I note the MIA offer a carbon fiber center pole as an option with their tipi and a multi pole carob fiber set up to remove the center pole.

I was with a friend hunting in the Nelson Lakes several years ago. Max is a German and he had a very nice carbon fiber hill stick ( very German ) that I really liked the look of.
One afternoon during a very active lightening storm a lightening bolt landed on a ridge less than 100m from us.
We were very wet and Max got a very real charge coming or going through his carbon fiber pole. I could hear, feel and smell the electrical discharge standing beside him.
We dropped all our gear and got behind a rock outcrop.

After the front passed through we took all our gear except for his walking staff which we picked up the next day.

Just saying this because I wonder about the wisdom of having a lightening rod in the middle of your tipi !

What is the chances of this ever happening ? Pretty good because I have been in quite a few serious thunder storms in the South Island high country.

On my longer walk in Tipi trips I don't take the alloy pole and source a decent timber pole handy on site