The Best 4-Season Tents of 2023

Outdoorsy folks who need shelter in unpredictable and potentially savage conditions should opt for the most substantial, enduring tents. While 4-season tents don’t offer the dreamy ventilation or streamlined weight you need for bikepacking along the Kokopelli Trail, they are a security shield for rough or wintry precipitation — which could land any time at high altitude.

For that reason, a range of recreationists heading to remote camps seek the muscle of a 4-season tent, from hunters to mountaineers, alpine climbers, and backcountry skiers. While these tents aren’t typically ideal for summertime trips, they’re usable any time of the year and are especially gold in rain or snowstorms.

If you’re not sure where to start, jump down to our comparison chart, buyer’s guide, or FAQ at the bottom of the page before scrolling through the top picks for 4-season tents.

The Best 4-Season Tents of 2023

Best of the Rest

4-Season Tents Comparison Chart

Tent	Weight	Sleeps	Floor Area	Vestibule Area	Height
Mountain Hardwear Trango 2 Tent	8 lbs., 9.7 oz.	2	40 sq. ft.	12 sq. ft.	38″
Stone Glacier Skyscraper 2P	4 lbs., 3 oz.	2	32 sq. ft.	22 sq. ft.	41.5″
MSR Remote 2 Two-Person Mountaineering Tent	6 lbs., 11 oz.	2	33 sq. ft.	22 sq. ft.	44″
Thule Tepui Explorer Kukenam 3 Tent	131 lb.s	3	37.3 sq. ft.	None	52″
Rightline Gear Truck Tent	8 lbs.	2	Varies	None	N/A
KUIU Storm Star 2 Person Tent	5 lbs., 5.2 oz.	2	29.5 sq. ft.	16.42 sq. ft.	45″
Big Agnes Shield 3	5 lbs., 3 oz.	3	39 sq. ft.	Sold separately	43″
Nemo Equipment Kunai	5 lbs., 3 oz.	3	36.5 sq. ft.	13 sq. ft.	45″
Hilleberg Allak 2	6 lbs., 3 oz.	2	31 sq. ft.	17.2 sq. ft.	41″
Crua Outdoors Crua Loj	202 lbs.	6	406 sq. ft.	5′ x 14′ (porch width/length)	84″

Why You Should Trust Us

Proving the mettle of 4-season tents is no joke. Driving snowstorms, freezing temps — you have to be fully immersed in the conditions that make them expedition worthy. To create this guide, the GearJunkie team did just that. Putting each model through its paces in brutal conditions, we tried to find the limit of these bomb-proof shelters so you don’t have to.

We scrutinized each tent with some specific criteria in mind — durability, extreme weather resistance, and livability — to offer a variety of options for different objectives.

Whether you’re making an assault on Denali, or overlanding into the backcountry on a hunting excursion, we’d feel confident recommending anything on this list for the toughest of adventures.

Buyer’s Guide: How to Choose a 4-Season Tent

The burliest four-season tents are constructed to withstand brutal winds, shed heavy snowpack or rain, and comfortably store gear in a protected cubby. The tradeoff? These designs can often retain summertime warmth and humidity.

Year-round tents are protective across variable and tough conditions, but they’re not the most airy for hotter days or nights. Also, the high-end construction requires beefier material that sports a bigger bill than most three-season builds.

All options considered, these heavier-set tents are a dependable choice for mountaineers, expeditionists, and other seasoned outdoor travelers who want a dependable structure any day of the year that provides protection in the harshest elements.

Seasonality

Tents are typically built for three-season or four-season conditions. A three-season tent will suffice if you plan on using your tent across the spring, summer, and fall.

The infrastructure of a three-season tent can handle rain and light snow. Usually, these builds are not ideal for heavy snow, super-high winds, or vicious storms — like the blizzard conditions you might face while ski mountaineering. A four-season tent is a better choice for full-on winter, the weight of snow, and strong winds.

Types of 4-Season Tents

A spectrum of designs exists within the four-season tent category. For instance, our lineup here includes year-round tents for vehicles from truck beds to rooftops. Folks often seek four-season tents for backpacking and hunting in inclement weather in the winter, along alpine routes, or during the shoulder seasons.

People need four-season shelters for mountaineering, with or without skis, or winter backcountry trips. Some of these tents are better suited above or below treeline, while others are perfect for polar exploration.

