Just a quick one here…

Got a chance to test out the Väinö hot tent slash ice shelter. I was curious at first; proper insulated tent with self-supporting “pop-up” structure and ready made insulated hole for the stove chimney.

Two huge doors and couple windows…

And more space inside that one person would ever need.

I didn’t have a proper stove to test this out with, so I mainly tested how easy it would be to set up and tear down alone, and to haul around this enormous thing of a tent.

The thing is packed into a bag that is, as always for camping and trekking gear, just a bit too small to fit back into nicely. Also this thing is big and heavy. When folded up it still about my size in height and width, so about a size of an adult person and it weights around 20 kg. Even hauling this with a pulkka or ahkio was not that comfy. And folding it back for transportation and especially, getting it back to the bag it came with, was a feat of valour level effort.

Didn’t take many pics, as I was more frustrated than enjoying this experience. I can see this been used with couple people going out onto a frozen lake or something, but hauling this alone would not be fun. Also as it fills the whole pulk by itself there’s not that much space for a stove and other gear, so one must probably do two trips from the car to the place where this tent is set up.

Verdict: not my cup of tea. But I’m still happy that I tested this out, as it has been on my bucket list to see this in action and to some day find that one hot tent with a stove that suits my needs.