steve1 5 #26 March 30, 2009 If you are backpacking you would need a tent that is light weight, durable, and compact. For five people, I'd suggest three smaller two man, dome tents. They make some bigger tents that will sleep five. They are usually much bigger and heavier. I had a big four man dome tent, that would hold my wife and I, and two daughters. It worked okay. Sometimes the wind would threaten to blow it over. If size and weight doesn't matter, there is nothing better than a good wall tent. I have a bigger one with five foot walls on it. Sometimes we use it in below zero weather. We use a wood stove that throws out a lot of heat. It's usually warm as toast inside. There's nothing better after a long day out in cold weather. It takes a horse just to pack this one tent and stove though. A lot of weight, and bulk. Another thing to consider is condensation on the inside of your tent, (from you own breath). The newer tents are vented better, but this can still be a real problem. In cold weather you can end up with a thick layer of frost on everything in the morning....just from condensation. After several days this will end up soaking your sleeping bag. Many years ago, we hiked into the Bob Marshal, for nine days, on snow shoes. What a miserable time. A lot of what made that trip miserable was this build up of condensation on the inside of our tent, and on our sleeping bags. Part of what made that trip miserable, was our low tech. gear. I had a down bag. There are better sleeping bags out there now.... Does anyone have any ideas on how to combat condensation. I'm sure a lot of it depends on the tent you use. I wonder if keeping the door open, might be smart, as long as it wasn't snowing.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anta 0 #27 March 30, 2009 If it's because you cant be bothered to pitch/take down the tent you might want to consider a pop-up tent (quick draw) - pitches / is taken down in just a few mins. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve1 5 #28 March 30, 2009 That's a good point. A tent that goes up or down easily is a plus. I'm thinking about a triangular tent that has one pole in the middle. You can even tie the peak to an over-hanging limb, and skip the pole. Four stakes would hold it down. This is a very old tent design, but it might just might work well, due to the simplisity of things. It sure would be easier than plugging multiple poles together and then trying to thread them the right way through the right hole. Doing this several times, till you have it right.....Then breaking a pole, just to find out you don't have an extra one. Been there, done that! Some dome tents are way too complicated, and take a long time, and a lot of patience to set up.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