Mountaineering tents are often streamlined and constructed with a single wall to save weight and easily move camp day to day on a long, challenging expedition. In contrast, a basecamp tent is roomier and weighs more.

Basecamp tents are a comfortable choice for a shorter haul to a lower point where adventurers need to spend time acclimating to altitude or waiting for a safe weather window. Most of these designs are double-walled to help enhance ventilation and prevent condensation, and a broad range of capacities exist to house large groups or a ton of gear.

Tunnel tents can withstand brutal wind — think 70 mph — better than dome or wedge-style tents, which can hit a limit of around 50 mph. But tunnel tents are not freestanding.

Capacity & Doors

Folks aiming for lighter weight four-season tents can invest in a one- or two-person design. Three- and four-person tents are a common choice, too, while some four-season basecamp options are large enough to fit big groups of six or more people.

Your ideal tent capacity depends on the number of campers, their overall size, and how much equipment you need to store inside the tent or vestibule. Brands generally categorize their tents based on the number of people, but the dimensions — length, width, height, and vestibule size — vary from tent to tent.

The tent’s peak height, which is where the tent is the tallest, also differs between each model. It’s nice to have a generous height in a four-season tent when the weather turns south and you really need to hunker down.

Get out your tape measure as you research. If you’re tall or wide, pay extra attention to the width and length of the tent dimensions as well as the area of your sleeping pad. And consider how much storage space you’ll want for gear. It’s also a good idea to visit a local retailer where the tent can be set up for you to check out in person.

You’ll want to consider whether one or two doors are more functional for you. Two doors can be helpful for each sleeper to have their own exit and entry or to access gear organized in multiple vestibules. But, eliminating a door can cut weight and cost.

Vestibule & Interior Storage

To help protect equipment, four-season tents have one or two zipper-enclosed vestibule doors — but not all vestibules are created equal. They each have a unique volume, height, and shape.

Some vestibule entries include a double door like on the Mountain Hardwear Trango 2 Tent or interior loops to hang items like in the MSR Remote 2 Two-Person Mountaineering Tent. The Remote 2 also features a storm flap along the bottom and a ventilation window along the top, which are strategic additions.

Compare your body and sleeping pad measurements to the tent’s width and length. If your expedition requires a lot of gear, it can be nice — or necessary — to have extra room to bring cargo inside the cabin. Otherwise, the vestibule can be a great spot to leave the pack or boots. The foyer is also a good place to cook over a compact, portable stove if you’re stuck in the tent due to hair-raising weather.

Inside, four-season tents usually have mesh pockets along the wall to store items like a phone or headlamp. Again, these features are not universal. The Remote 2 only has two mesh pockets, while the Mountain Hardwear Trango 2 Tent has more than 10 pouches that line the walls and ceiling.

Generally, lighter tents don’t have as many storage compartments as heavier tent designs. Another nice touch is interior loops for hanging a clothesline, carabiners, or to clip a lantern.

Weight

A dwelling’s weight hinges on the materials, size, and whether the walls are single or double. Most four-season tent specs include a trail or minimal weight and a packaged weight — the former doesn’t include stakes, guylines, or stuff sacks. (We highlight the minimal weight of the products listed in this guide.)

One of the lightest four-season tents on the market is the Hilleberg Akto 1 Tent for a single person, tapping in at 3 pounds 12 ounces. By comparison, the Hilleberg Allak 2 is 6 pounds 3 ounces.

The sizes and weights of the tents in our guide widely vary. The heaviest option is a basecamp tent with room for six adults that weighs 202 pounds. Our lightest choice is the Stone Glacier Skyscraper 2P, which is only 4 pounds 12.8 ounces. Weight is most crucial if you’ll be hauling your tent for consecutive days and want to minimize the heft of your load.

Regardless of weight, you’ll need to select a tent that delivers the protection and features you need — like two doors, the capacity for three people, or a large vestibule. Generally, the lighter a tent is, the less headroom there is. But cutting ounces isn’t as important as being adequately protected in the conditions where you plan to go.

If you’re picking a four-season rooftop tent that will be stationary, the weight matters less but needs to be within your manufacturer’s roof rack requirements.

