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The North Face - Fortress 23 - Review

Roomy inner tent for 2

Ellis Brigham very kindly leant us a North Face Fortress 23 mountain tent and I took it out on the Arenigs in Southern Snowdonia to see how it would fare. Ellis Brigham have this tent listed at £319.00 in their new catalogue, which we thought on balance was a pretty fair sum for a tent of this calibre.

The Fortress 23 is a two person tunnel tent, designed for above tree line use. It has an enormous front porch so could easily sleep four if the need arose, or for cyclists the

porch would take a couple of bikes no problem, making it very versatile. At 3.380 kg packed weight that seems average for this type of tent at this price point.

This tent weighed about twice that of my Hilleberg Akto and was about twice the size packed up, but it easily fitted into

my Aarn Natural Balance Bodypack and to be honest at first I

could feel the extra grams on my back, but very soon forgot about them as I started to walk in to Arenig Fawr across bog and moor. When I came to pitch I found a good spot close to Arenig Reservoir and then the sheer size of this tent began to register. Whereas my Akto is a good but cramped shelter, the Fortress 23 was anything but cramped, giving me oodles of room to stretch out, dry my kit and cook in the porch.

A mountain tent needs to be easy to pitch even in very windy conditions and to be able to stand up to strong winds and snow. I had checked the Snowdonia Mountain Weather Forecast before I left home and there was a chance of snow flurries and rising winds. Just the job to see how the tent would

cope in less than ideal conditions.

The first night the rising wind hit 70 mph and the flurries turned into a white out blizzard!

When testing mountain tents you never know what to expect. Some are exactly what the manufacturers claim and others are less suited to mountain weather. As this was the first time I would pitch the Fortress 23 I decided on a spot fairly close to the Arenig Mountain Hut, just in case the tent took flight and I needed a safe bolt hole. As it happened the tent took the strong wind and blizzard in its stride and there was no need to decamp to the hut.

When I arrived a Canada Goose flew in and landed on the lake close to the site I had chosen for my camp. She stayed close by on the first day chatting away, but disappeared on the second day.

The Fortress 23 is an exoskeleton three pole tunnel that pitches as one. This makes for a quick pitch and the inner tent stays dry throughout. The inner tent is a hands width away from the outer tent and is secured with elastic straps and toggles. It is easy to remove if required for drying, or whatever. The front porch is about as big as the inner tent, but is single skin. There are generous storage pockets on each side of the inner and there is another small one by the side door in the outer tent. The fitted groundsheet is coloured black and has a strong feel to it. I was camped on wet marshy ground, but at no time did the groundsheet allow water to penetrate. There are D rings to attach a drying rack, or they can be used to hang a lamp. Access is via a large D shaped door that is full width of the inner tent. There are two doors, one a solid panel backed by a no see um mesh panel. You can have both shut, or open the solid door and have a full width ventilator that keeps insects outside. Both doors fold away into the side mesh panel which is a nice touch. At the back of the tent is a large ventilator with no see um mesh and a protective cowl on the outer tent. This vent cannot be closed and I thought it should be fitted with an inner zip out solid panel, but even at the height of the blizzard no snow came through the vent.