"Winterizing"a TNF Tadpole

I'm going on a two day solo snowshoe camping trip in Las Vegas' nearby Spring Mountains tomorrow.

I have no small winter tent (yes, a TT Scarp 2 comes this summer, as my budget recovers) so I'm "winterizing" my (barely) 2 man Tadpole today. I bought light, uncoated nylon ripstop fabric and cut it to fit over the mesh front door and side panels.

For now I'm in the process of hastily basting the ripstop panels on with needle and thread. Later I'll have a neighbor girl sew on Velcro strips to the tent and panels so I can attatch and remove them quickly, as the seasons dictate. Plus I can open or close off as much netting ventilation as needed when the panels are on the tent.

I'll report in this weekend to let you know how well it works. We're about to get blasted with the last and strongest of the El Nino storms that have hit California and I'll be hiking and camping in it. Love a winter storm!

I have the nearby ski area avalanche patrollers to advise me where NOT to camp. And being a ski patroller myself with an avy 1 course under my belt I'll be digging test pits if I think there is a remote possibility of avalanche along my path.

Eric

I have been thinking about doing the same thing with a light weight 3 season tent. The velcro sounds like a good idea. You will have to post some pics when you get it done. Have you figured out the new total weight?

What about the screen door? All I can say is pitch it with the door away from the wind and put your head away from the door. Good luck. have fun,
Jim

I have similar problem. I have a 3 season tent , it seems drafty and doesnt hold heat really well.

I was thinking draping a tarp over it using trekking poles , 550 cord , and small stakes.

Not sure how I will do it . I'll try to work it out tonight.

Mabey I'll post some pics.......................
...........

Nope, no luck did not work out like I wanted.

Go o BPL & read my "Storm Camp" post for the details of the trip I took.

I ended up crudely baisting the ripstop panels on the door and 2 side screens W/a curved needle. I left the panels unsewn near the tops for a few inches of venting.

But the 2 ft. of snow the last, and largest, of the California storms piled up around my 2 man tent and by morning it was a very wet (condensation) 1 man tent.

My monster Mt'n. Hardwear 4th Dimension Polarguard Delta bag (-20 F. rated) was totally wet on top so, in the interest of safety I went home that day. I wasn't sure how much moisture would leak down into the inner part of the bag by that night wit my body heat keeping it in liquid form. I absolutely must get a winter bag W/radio beam sealed seams and WP/breathable shell.

Perhaps the ripstop panels kept out TOO much wind. It howled and shook my tent all night as the snow beat on it and, at the time I was glad I sewed them on.

Eric

I spent a night in a Eureka knock off of the Tadpole in blizzard conditions. Because the sides of the fly come down so low, we had no spindrift in the tent. I did wake up several times during the night feeling claustrophobic, put my hand up and pushed to get the snow off the top of the tent. We were lucky a pole didn't break. I'm not sure the additional panels really add much function to the tent.

Winny
I used to head up to the Sierras ahead of the mountain storms to be there when it happened. The last one dropped 2 feet of heavy snow on us. I broke the pole of my sigle pole Moss tent that we were using as a cook tent. Inside my Bibler I would shake the tent to knock the snow off and the when it started pushing in, I pushed it back out. In the morning the tent was completely buried but still dry inside. Anyway when I awoke sometime 3-4ish the sides of the tent were really pressed in. While still in my goretex sleeping bag I sat up and put my back against one side and my feet against the other and pushed the tent back into shape. Now essentially the tent was pitched inside a snow cave of packed snow and in the morning it wasn't pressed in at all. Thank God for Toddex walls (fuzzy goretex)and roof vents.
Jim Oh yes consider the fate of the moss pyramid tent, single poled slanted side tents DO NOT STAND UP TO SNOWLOAD.

.. Doesn't stand up to pacific coast wet snowload..

single pole tents stand up to my kind of snowload just fine Jim.

It's all a matter of what you're gonna face.

Jim,

I've never been a fan of "pyramid" tents. Don't like poles in the center of my tents or winter tents W/O floors.

I've seen Todd-Tex tents (in a store) and it seems like a decent fabric. Good to hear positive reports on it.

After using lots of winter shelters, including tarps when hunting, I like a good dome tent and a big vestibule. Tunnel tent would be my 2nd choice.

One thing that still bothers me is the amount of moisture we can put into a Thermarest over the course of a winter week when we "top it off". Not a good thing IMHO. Thermarest needs to market a stuffsack/pump for winter camping.

Eric

Winny
I hear you, but stuff sack pumps suck, they're too had to use in a tent. However spitting into your thermarester isn't a good idea either. I think if you loft (or blow it up with a small compressor) it at home and put it by a heater or warm window and do it a couple of times, the moisture in it should vaporize and come out with the air. Especially with down fill or say a big agnes insulated core its probably a good idea to dry them out internally when you get home. Keeps them lighter.

A backpacking tip from Sesame street. The cookie monster demonstrated one day that eating rocks makes you heavy because rocks are heavy, but eating feathers makes you light. Think about it. Eating ten pounds of feathers could take ten pounds off the effective weight of that pack.
Jim

ER, yeah, Jim... that feathers idea sounds like something Gallileo would have experimented on...:)
(Where do you GET these ideas from, your wife?)
Hee, hee

Anyhow, the accumulated frozen breath vapor inside a Thermarest is a real problem that Cascade Designs needs to put in the hands of their crack physicist, Gyro Gearloose.