- Brooks Range Quick Tent at McFarlane Saddle (Vic)
Interesting question, Moondog. How much of a compromise to save weight are you willing to make? As you can see from the above photos the "Quick Tent" (which is neither) can be made taunt and with a reasonable air gap. It sheds water adequately, and doesn't collapse under a light frosting. Don't be fooled by the sleeping mat (Sea to Summit insulated mat) to the side. This is purely a one person shelter. If you were in that sleeping bag the condensation would be dripping all over the bag. Even in the middle, without propping up the tail end of the fly, a person on a mat in a fluffy bag (Sea to Summit Traverse, not a huge snow bag, weighs 1200g) has their feet centimetres below the fly's inner side. Where you can see the patch of frost in the middle of the tent, the natural angle of the fabric is intended to continue downwards. The best technique, I have found, is to use a SOL bivvy bag as protection against condensation and heat loss. By the time you factor in a full load of pegs, recommended to keep the tent taunt, and a bivvy bag the weight is getting up to around 700g.
If you were to dig a pit in the snow, use snow pegs, and embed the QT in the pit it would probably resist most conditions reasonably well but the possibility of complete failure would be much higher than a real 4 season tent.
Having said all this, I still use this fly when I solo walk and don't need the additional weight or protection of one of my real tents.It does pack into a sleeve sewn into the fly, and is about the size of a Nalgene bottle.