UL Tents good in light – medium snow

[Ryan Grayson]

I'll be hiking the PCT southbound starting late June 2014. Do you think I will need a 4-season tent, or will a Tarp Tent Notch or Contrail be good?

Also, a friend told me his contrail doesn't keep rain out very well. Said it blows in underneath. Is this user error? Do any of you had experience with this tent?

Thanks!

[Franco Darioli]

I would suggest the Notch.
About the same weight as the Contrail but easier to use on snow.
In fact I would not deliberatelly take the Contrail if I expect snow.
This is my Notch :

This is how the Contrail should look inside :

(sorry about the mess…)
When set up correctly the Contrail has about 1 foot clearance between the fly and the floor.

If you look in my Franco Darioli You Tube Channel you will see several Contrail in the rain clips
BTW…
franco@tarptent

[Ryan Grayson]

Thanks for the suggestion! I suspected user error in setting up the Contrail, but I couldn't be sure. I'm leaning toward the Notch. Unless anyone has any other suggestions?

[Aaron]

If you're looking for shelter that will serve you well through a thru-hike as well as the winter months, I'd highly recommend a mid with bug net insert, such as the MLD Duomid.

[Brad Rogers]

Golite Shangri-la 2 ?????

[Hiking Malto]

I would get a mid with bug inner. You are not likely to have fresh snow, you will likely have miles and miles of consolidated snow. The last thing I would worry about with your schedule is a snow worthy shelter. You may have many other challenges such as crampons, ice axe, foot ware, navigation etc.

[Dean F.]

Yeah, I'm a mid fan, too. They are steep enough to do well in moderate snow. If you can only afford one shelter, I maintain that a mid is a good do-anything choice.

I detest inners, though. I just use a light bivy- it replaces both a groundsheet and bugnet, and will resist any light spray that might miraculously work it's way under the tent walls, for <6oz. For 20oz a DuoMid is a palace for one person, and can be pitched using a trek pole as the center pole if you put a rock under it.

The only TarpTent I have owned was a Moment- which was actually quite AWESOME and pitched wicked fast but I wanted to simplify things so I went mid. I never used it in snow but the reports say that it does ok in moderate loads using the optional longitudinal pole.

[Kevin @ Seek Outside]

I have a ton more snow photos. They can hold up well depending on configuration

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