Winter pop up tent advice
Discussion
Looking for some advice for a decent tent for winter along with perhaps a solid sleeping bag too.
New to the game. Enjoy hill walking and mountains of the UK so thought an over nighter under the stars could be fun too.
Would have the dog with me so any advice would be great. Love the idea of cooking out under the stars and chilling with the pooch.
Thanks
New to the game. Enjoy hill walking and mountains of the UK so thought an over nighter under the stars could be fun too.
Would have the dog with me so any advice would be great. Love the idea of cooking out under the stars and chilling with the pooch.
Thanks
If you're talking about wild camping (i.e. away from a camp site) then I'd dismiss pop-up tents straight off, they just can't hack decent wind. And it's winter so that's a given.
What's your budget?
I'm basing this on the assumption that you're not looking at camping in snow, and aren't looking to spend £300-400 here's a couple of options.
Vango Banshee 200 is a bit of a DoE staple - a couple of kilos, solid reputation for holding up to significant weather and enough room to cook in the porch. Wild Country also do some good tents - they're the budget arm of Terra Nova. Wild Country Hoolie 2 is a good shout - I've got the bigger version and it's a solid tent. Big porch, plenty of room and easy to put up. If you take it out if it's bag it'll be about 2kg.
Those are both £100-ish tents. If you're looking to spent significantly more, my personal choice (and the tent I just can't justify, but want) is a Tarptent Scarp 1. But you might not be able to get hold of one in time.
Whatever you do, don't be suckered in by most 1 man tents (Scarp excepted.) Given what time it gets dark in winter you'll be in the tent for more than 12 hours and you need to be able to cook under cover of a porch (BUT NOT INSIDE THE TENT) so room is more important than you might think.
Sleeping bag, look at down and use comfort ratings as only a rough guide - you'll want a proper winter weight one, so something like a Rab Ascent 700 or Mountain Equipment/Alpkit equivalent is a good place to start.
What's your budget?
I'm basing this on the assumption that you're not looking at camping in snow, and aren't looking to spend £300-400 here's a couple of options.
Vango Banshee 200 is a bit of a DoE staple - a couple of kilos, solid reputation for holding up to significant weather and enough room to cook in the porch. Wild Country also do some good tents - they're the budget arm of Terra Nova. Wild Country Hoolie 2 is a good shout - I've got the bigger version and it's a solid tent. Big porch, plenty of room and easy to put up. If you take it out if it's bag it'll be about 2kg.
Those are both £100-ish tents. If you're looking to spent significantly more, my personal choice (and the tent I just can't justify, but want) is a Tarptent Scarp 1. But you might not be able to get hold of one in time.
Whatever you do, don't be suckered in by most 1 man tents (Scarp excepted.) Given what time it gets dark in winter you'll be in the tent for more than 12 hours and you need to be able to cook under cover of a porch (BUT NOT INSIDE THE TENT) so room is more important than you might think.
Sleeping bag, look at down and use comfort ratings as only a rough guide - you'll want a proper winter weight one, so something like a Rab Ascent 700 or Mountain Equipment/Alpkit equivalent is a good place to start.
Thanks for the replies guys £100-£200 was probably the figures i had in mind so some good suggestions there.
It would be wild camping but ideally looking for something quick to set-up follow a days walking.
The Dog is only small he's a cockerpoo and will be more than happy to sleep up close to me, in all honesty he'd be in the sleeping bag with me if he had the choice and can fit.
Snow on the ground could happen but could probably be avoided as i'd like to be hill walking but in terms of needing a bit of shelter to cook etc so could possibly have to find somewhere less exposed.
It would be wild camping but ideally looking for something quick to set-up follow a days walking.
The Dog is only small he's a cockerpoo and will be more than happy to sleep up close to me, in all honesty he'd be in the sleeping bag with me if he had the choice and can fit.
Snow on the ground could happen but could probably be avoided as i'd like to be hill walking but in terms of needing a bit of shelter to cook etc so could possibly have to find somewhere less exposed.
If you want any suggestions for a couple of spots in the Lake District, drop me a PM. When I go wild camping it's usually there. Shamelessly showing off here, but I got these from wild camping spots - in fact, I got interested in wild camping to be up high for sunrise and sunset, but found out it's a cracking experience of itself:
Why I love this place by tenohfive^, on Flickr
Morning light on Lingmell by tenohfive^, on Flickr
Sunset over the Western Fells by tenohfive^, on Flickr
850m closer by tenohfive^, on Flickr
Why I love this place by tenohfive^, on Flickr
Morning light on Lingmell by tenohfive^, on Flickr
Sunset over the Western Fells by tenohfive^, on Flickr
850m closer by tenohfive^, on Flickr
Its photos like your last one why i want to do it, some awesome shots there!!
Im in Wales so more likely to stick to our mountains, looking at doing pen y fan again this week at night but obviously no gear to camp yet but really liking the idea now even though ive always been a bit precious about sleeping outside and enjoy my home comforts lol.
Im in Wales so more likely to stick to our mountains, looking at doing pen y fan again this week at night but obviously no gear to camp yet but really liking the idea now even though ive always been a bit precious about sleeping outside and enjoy my home comforts lol.
briangriffin said:
Its photos like your last one why i want to do it, some awesome shots there!!
Im in Wales so more likely to stick to our mountains, looking at doing pen y fan again this week at night but obviously no gear to camp yet but really liking the idea now even though ive always been a bit precious about sleeping outside and enjoy my home comforts lol.
I envy you being so close to the mountains, especially since it's . I've done Pen Y Fan a couple of times, the first I was supposed to be wild camping but 60mph+ winds paid to that idea.Im in Wales so more likely to stick to our mountains, looking at doing pen y fan again this week at night but obviously no gear to camp yet but really liking the idea now even though ive always been a bit precious about sleeping outside and enjoy my home comforts lol.
I've not done any wild camping in Snowdonia but I've done a bit of running around the area (Glyders, Snowdon etc) and if that's not too far away I can just imagine what it'd be like waking up to some of the views there. Although it's always 50/50 as to whether it'll just be mist when you're in the mountains - worth that risk though. I've got some fond memories of watching the sun come up with a brew in hand on a chilly morning up high.
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