Hiking Advice
Do You Really Need A 4-Season Tent?
Everything You Need To Know About 4-Season Tents.
- Date - 11/09/2023
- Author - Josh Hamill
Do You Really Need A 4-Season Tent?
Hiking Advice | 11/09/2023 | Josh Hamill
Article Contents -
Thinking about camping out in the snow? Then there’s a few things that you need to consider before venturing out on your first snow camping experience, with one of the most important considerations being your equipment.
Most hikers who are looking to widen their hiking experience with some winter fun already own 3-season hiking gear – hopefully gear that’s held up well that they can trust. However, this equipment may not be fit for the harsher weather you can expect on a winter outing.
Then comes the question – “what do I need for 4-season camping?”, and the common answer among others is “a 4-season tent”…
But what exactly is a 4-season tent, and how does it differ from its 3-season counterparts? Lots of questions arise, and knowing what you actually need can become complicated. So to make sure you don’t fall prey to these complications I’ve collected everything that I know about 4-season tents along with some useful snow camping tips to get you started.
What Is A 4-Season Tent?
Let’s begin first by dispelling some confusion around what a 4-season tent actually is. 4-season is a category of tent, where tents are designed to withstand the weather typical of the winter season. 4-season tents when compared to their 3-season counterparts are made of stronger fabrics and materials, and are designed to deal with high rainfall, snow, and strong winds – all elements that should be expected if you are alpine camping. As you could imagine, the fabrics used to construct these tents are waterproof or highly water resistant – but this seems to be the case with most tents these days. Along with waterproofing, the fabrics used in construction are very resistant to tearing.
In terms of design features, the tents sit fairly low to the ground and are typically directed to be pitched in a certain way to direct wind flow over the tent (a useful skill to carry over into the other seasons). These tents come with solid inner tents instead of mesh inners. Solid inner tents provide superior protection against the elements along with warmth, this being due to a massive reduction in airflow. With this being the case, these tents aren’t suitable for most scenarios outside of winter. You will also have to consider this airflow restriction when dealing with condensation, as without a breeze to push air through the tent you could be dealing with a very wet morning or a shower of icicles throughout the night.
4-season tents also have stronger tent poles, or even options to ‘double pole’. Tent pole failure in high winds is pretty much a death sentence for a tent, structural integrity and tension have to be maintained to prevent overall tent failure – excessive flapping or a tent pole breaking are two ways in which the tent can tear itself apart in high winds.
Essentially a 4-season tent’s main distinctions are that it is able to deal with very strong winds along with high rain and snowfall when compared to a 3-season tent. But does this mean that you can’t use a 3-season tent for snow camping?
Do You Actually Need A 4-Season Tent?
Well, the answer is it depends…
Do you want to camp in places like this?
Etheridge Ridge (2188m). Mt Kosciuszko (2228m) in the background.
If so, you absolutely need a 4-season tent. But what if you plan to camp well at or below the tree-line? If you pick your weather windows well and strictly do not camp above the tree-line then I don’t believe it is necessary for you to purchase a 4-season tent (so long as you already own a good quality 3-season tent).
Remember, the main distinctions between a 3 and 4 season tent are the ability to deal with high winds and lots of rain or snowfall. If you remove wild weather from the equation through avoiding exposed campsites above the tree-line along with dangerous weather, then there isn’t really a need for you to use a 4-season tent. The only factor that you may want to consider is that a 4-season tent is, on average, warmer than a 3-season tent.
But, you could deal with the warmth problem through having an adequate sleep system, and it’s much more cost effective to upgrade your sleep system then it is to buy a brand new (and often very expensive) 4-season tent.
Rather than buying a new sleeping bag rated to winter temperatures you can upgrade the warmth of your existing one by combining it with a sleeping bag liner, or better still, a backpacking quilt. The quilt is the better option as they can protect your sleeping bag from condensation along with providing much more warmth than a liner.
