Originally Posted by smokepole
I'd go with a floorless tipi-style tent. Most bang for the buck (and weight).


That's the choice I made for similar use, and after two seasons like it better. I've used my 6 man SeekOutside tipi down to -25 in Canadian Rockies in November. 4 lbs. for the tipi alone, which gives space 13 ft across and 8 ft high. This tipi is the most versatile and modifiable shelter I've used other than an infinitely variable flat tarp. I'm still tinkering with homemade stoves and unless it was deeply cold would not backpack a stove in dry, cold climate but would cope with the condensation. Have done that.

For BP I don't pack a center pole nor pegs but improvise with materials where ever we camp. We tie out to logs or rocks etc. and can't peg it in frozen ground anyway. Also, I don't BP it solo but go with minimal tarp if alone.

Last week we used the tipi as a cook and hang out shelter on a camp-by-the-road tent foray near the Yukon border of BC. We slept in a quality dry tent with an added blue tarp rain roof. I pitched the tipi 12 inches higher than usual and loved it.

We sat on folding chairs with a table and stove, dry and wind protected in lots of rain. For such use near a vehicle, next time I plan to pitch it 18 inches off the ground suspended from outside with no center pole, and make a 2 ft. high tarp skirt buttoned to the loops around the edges. Voila - lots of inside space and removeable side walls.