Best solo shelter for moderate four season use?

Brooks Range Rocket Tent or ask Ron@MLD for an Duomid Winter Inner Tent made of M50.

HMG Echo I? It's very light (1.5 lbs), double wall and quite strong. On the downside, it's expensive, doesn't have a ton of headroom and it's not the simplest to set up. In the winter you can seal off the bottom edges with short snow walls and use it without the inner tent to get a really spacious shelter or you could keep the inner for a smaller but condensation protected shelter. If you're expecting snow, you can pitch the sides of the tarp a little steeper to encourage the snow to slide off.

This is what I'm using this winter. So far I've only used it one night with significant snow fall and it faired well other than my aftermarket guylines having a bit too much stretch.

I can't speak about the Duomid specifically, but I do know that a somewhat similar Oware Aplphamid pitches very easily and can be pitched tight against the ground.

I would think condensation would be less of an issue in a Duomid as all the condensation that didn't freeze to the inside would run down the sides to the ground.
In fact I would be afraid to pitch it too tight. You need air to breath.

Of course pyramids usually have to be positively well attached to the ground in windy conditions, snow stakes, rocks, …

I think you would find many on this forum with experience with the Duomid in 4 season use.

Its not Ultralight at 2kg but my Semi Geo Lightwave G1 Ultra has performed better in wind tunnel tests than a Mountain Hardwear Taurine, Black Diamond Stormtrack and Hilleberg Staika. Its a non mesh inner with mesh pached near the vents and is very roomy for 1 person and well , it is inner pitch (as most other semi Geos are) but the inner has a DWR treatment

I bought G1 ULtra to rpelace a Crux X2 Storm (reviewed on here)

the cool thing about Lightwave and Crux tents as they are a modular design allowing for diffrent option for diffrent waether.

http://www.lightwave.uk.com/en/tent_g1ultra.php

What about either the GoLite Shangri-La 2 or the MSR Twin Sisters?

Both are single-wall shelters but for true winter conditions it seems like condensation wouldn't be much of an issue b/c (1) both are sized big enough for solo use that you wouldn't brush up against a wall, and (2) condensation would freeze on the walls and could be shaken off in the morning.

Just a quick caution that the BD Hilight fabric is not waterproof. I've not tried the Hilight at all, but I have tested out the older model BD Firstlight. If wet snow or continuous rain showers are a concern, I would look elsewhere — such as the Scarp you mentioned.

I used a Black Diamond Hilight (2007 model) for several years until I finally decided to truly go lighter and become a tarp/bivy guy. It was a very solid 4 season tent that was at its best in the winter and in high-wind situations — it's absolutely bombproof and sheds snow and wind like butter. For the most part, I got it through lots of spring/fall precipitation in the mid-Atlantic without having the fabric wet-out on me (though it did happen once). I don't know if I would trust it in the Pacific NW or any place where you could expect multiple nights in a row of rain. I see that the new models use a different material now and have gone away from Epic.

On the other hand, I had to go away from this tent because even at three pounds it's too heavy for what I want. I don't want to use shelters anymore that require me to bring specialized poles other than what I hike in with.

The BD Hilight, Firstlight, etc. do not use EPIC any more so all of the old observations about fabric performance do not apply to the current line.

True, which is why I typed in "old model" in my post above re. my Firstlight rain test. I know little about the new (current) fabric, but they are still sold as "highly rain resistant" and not rainproof — correct?

As for the old highly rain resistant EPIC fabric, BD rated it conservatively at 5 hours. My own tests showed actual rain resistance of up to 9 hours — not bad at all. Has anyone done actual testing on the new (current) Nano highly rain resistant fabric?

I'm still thinking of buying a Scarp I (W/ cloth inner tent) for winter but I'd have to figure in the weight of the crossing poles.

And… to make the Scarp I hold up better in a heavy snow load I'd have to place the crossing poles INSIDE the fly. This means sewing Cordura "pockets" in the apex of each corner (where the inverted V carbon fiber rods meet) to recieve the shortened crossing pole ends. Also Velcro straps need to be sewn inside, at the reinforcements for the exterior pole straps, to hold the poles in place.

I've done a similar thing with my TT Moment's crossing pole and get almost complete canopy support with the pole running inside.

BTW, I don't think anyone has really tested this mod. Do so at your own risk.

I haven't seen anyone do it, but wouldn't it be fairly simple to add some snow skirts to eliminate drafts and spindrift on a Duomid?

I too am keen on finding a lightweight 4 season tent. I currently use a pacer 2 which is nice albeit a bit too big and heavy. An aarn pacer 1 only weighs 1.4 kg for a double wall tent, or 800 grams for the fly.

I would be interested to see how a crossing pole tunnel tent like this compares to something like a duomid?

What I would ideally like is something inbetween a pacer 1 and something like Steve's ALL-W.E.T. R1 (link 3)

All the other options that I can find like this (GG – the one and TT – Sublite) either don't have a crossing pole or don't seem to have alot of headroom. Any advice?

http://www.aarnpacks.com/products/pacer_tent_2.html
http://www.aarnpacks.com/products/pacer_tent_1.html
http://www.suluk46.com/RandD%20-%20RD14%20ALL-WET.html

Cheers,
Jeremy.

Eric
Scarp 1 and poles inside
As you know I played with that idea when it first came out but in the end it was too fiddly even for me..
This is an early picture of the Scarp 1 tested at TT :

Not an enormous amount of snow but enough…
Franco

Rather more snow- heavy wet Scottish snow too. There is a Scarp 1 in there. And when dug out it was fine.

Maybe take a look at the Hilleberg Unna. 3#5oz without the stakes, bags and any guys, according to their specs. For some reason, they post an additional 1#+ for packed weight, but you could look into it. Also note that if you were using the Scarp's same .344 Easton tube on the Unna, it would be several ounces lighter, IMO.
Although I do not camp out much in the winter, and would not carry the extra weight, t'wer me, and if the Unna's min specs are accurate, I would get one and substitute carbon poles made of Victory V-force V6 300 arrow shafts to drop around 1/2 lb. But the Unna is quite more expensive than the Scarp, and the vestibule appears smaller.
Some food for thought, I hope.

Nice spot of stealth camping there Chris.

Hillleberg tents are great… but if OP is on a budget — methinks Hilleberg tents are an overkill for "moderate" four season use.

"but wouldn't it be fairly simple to add some snow skirts to eliminate drafts and spindrift on a Duomid?"

I might be wrong about the Duomid, but most pyramids, and I think the Duomid as well, can be pitched tight to the ground assuring no spindrift.

You would have to make sure there is some ventilation of some sort and the Duomid has a top vent, but you may want to open up the zipper a little?
Some spindrift is OK, in my opinion anyway.