Eugene and others,

The Black Diamond Betamid lite, i.e. the silnylon version you put up with you ski/snow shoe poles, is pretty useful in the East, e.g. Adirondacks. It's available cheap usually toward the end of the summer season. If you are not inured to hardship and cold, you don't belong in a tarp tent in the winter, and if you are not pursuing light weight approaches, you should stick with traditional schemes.

Walt