Well, the tent did not hold up well in the ice/snow we got. It was pretty much collapsed when I got down to it yesterday. On the plus side it was not ripped up and it was still dry and mostly snow and ice free inside.



My six year old grandson, Shea, who's been staying with us the past week, had wanted to go for another hike with me but it was way too cold to bring him down there in the days since the snowstorm so I waited it out with him.

It's about two city blocks to the campsite from our house on the trail we took. On the way down there I told him about the tent, how it worked, and that we'd build a fire and get in it when we got there. He wasn't impressed when he saw it. Six year olds are tough to impress.

Unfazed, I shook the snow and ice off the roof, reset the guy lines and one of the stakes, and in just a couple minutes the tent was back in order. Then I cleared the snow from in front of the tent and started gathering up some sticks I'd left down there to make a fire. The sticks were not covered so it was a good chance to see how well I'd do at getting my campfire going.

Shea help knock the snow and ice off and stacked the sticks up. When we had it all ready I lit a small piece of fat pine and tucked it into the kindling. We waited, and waited. The wood was freezing cold and not entirely dry and he mentioned a few time along the way that I was doing it all wrong. Now he was convinced. I offered that patience would serve us well now and told him soon we'd be nice and cozy warm.



With the temp at 30º and the fire lit I pinned down the front panel on one side, we got in, and I pinned the other. I set the thermometer inside the tent on my pack. It took about ten minutes for the fire to get a good flame and by then it was up to 60º inside the tent. In another ten minutes it was 80º inside.

Shea and I took our coats off and sat inside for awhile and discussed tents and campfires and all kinds of things. I gave him a little piece of candy I brought. It wasn't long before he was bouncing around inside the tent and putting it though yet another durability test. I took a minute to make this video just seconds before that...