ArcDome 2 Ultra

Also, to answer your 2nd question, I believe the lightest, intense storm-worthy, freestanding, double-wall tent is the Tarptent ArcDome Ultra. It’s a little over 3.5lbs all in, and can (apparently) withstand 60mph winds when fully guyed out.

Why are you focused on the ArcDome in SilPoly when the ArcDome 2 Ultra has been out for a while, and Tom Heaney in Ireland did a couple excellent videos on it?

I would use my tarptent arc dome 2 ultra for those conditions. I unclip parts of the inner to get a bigger vestibule for cooking. I haven’t had it out in any nasty weather yet I’m confident it can handle plenty wind and snow load. “Worst” was maybe 20-25mph wind and 10-15F. This was with the mesh inner. I have since purchased the solid inner. Packability isn’t great due to the ultra tnt material but they have a polyester version that probably packs down smaller.

4 season tents is more about wind and snow resistance than cold. If the issue is condensation, a four season tent probably won’t help. More often than not they have less ventilation than 3 season tents as the fly will go all the way down to the ground and the inner will have less mesh. If the tent relies on ventilation between the ground and the fly and said space is blocked by snow a tent with vents higher up, like what you will find on many winter tents, will give you better ventilation. As long as you breathe inside your tent, which is considered best practice, your fly will have frost on the inside in the morning. To prevent frost on the foot end of your bag you could zip up your jacket and stick the end of the bag into it. Just make sure you don’t compress your bag. You can also drape your jacket over but it might fall off in the middle of the night. I have used a tarptent arcdome 2 ultra in winter with no issues. But it’s not the tent I will bring in conditions with lots of wind and snow. But that’s more about the small vestibules and the fact that the fly doesn’t go all the way to the ground.

I would get something that doesn’t soak up so much water as straight sil-nylon. My 1kg tent probably weighed 1.5kilos after a muggy few days in southern Norway last summer. I have the hornet osmo elite 1p but haven’t had it out in rain so I can’t comment on how much water the fly soaks up. My tarptent Arcdome ultra doesn’t soak up any water.

Just FYI, the Ultra version will not be coming back, at least in the current UltraTNT. We found that for a tent like the ArcDome, not being able to stuff it was a major drawback, as it is difficult to get a nice fold when packing up in high wind. There are some other stuffable UHMWPE fabrics we are looking at, but it will be a while before anything comes out in those, as we still have plenty of testing to do.