Winter tent with a stove: operating features
In this article I will talk about my attitude to a winter tent with a stove. In my youth, I was like a lot of ski trips with such a "set". Now I treat this as a retro, but on the Internet I see that a tent for winter with a stove is still in demand. And no wonder, because communication and friendly gatherings are an attribute of any trip, and on a frosty evening it is still more comfortable by a warm stove than by a fire. I have seen many tourists who continue to go on ski trips in this way - a large close-knit team. Therefore, I will share my experience and point of view with the hope of controversy.
Winter tent with a stove: types and models
Today, each manufacturer calls the same model in its own way, so it’s easier to designate tents for winter with a stove with familiar names that we inherited from the Soviet past: “Winter”, “Blizzard”, “Chum”.
"Winter". Classic ten-sided tent. In the "mini" version, 6 people are accommodated, and in the classic version - 12 (according to the manufacturer). Sufficiently lightweight design from 5 to 7.4 kg (the last parameter is a complete set with a metal stand).
"Snowstorm". Rectangular at the base of a tent with two posts. Externally, it resembles an army tent, designed for 10 people. The weight of the Blizzard is from 6.5 to 7.4 kg.
"Chum". A multi-faceted tent without walls, used in polar expeditions, tourists stuck a stove into it and successfully walk with it in winter. It is also possible to accommodate 10 people. The weight of modern plagues is surprising - 14 kg.
The cost of such special winter group tents starts from 20,000 rubles.
In my opinion, the maximum number of “residents” indicated by the manufacturer is somewhat exaggerated and no more than ten people can live comfortably in a real hike, for example, in “Zima”. After all, it must be borne in mind that, since this is a tent under the stove, the latter, very often red-hot, also occupies a certain place.
Sometimes a large “house”, a modern hemisphere or half-barrel, is used as a winter tent with a stove. They make a hole under the pipe edged with fiberglass or tin and put the stove. I will tell you more in a separate article.
Warm tents with a stove: design features
Previously, tents for winter hiking were made of tarpaulin, some models did not have a bottom. Modern tents are made of nylon and polyester, and a waterproof awning is available as an additional option. As a rule, such tents are single-layered.
Two-layer winter tents with a stove are extremely rare, they are usually used by fishermen and hunters. The second layer increases the weight, which makes them inconvenient for tourism, and its contribution to the preservation of heat in the tent is not global, because the stove still heats.
The entrance to the winter tent is most often in the form of a tube. This is a simple and reliable design; unlike lightning, it cannot break. When untied, the tube closes the entrance like a curtain, and when tightened, it ensures tightness. The disadvantage of the tube can be called the constantly trampled and therefore dirty and wet lower part. Entering through the tube requires some skill, especially in the dark.
I prefer the entrance with a zipper - it seems to me more convenient in a warm tent with a stove.
In most modern tents under the stove at the place where it is supposed to be installed, there is a "hatch". It is unfastened so that sparks and coals falling down do not burn through the bottom. If there is no "hatch", they make it themselves or lay a piece of fiberglass.
Useful articles:
Advantages and disadvantages of winter heated tents
The main, in my opinion, advantage of a winter tent with a stove is the opportunity to sit warm on a long polar night under the lulling rumbling of a small stove in a large friendly company.
Although, after analyzing people's love for this type of equipment, I found another tangible plus. True, it is such only for those who go on club trips with a company of 6-10 people.
In this case, the participant saves on personal equipment, does not spend money on buying an extreme tent and the same sleeping bag.
The disadvantages of winter tents with a stove, which are known to any skier, are much greater.
Winter tent with a stove, disadvantages:
- Linking the route to the forest zone
- It is necessary to prepare firewood for the whole night, and even special ones - small
- The need for night duty at the stove
- Icing the tent
The presence of a forest on the route does not guarantee good firewood, the dry wood still needs to be found. In places actively visited by tourists, such as the Khibiny, it is already a rarity.
Stove heating of the tent requires increased labor costs. Not everyone is able to stay awake at night, and even after a running day. The duty officer fell asleep - and everyone froze, and the tent was immediately covered with a thick layer of frost from the inside. And if the stove is flooded again, then the drizzle will begin to drip on the sleeping ones. Although the stove has a much more convenient alternative - which is refueled with diesel fuel at the rate of 200 g / hour and one refueling is enough for the whole night.
In a heated tent, of course, it is warm in any weather, but this creates the effect of icing - in the morning you fold the tent breaking.
Once there was such a story in Khibiny. Folding the tent, I saw how a thick layer of ice had formed on its bottom with frozen branches of spruce branches (then it was quite normal to lay spruce spruce branches, now I am against this barbarism) it was impossible to tear it off without damaging the fabric. Having carefully broken off what was possible, they turned off. Of course, the weight and volume of the tent has increased significantly from this.
Contrary to popular belief that a warm tent with a stove significantly reduces the weight of each participant's backpack, this is not the case. Here are some simple calculations. My triple tent weighs 3 kg, the weight of a winter down sleeping bag is 2 kg. Thus, the total "sleeping weight" for each member of a group of 3 people will be 3 kg.
A winter tent with a stove weighs, on average, 10 kg, let's add the weight of a summer sleeping bag - 1 kg per person. Thus, the weight per participant in a group of 8 people will be 2.25 kg. As you can see, the difference is not so impressive. Of course, this is the "average temperature in the hospital."
Well, my personal opinion. I do not bother with these tents and stoves and go with a good frame high-rise tent and a downy sleeping bag. Fortunately, today, unlike the days of my youth, all this is available and provides quite a comfortable overnight stay.
Dmitry Ryumkin, specially for
