Hexamid in heavy deep snow?

I've used a hexamid for almost all my trips over the last 3 years (3 season) including some mild snow storms of a few inches, but thats in light and fluffy colorado snow. Depending on your skill and experience, I think trying out the hexamid in familiar territory and not too far from the trailhead could be a good experiment. If you're mindful of the forcast and the possibility for big heavy snow, then you could set your alarm a couple times (I usually wake up anyway a couple times anyway.) I could see the hexamid tarp lending itself nicely to solo winter camping where you dig a trench out for sleeping space and build up some snow walls to protect from spindrift. There are plenty of steeper walled, purpose built shelters for winter ( I use the MSR twin sister), but if you've already got a lot of experience camping in the snow, it would be a way to push your skills even further, while avoiding a new purchase. That said, if you're needing something for more remote and committing trips or expect heavy, wet snow often, then I'd look for something a little bigger with steeper walls.

On a similar topic, I recently bought a duplex, and I'm thinking about taking it out for some multi day ski tours this winter and spring. I'll let you know how it goes. The mountains are certainly still unpredictable, but the type of heavy snows that would overwhelm a tent like this are most often in our modern and detailed snow forcasts.

A lot of it depends on where you camp, the quantity and moisture content of the snow, and how much snow camping experience you have.

Snow can get very, very heavy, especially if you get rain or freezing rain on top of it. Once had freezing rain at -10F in the Whites of NH and it very nearly collapsed a Bibler Eldorado, which is a tough little alpine wedgie.

Can a tarp handle this?

.(Stephenson 2RS)

Personally, I have a Duplex but for serious weather I will try this winter using a MLD Duomid.

Looks like a crashed UFO. Love it.

That shot of the Stephenson is exactly why I have taken the time to modify and run my X-ing poles inside the fly of both my Moment DW and Scarp 2.

Now I am very sure that snow load will only be a problem at the sides of the tent, not the top. I'll still have to get out and shovel off the sides but at least I won't have to worry about the tents collapsing. This modification helps a lot with high winds too.

"Looks like a crashed UFO."

And, since it's a Stephenson product, the aliens aren't wearing clothing.

A photo of me with the aliens, Jack and Joan, when I picked up the tent in NH.

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I've had my Hexamid out in some decently wet snow, about 4" of new accumulations at a time and it has performed fine. I'm not a heavy sleeper so I just slap the sides and make the accumulations fall down. Even the snow bombs falling from the trees haven't been an issue. I've found the fabric surprisingly strong.
As for the pole on the snow shoe, I wouldn't unless the tip of the trekking pole indexed into a hole in the snow shoe and there was no way the pole could slip off/out.

It's not what I'd consider a bomber 4-season shelter, but you can probably get away with it if you have the beak and you aren't trying to ride out the Snowpocalypse. I'd use good stakes (or buried sticks) and plan on using all of the extra tie-outs. There's still a decent gap under the beak so it's not going to be the same as something like a Duomid but it's certainly better than many other tarps out there since it's close to a pyramid shape with fairly steep walls. I would expect to wake up and bang snow off the walls every few hours in a big dump. James W used his (with no beak) successfully two nights earlier this month in a storm where it snowed about 4" each night.

I have had my Hexamid Twin in snow and had to knock wet snow off several times during the night. Another Hexamid Twin in our party collapsed. I think the Hexamid Solo is going to be better at handling snow. I suspect the new Solplex and Duplex tents will do better still. I now carry a DuoMid for shoulder season and winter camping.

What failed on the Twin to make it collapse? One of the stakes?

Hrm,
Starting to think I should get something beefier than a Hexamid for winter.
Is the Scarp the lightest fully enclosed 4 seasons shelter out there?
For some reason this search is proving difficult for me…

How about a Notch with the solid inner?

Notch seems like a cool tent.
I'd be worried that little ridge area in the center would collect snow though.
Anyone have experience with this in snow?

Hey Franco…how much does the Notch weigh with just the fly? I'm surprised more people don't talk about it as a winter shelter vs. something like a Solomid or Duomid. Seems like a very storm-worthy design.

The fly alone is about 17 oz.
You can buy it like that (fly, no inner,no stakes) for $159, however probably better value getting the full kit.
This is the Notch fly only :

6' mat, I am 5'8", poles set at 45" set wider at the bottom than standard.

The Notch outer does not come right down to the ground, so for snow use in the fly only mode you would need to build up a small wall – just a curb, really – of snow to seal that off. I've looked at the idea myself and it seems like a good possibility. And a MYOG solid inner (as opposed to the semi-solid inner supplied) could result in a full double wall shelter at a very low weight.

Yes true, but it does go a bit closer to the ground than the Hexamid.
Here it is with the poles at 40" :

The inner apex is at about 38" so still OK for the 6' guys.
BTW, the fly in the middle in this photo is 2" from the ground.
The other photo with me inside makes it look further away than it is because of the perspective (the camera was tilted upward)

I wonder if the MSR Hubba or Carbon Reflex might be good for winter – still fairly lightweight, but full fly and more pole strength. I've done a fair bit of mountaineering here in Alaska and I use to use a SD Flashlight as my winter tent and it worked just fine.