MSR - Elixir™ 2-Person Backpacking Tent

Msr elixir 2 is what I use and love it!

The elixer 2 will be fine, a bit small, for 2 in winter. Has guyline points! Pile snow around lower edges of the fly & it'd be quite snug enough. If you can leave inner tent at home, so much the better. It's great to trash bits of snow, coffe grounds, tobacco spit & pee- bottle contents inside a floorless tent. Anything gross can be buried. Alternately, a much larger, floorless pyramid-type tent with center pole is "popular" snow-camping rig. These are light, & fairly blizzard-proof with guylines. The floorless "floor" can be excavated for lots of headroom, in theory. Obvious alternative is "expedition dome" type tent. Can be very heavy & expensive & probably excessive.

Four-pole domes, or certain hoop tents may survive, but assuming that conditions would actually obliterate elixer, then any tent will be severely stressed & potentially destroyed. Shovels to build snow walls may be necessary, but building such a camp takes hours. Alternately use rocks. A sledge (sleigh) could be handy if snow permits.

I had the Elixr 2 for ten years. It manages four seasons just fine. It's a very sturdy tent. Heavy af though. So I got rid of it.

I’m looking to lighten up my wild camping load out. I’m currently using the msr elixir 2. While it’s a great tent, It’s contributing to my pack weight being regularly over 18-20kg so I’m looking to massively lighten my load. I’ve done the classic beginner mistake of going far too bulky. Live and learn eh I really like the look to the newer durston gear x mid 1 solid. It retails on valley and peak for about £340 (great company for anything wild camping) but I was looking for some feedback from people who’ve battle tested it. How’s it fared? I’ve heard it has quite a big footprint and can be difficult pitch at times? I was also wondering how it would fair in comparison to the msr in terms of wind resistance and strength? I’ve been in some decent gusts around 35 - 40mph and the msr has held up well although this was on the harsher side of conditions it could cope with. How would the durston do in comparison? From what I can see it’s a 2 piece so condensation shouldn’t be too much of an issue, right? Any info or advice is much appreciated.

The wind in main range nsw will obliterate an elixir. It is surprisingly a really rough area for winter camping as there’s not much of a below tree line area to bail to

Zero rocks in the area in snow season, tunnels and proper domes are fine but an elixir is not on their level. This guy has received plenty of local knowledge but doesn’t want to spend on a tent that’s suitable

I didn't go walmart cheap, but i didn't go ape shit on ultralight either. I chose the mid range for my first backpacking tent. I felt if I went too cheap, I might not like it due to quality, but if I went too expensive and didn't like it, I wouldn't have wasted as much money. $300 was my range. MSR Elixir 2p (2p is favorable for 1p, so your gear has space).

I really love my Mormot Tungsten. It is a little heavier than some of the other Recs but is roomy and has withstood some intense PNW rain. It also comes in an ultra light version (I don’t think it’s actually ultralight, but it is lighter than the OG version). Don’t pay full price for it though, Marmot tents are on sale all the time. I don’t like the zipper geometry on the MSR elixir and hubba for heavy rain and damp/dew- it’s meant so you don’t have to reach so far out into the vestibule to open your fly, but i find it means the zipper can drip into your tent through the open door.

MSR makes a 1p that is under 2 lbs and the poles are super small. I have a MSR 2p now as I don't care about weight. I used the 1p on my first outing and it was very awesome. MSR Freelite https://cascadedesigns.com/products/freelite-1-person-ultralight-backpacking-tent?_pos=3&_fid=c788cde60&_ss=c