What kind of tent would you use for winter camping?

I know you're thinking to yourself, winter camping? How much fun could that be. The correct answer is a resounding "tons!" of course.

You obviously need to plan more carefully for this kind of camping and everything from your tent to sleeping bag are obviously going to be larger and heavier. However, like I always say, if you've got the right gear then everything will run smoothly for you on your winter camping trip.

You definely need to upgrade your tent to a four season tent for an adventure like this. In general they are made of material that is thicker and more resistant to abrasion. Often they will have additional material at the seamlines for reinforcement. The poles are heavier to withstand snowloading and can be more intricate to assemble than three season tents. They usually have more poles, also to help with snow loading. The additional poles create more intersections which helps to stiffen the poles against each other and it reduces the amount of "free fabric" between the poles as well. Their flys extend closer to the ground and have more points of attachment.

Four season tents are large enough for their rated number of people and may have extra living space as well to accomodate campers that are waiting out a storm for a couple of days and are not leaving their tent.

You don't even need a tent to camp in the winter months. Other options would include a bivy sac or even burrowing a hole into a snow drift. Remember making snow forts when you were a kid? Exactly the same thing. They actually are very warm once you're inside because your body heats it up to a point where they're quite comfortable. They also would not have issues of being blown over. They are however filled with snow so you would need a sleeping pad or air mattress to keep you off the ground.

An actual benefit to winter camping (at least in my eyes) is that many animals hibernate during the winter months so you're far less likely to have an encounter with a bear for example.

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