A Tent for Any Season

I’ll never forget the year that we decided to camp in early May. The sun had been out for several days, and the temperatures were high. So, we decided to pack up our gear and head to the lake for a weekend.

When we arrived at the lake, temperatures had dropped to a cool but comfortable level. It was chilly, but we brought sweatshirts and extra blankets.

By 2 AM, we were packing up the tent and heading back home. The temperature had dropped to near freezing level.

Three-season tents

It never occurred to us that maybe we didn’t have the right tent for that particular season. What we had was a “three-season tent” – designed to be used mainly in the summer, but also during spring and fall. Unfortunately, we had winter weather that May, and weren’t prepared.

Three season tents have certain characteristics. They have many options for ventilation, such as mesh ceiling panels and windows. They also come with a sturdy rain fly that can be installed with utmost ease to protect you against downpours and wind on those cold spring and fall nights.
We should have considered using a winter or mountaineering tent.

Winter/mountaineering tents

The main goal of these types of tents is to play a helping hand in severe wind and weather that is more or less a norm in winter months. They typically feature a closed ventilation system along with heavy canvas fabric and high-strength aluminum poles. These are designed specifically to survive during harsh weather.

Of course, you still need to make sure that your other equipment, especially your sleeping bags, is also suited to the colder weather.

Outfitter Tents

Outfitter tents are designed around specific sport hunting and fishing seasons. That is, they are specifically designed to act as a base camp for hunting and fishing activities. The majority of these tents will be a stake-out design with some sort of pole framework.

Outfitter tents are, essentially, a portable cabin. In an ideal scenario, windows are kept to a minimum, but they are attached with other accessories - like a removable floor panel to make place for a wood burning stove, and a stove jack for the roof.