Camping Tent

Do you need a special tent for winter camping?

Welcome to the RTA Forums.

It really all depends on many things, it can't be a yes/no answer.
Firstly are you going camping in the dead of winter.
Secondly where are you going camping.
Thirdly what quality of sleeping bag and sleeping mat will you be carrying.
I would regard the latter two more important than a tent, so long as you are not thinking of carrying a cheapy tent.

Lastly if you are in an area with enough compacted snow, the best thing to do is build an igloo. They are much warmer to sleep in than a tent.

Lifey

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

As with many things, the answer is "it depends." It depends upon what your winter conditions look like - what you need for -10F and snow is a lot different than 32F and clear. Even there, what you have for other gear - particularly sleeping bags and sleeping pads (essential to provide insulation from the ground in winter) - is arguably more important.

I've certainly done some Early Spring/Late Fall camping with a regular summer/3 season tent. Generally speaking, if you're going to use a tent that's not specifically made with winter in mind, you want to keep it a small as possible, so there's less area for heat to escape.

I found a website where dome tents is listed by many retailers. Select which tent is best for winter with heavy wind for four person.

The larger the tent, the more it is exposed to wind and the greater is the heat loss. In the very cold, it is your sleeping bag and mat which will have a greater impact on your comfort.

I would never buy a four person tent for deep winter camping. Even in the igloo we had the best of bags and mats, and were very comfortable.

Lifey

For winter just expect that the tent won't help keep you warm. That's what clothing, ground pads and sleeping bags do. The most the tent can be counted on to do is reduce the amount of airflow sucking the heat away from your sleeping system.

This is one of those things where you really, really, really should try it out very carefully before committing. For example, sleep in the backyard where you can retreat to the house when you learn that your ground pad insulation is totally lacking.

I've snowshoe winter camped in snow in the Rockies. Honestly, I didn't like it very much. (Mostly because the nights are so long)

Additional thoughts- For winter it needs to be double wall, not single wall.
Reason being that condensation from your breath and body will freeze on the inside of the rainfly. With a mesh inner wall the water vapor can go thru and stick to the underside of the rainfly and generally not come back down on you even if the rainfly is shaken.

I found that taking the tent down after the cold condensing sleep meant that for my tent the poles were iced together at the joints which was troublesome for taking it down.