Lightest tent for snow?

I really like my Golite Sl3 for winter camping below treeline

Tent snow stakes and pole come in at about 3 pounds.

With your Hexamid the issue wouldn't be the pole sinking in – just use a ki pole with normal basket on it and it works fine. the issue would be that the Hexamid does not come all the way down to the ground all the way around, so you'll have blowing snow entering where it's not tight to the snow. Pyramid style shelters that do reach the ground all around work well for snow.

The blown-snow issue could be solved by just building a little snow wall. Not even "building," really, just pushing.

A sit pad could double as a platform for a ski pole. That, or a rock.

Really, the benefit of pyramid and tarp-style shelters is their flexibility. Site selection and found materials can turn any deep-snow situation into a good campsite in just a few minutes of setup.

Well, there’s blown snow and then there’s BLOWN SNOW (photo is from Ground Truth Trekking)

It really depends on the nature of the snow and the exposure. Good snow camping in my neck of the woods is in hilly mixed hardwood/conifer forest. Much of it is sheltered very well and very strong winds would be heard but not felt … but a mile away and a couple hundred feet higher at a spot chosen for views we could have no shelter in sight 10 miles upwind.

> The blown-snow issue could be solved by just building a little snow wall. Not even
> "building," really, just pushing.
ROTFLMAO
You haven't seen how fast a good wind can completely erode a wall of snow away! A couple of hours for a solid wall.

Cheers

nothing comes too easy with winter camping.

Snow shovel, snow shoe, piece of bark, rock or try compacting the area where the pole will be, adding some water, let it set up. I used my aluminum measuring cup one time, it now has a permanent indentation in the bottom, so no more measuring cup.
Duane

Put the center pole on well-compacted snow and something about 6" or wider–a flat piece of wood, frisbee, rock.

If you're below the treeline, use buried sticks and extra anchor guylines configured in a way that you don't have to dig up your anchors. They're less weight and less work.

I'm switching to using only a waterproof breathable bivy bag this year for snow camping.

"Well, there's blown snow and then there's BLOWN SNOW (photo is from Ground Truth Trekking)"

And that was just Jim C's backyard! ;-)

Yeah, just depends on the type of snow/conditions. Obviously "dry" snow in constant wind won't hold a shape, but if you've got a good sticky snow, pressing it down will hold as long as you need it to (assuming, of course, you don't need it to hold until summer).