Snow in 3 season tent

[huntsd]

How much snow can a 3 season tent handle? I’ve never backpacked in the snow before and it looks like we’re in for some snow for an up coming hunt. I’m guessing a couple inches of snow would be fine and tent will hold up. What do you think is too much? I run a big Agnes copper spur.

thoughts?/experiences?

 

[Texasbuckeye]

I had some experience with a driving snow while using a 3 season tent in ohio while camping for boyscouts many years ago. We all awoke to about 2-3” of slush/snow on our bags. If not for a nice bag i would have been absolutely miserable, but i didnt sleep well that night either.
If you plan to use a 3 season and expect snow, i would suggest a bivy you could put your bag into to act as a inner sanctum.
In the above scenario, it was the driving snow, that pushed moisture through the no-see-um mesh that refroze on top
Of us. We had no issues with the small amount of snow we got. I would
Imagine the tent you have can handle a couple inches, but more than a couple inches of wet snow will probably collapse the tent.

 

[BBob]

I've had that happen many times. Never had a tent fully collapse from it. I always wake up during the night for various reasons anyway and if it's snowed I just shake and knock it off the tent. I woke up one night in a BA Seedhouse and the sidewalls had squeezed in pretty far but some pushing and shaking and it was back to fine.

 

[Jimbob]

The big thing is to stay awake and knock snow off your tent so it doesn't become a problem.

I was on a school trip last year with 25 kids and we got 4 inches of heavy wet snow. My Eolus did fine and it was easy to knock snow off the bottom walls. However, a bunch of the kids had pretty crappy tents so I was out at 3:00 am "saving" everyone ha ha. A bunch of kids were fast asleep under collapsed tents. Some kids were cold and wet so I got a roaring fire going and kids started gathering around that at 5:30 am.

Don't let the snow build up.

 

[Poser]

The tent itself will support the weight well enough unless it’s a lot of really heavy snow. Big thing is to setup protected from the wind if there is a storm. High winds can blow snow up inside the vestibule and through the mesh.

 

[*zap*]

Not all 3 season tents are equal...I have an rei arete2 asl that will take snow on with no troubles...

 

[cmahoney]

I’ve had a couple inches in my 1 man copper spur no problem.


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[sneaky]

I’ve had a couple inches in my 1 man copper spur no problem.


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A couple inches... of what?

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[Kevin_t]

It depends on the type of snow , wet snow it is far less . It also depends on the tent , some collapse easily without being maintained , others do ok but loose space . I’ve been out in up to 18 inches before , and it’s knock a knock it off game every hour or two .

Some tents , like our seek outside ones you can change the pitch to get better snow performance . Freestanding tents are harder to change the pitch and you have to knock it off


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[goalie]

As others have stated, it's the wind blowing the snow that separates the 3 season from the 4 season.

Full coverage vestibule/fly that goes to the ground helps a lot.

 

[go_deep]

The 3 season tent I road out a 16" snow storm in was not intended to be in a snow storm.
Buy once cry once, be prepared.

 

[CoStick]

Remember to knock it off before you open it up to get out you only do it once.

 

[rayporter]

we were up all night scraping snow off this one and it still collapsed by morning. maybe 4 inches of snow fell.

 

[20DYNAMITE07]

It depends on the tent and the type of snow... some tents support more weight than others, and if the snow is wet and heavy it's obviously going to be a lot harder than some light fluffy stuff you might get in CO or UT.

I've been snowed on in some basic REI tents, a Kelty, and an off brand 6 person tent called 12 Survivors, and all of them have held up fine. None of these experiences have been huge storms though (4-6"), and all of the snow has been pretty dry. Waking up once or twice to bang the tent walls will help-

Also, guylining out the tent properly and high up on the walls can really make a difference too.

 

[mlgc20]

Here is what my Big Agnes Jack Rabbit tent looked like after about 4 hours of snow during Colorado archery last year, the first week of September. When I left the tent before sunrise the snow had not started. When I came back around 11 the tent had collapsed. As others have pointed out, the type of snow matters. This was a very heavy, wet snow.

 

[Studd muffin]

This was last October, wish I could find just a picture of my tent. The one in the middle is a Cabelas Alaskan Guide I think. Mine was off to the left. It is a Marmot 2p Limelight or something like that. It collapsed.

 

[Bobcat]

As previously mentioned, not all tents are created equal and that type of snow matters. five years ago I was using a Nemo Losi 3p tent when a September snowstorm hit. I left in the early morning and returned to find my tent collapsed after about an inch and a half of light snow and heavy wind. The wind had caused the snow to drift to about 3 inches around the tent. The tent was fine after digging it out. Over the next three days I received 2 feet of snow with heavy winds. To keep the tent from collapsing every hour I would go out shake it off and pull the snow away from the tent.

My first gear purchase for the next year was a larger 4 season tent for my base camp.

 

[Hackleback]

An additional light-weight blue poly tarp might be your friend if you expect snow. If anything, they are slippery and the snow will slide off.

 

[mcseal2]

Spent a lot of time with a scoop shovel and shop broom outside the tipi this night. 15” by morning. We took I-70 until it closed, I-80 until it closed, and cut to I-25 to beat the storm into out unit and get camp set. All melted and got muddy a few days later.