Ventilation

The nemesis of four-season tents is the challenge of providing excellent ventilation. While ultralight tents often feature walls constructed of mesh, storm doors that furl back, or no walls at all for airflow, four-season tents don’t. These structures feature minimal windows to optimize structural protection and warmth in wind, rain, and heavy snow.

Walls constructed of mesh decrease the overall temperature inside the tent, so the majority of four-season tent walls are solid fabric. Simultaneously, if you’re posted up inside your tent for a bout of stormy weather, you’ll want good ventilation to minimize indoor frost and moisture.

Well-designed four-season tents have integrated passive ventilation ports or windows in the tent and rainfly. These vents can keep out snow while minimizing condensation, so the inside of the tent doesn’t feel clammy. The MSR Remote 2 Two-Person Mountaineering Tent fly features four vents with snow flaps, which provide ventilation and help reduce condensation while keeping out spindrift.

A handful of basecamp tent designs deviate from this closed-wall rule, like the Crua Outdoors Crua Loj, which has four large side windows and three doors.

Single-Wall vs. Double-Wall Tents

Tents are either single-wall or double-wall designs. Single-wall tents are lighter weight, nonbreathable, waterproof, and don’t include a rainfly. They typically don’t offer as much storage for gear.

A double-wall tent actually contains two items: a breathable tent paired with a waterproof rainfly. The setup usually offers vestibule space to stash equipment.

The kit weighs more and requires more time to set up compared to a single-wall tent. Single-wall tents are less breathable and produce more condensation but can be worthwhile for light, fast, difficult mountaineering missions where minimal weight is preferred.

Material & Durability

A price tag is usually reflected in the balance of the materials’ durability and weight. Ultralight, strong materials often cost more than heavier fabrics. The KUIU Storm Star 2 Person Tent ($600) is constructed with a 40-denier ripstop nylon tub and floor and a 30-denier tent body that has a DWR (durable water-repellent) coating. The tent is 29.5 square feet and weighs 5 pounds 5.2 ounces.

In contrast, the Big Agnes Shield 3 ($800) is 39 square feet but only weighs 5 pounds 3 ounces. The tent is constructed with ultralight waterproof-breathable nylon and a polyurethane-coated floor.

On the other hand, the 3-person Nemo Equipment Kunai 3-4 Season Backpacking Tent ($700) weighs the same as the Shield 3, costs $100 less, and is slightly smaller. The Kunai’s canopy is a 20-denier nylon ripstop fabric, and the floor is rated at 30-denier that’s 3,000 mm with a 1,200 mm fly.

In contrast, the Shield’s tent body has a 9,000 mm waterproof rating and the floor has a 10,000 mm polyurethane coat. Overall, the costlier choice provides more substantial protection in an ongoing storm.

A separate footprint, or groundsheet, isn’t required for an enclosed single-wall tent. Lightweight materials are pretty durable, but they tend to break down if they’re roughly handled. Investing in a lighter weight bundle means the recreationist should be mindful with gear care.

Bathtub Floor

A bathtub floor means the waterproof fabric comprising the floor extends a few inches off the ground and up the tent walls. Often four-season setups have a bathtub floor for extra protection during a weather event.

Waterproofness

The material used in tent construction is either inherently waterproof or treated with a DWR coating to block precipitation. If the fabric is treated, it’ll eventually need a refresh, depending on the conditions faced, user care, and volume of use.

Tent Setup & Poles

The majority of our top four-season tents are freestanding. This type of skeleton takes more time to assemble because the ground needs to offset the stake just right — especially if it’s windy or rainy out.

In contrast, tunnel tents or ultralightweight tents and shelters are nonfreestanding, meaning they don’t include tent poles to be hoisted. Instead, one or two trekking poles plus stakes are used to elevate three-season tents. And four-season tunnel tents need to be staked down extremely well with rocks in summer or grippy stakes in winter.

Many four-season tents have color-coded poles and pole clips or pockets on the canopy and fly. That addition helps recreationists efficiently put up their shelter when time is crucial and they need to get out of the elements. These year-round designs also feature strategically placed guylines, often with reinforced attachment points, and many loops to stake down the tent.

The poles vary from tent to tent. The KUIU Storm Star 2 Person Tent features DAC NFL poles, which are a super-lightweight aluminum alloy blend that’s extra strong and stiff. The Big Agnes Shield 3 has the DAC NSL aluminum poles, which are still lightweight yet slightly stronger.

FAQ