You can also upgrade the R-Value of your sleep system by combining your current sleeping pad with an insulative foam sleeping pad – they add about 2 R-value to your system and cost around $100 – much more cost effective in comparison to buying a winter sleeping pad.
Without a 4-season tent it isn’t wise to camp above the tree-line during the winter.
When You Do Need A 4-Season Tent:
For those of you who plan to camp in the alpine during the winter, then comes the question of “which tent do you choose?”.
There are a number of different options. A popular style of 4-season tent is the single wall mountaineering tent. These tents are incredibly lightweight and storm worthy, a great choice for moving fast and light on very mountainous terrain. However, these tents aren’t the most liveable and don’t offer as much protection as other options.
Another choice is the expedition style tent. These tents a quite large and heavy but very strong in adverse weather – ideal for basecamp adventures over multiple days.
My personal favourite style of tent is the tunnel tent. These tents seem to combine the best features of single wall mountaineering tents and expedition style tents. They are extremely strong, lightweight, and reasonably roomy – a middle ground between the latter two styles.
I use a Wilderness Equipment Second Arrow UL tent, which I find to be a very well designed 4-season tunnel tent (and it’s Aussie made too!). Other alternatives are the Macpac Olympus, Hilleberg Nallo, and Mont Supercell.
Some downsides of tunnel style tents are their weakness to changeable wind direction. For optimal strength you need to pitch them short side against the wind. If the wind changes to the broadside of the tent they aren’t nearly as strong. These tents also aren’t freestanding, so getting a perfect pitch can be difficult in certain campsites. Aside from these two downsides, tunnel tents are an almost perfect design for an alpine tent.
Review Of Wilderness Equipment Second Arrow:
When I was in the market for a 4-season tent I landed on the Wilderness Equipment Second Arrow after seeing the Oates brothers use it on the Main Range during their winter AAWT traverse. They noted a few flaws – the lack of space for two people, and the attachment points for removing the inner from the outer tent. However, they attested to the strength of the tent, and noted how it would be a very good choice for a roomy ‘1 person’ winter tent.
I’d have to agree, I wouldn’t want to squish 2 people in this tent, but I love how much room I then have just for myself and my gear. I can fit all my kit inside the inner tent and leave the sharp stuff in the vestibule. I’ve also noticed that the tent might be a tad too short for the giants among us. If you’re over 6ft you could struggle for room. I’m 5’11 and I don’t feel cramped in the tent, but I can see that If I was a tad taller I could run into some problems.
But that’s about all I can say about the downsides of this tent. The setup at first is a bit awkward, but after a few pitches it’s actually fairly quick to setup and can be done so with the inner attached to the outer. It’s got plenty of peg out points and guy lines, weighs only 1.6kg for a 4-season tent, and can put up with strong persistent winds and powerful gusts.
As this isn’t an overly popular tent I thought I’d cover the setup procedure and a few tips for getting a strong pitch in the latter half of the video you can find at the top of the article (video conveys far more information than words). For those who want a write up of the procedure, see below:
- Point the short end of the tent into the direction of the wind. Loosen the tensioning strap of the main peg out point of this side.
- Push the tent poles through their respective sleeves. If they get stuck then pull the tent across the pole.
- Attach the tent pole feet to the tent starting at the short side. Ensure there are no tangles.
- Pull the long end of the tent’s peg out points forward to give the tent structure. Pull these points directly forward, not off to the side.
- Return to the short side of the tent and tension the loose strap.
- Tension the remaining straps by the tent pole feet. You can also peg out each tent pole foot to make the tent sit lower to the ground.
Side view of the WE Second Arrow.
Other Useful Information:
There you have it, 4-season tents de-mystified. While these tents are vital in the alpine, depending on your snow camping intentions they may not be necessary for you. Hopefully you learned a thing or two and are able now to make more informed decisions when it comes to snow camping equipment.
If you have any questions regarding this article feel free to comment on the linked YouTube video or contact Better Hiking on Instagram.
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