Planning on going on a winter trip in northern Canada next year. I am looking for a self standing 2 man 4 season tent that I can set-up on river ice without staking into the ice. Preferably with snow flaps and possibly without a floor.

Does this exist?

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Dave

Is the only tent i could think of that comes close to meeting your description.

Edited by RICKO on 02/23/2012 19:09:37 MST.

In principle and without hesitation, NO.

Why not? In a word, wind.
You haven't lived until you have spent a night in a little tent with the wind clocking over 100 kph all night.

Cheers

Any recommendations? Short of buying six ice screws at $50 a pop for the tie outs. There will be limited snow cover because of the wind, else I would use my tarp. It needs to be big enough to hold me and my sled. I'll have two skis and poles for the longer guy-outs, but self standing would aid in set-up time.

Thanks,

Dave

P.S. I have a year to figure this out and dont mind a bit of MYOG modifications.

how about taking along some form of auger/drill and some type of expansion bolt like hilti makes. drill into the ice and set the bolts.

google seach ice screw v thread....

If you have deep enough ice you only need a 22cm ice screw and a little bit heavier duty guy lines.

If that would work then I would pick a free standing tent that would only need 2 tie outs on the sides and one rear and one front tie out. A short climbers tunnel might be good. Look at Stephensons Warmlite.

Edited by earn_my_turns on 02/24/2012 10:43:09 MST.

A pole-and-fabric construction on ice, not staked down, is called an iceboat. They have been clocked at over 100 mph. Whatever sort of tent you go with it needs to be securely attached if there's any chance of wind.

Ice climbing screws are designed for anywhere from maybe 400 pounds as rappel anchors to 1200 pound plus as leader protection. Tent guy-out points will surely fail at less than 100 pounds.

Ice is strong, and skinny Ti nails or hooks should hold fine if set at an appropriate angle. All you need is to pre-drill the hole.

Consider a Gimlet, Yankee Push Drill, or hand drill. I've had a Fiskars hand drill for 20 years and it works fine- though since it has plastic gears and crank it might not be a good choice for winter.

Here's a site that sells a set of 7 solid state "Steel Twist Gimlets" for under $20.
http://www.garrettwade.com/set-of-seven-steel-twist-gimlets/p/37J03.04/

Edited by jimqpublic on 02/24/2012 11:29:35 MST.

That is what I use in ice / frozen ground. Cheap and effective.

what Jeremy is describing is called Abalakov anchor. If it's good enough for abseling, is good enough for a tent. Also, you don't really need a hook to make it, just use the other point of the thread or a dynnema runner instead.

Thanks all for the ideas. I have a good place to start now.


Dave

P.S. I really don't want to be an ice boat :)

Re: "what Jeremy is describing is called Abalakov anchor." A more descriptive name is "V-thread." I'm no expert, but I don't think the Original Poster has been given a clear picture of this technique. You don't have to buy a bunch of ice screws, just one. You use it to drill an angled hole into the ice. Then you unscrew it, and and use the ice screw to drill another angled hole, and try to hit the first hole. If successful, you have a 2-part hole, one part goes down, the other part goes up and out of the ice. You then thread something, a cord or piece of webbing, through it, and tie a knot. You now have a loop that goes down into the ice, with part of it showing above the ice. You can tie your tent's guylines to that.

I do wonder if glare river ice is soft enough to do this technique with an ice screw.

I broke 5 large MSR groundhog stakes on my last trip when I tried to wiggle them out. I've now switched to stainless steel lag bolts 5". I can now screw them in and screw them out when they freeze overnight. I use a mini wrench to get the job done. Easy on the hands in the cold morning.

Edit: I should mention that we haven't had more than a couple inches of snow in MN at any given time. Except for a few random spots.

Edited by jpovs on 02/26/2012 22:21:31 MST.

Read this.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/ditch_your_stakes.html

----
Yes, this works
Cheers
Roger Caffin

Edited by rcaffin on 02/27/2012 15:34:06 MST.

The page you were after (ditch_your_stakes.htmlight/forums/thread_display.html) is lost in the woods.

You may have followed a bad link or mis-typed a URL. That’s most likely what went wrong.