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The front porch as I said is enormous and could easily sleep two 6’ plus persons, or store a couple of bikes, or a couple of wet dogs. I am sure you get the point that with a porch this big there is lots of room for kit on expedition, or any of the above closer to home. There is a large side door with a no see um mesh zip out inner panel. The door rolls up and is secured with elastic straps and toggles. I found that the storm flaps on the zip would easily jamb and needed careful opening and closing. Using the zip too quickly caused a jamb and it was quicker to just close, or open it slowly. Also the door cannot be opened at the top which I thought a disadvantage. The front of the porch has another smaller door at the sloping end. This door zips open and secures on the left hand side with two straps and toggles. There is a large vent in the top of the door with no see um mesh and backed by a zip out panel.

Condensation was not an issue with this tent during the two day test. The ground was damp moss and grass and the first night the temperatures dropped the wind rose to gale force and it snowed hard for most of the night. The second day the temperatures went up and heavy rain replaced snow. I cooked in the porch on a Primus Eta stove. During the height of the storm I had the side door closed and only the front vent partly open. I had the tent main doors open and the rear vent was always open. This gave a good through flow of air and I was very impressed that the tent did not suffer from condensation.

At night I closed the front vent and zipped up the solid backing and closed the inner as well, as by this time the temperatures were well below freezing. Had the rear vent had a solid zip up panel I would have closed that as well, but as it didn’t it stayed open and at times was a bit draughty.

The tent is secured by a guy line on each pole. Each of these is fixed to the pole sleeve at two points and not one as is more common. The lines themselves are tough and have easy sliders that can be used with gloves and each line can be wrapped around rocks. There are also two guys at each end of the tent. The groundsheet and the outer has D rings and strong lightweight pegs are supplied to fix the tent to the ground. On the left side looking from the front the tent has adjusters so that the tent can be tensioned close to the ground, helping to keep the snow on the outside.

The first night the weather was foul and I was glad that I had reinforced the guy lines with large rocks.

I started off with the tent head to wind, but during the night the wind shifted more than once and often it was broadside on. As the gusts hit the tent and threatened to tear it from its moorings, the windward side bowed in slightly compressing the inner. As luck would have it I had forgotten to pack my ear plugs and as the storm raged I regretted it, so during the night unable to sleep for all the racket, I got up and made a brew. With the heat of the stove offering a respite from the bitter cold, I was glad of the very large porch with all the steam that was rising from the pan. I unzipped the front vent and stuck my head out only to be blinded by the swirling snow. I retreated back inside, confident by then that the tent was firmly anchored and was going nowhere. There would be no need to evac to the hut after all.

Cavernous Front Porch

Generous Side Pockets

I am pretty tall at 6’3” (1.93m) in my stocking feet so I have to fold myself carefully into a small tent, but with the Fortress 23 I had no such problem. The main pole is at the centre point in the tunnel where the inner and the porch meet. At this point there is 110 cm of headroom, enough to sit comfortably, or even kneel. The inner tent was so long that my sleeping bag did not touch the end of the inner and there was ample room for two Exped Downmat 9’s to sit side by side without touching. Each side of the tent has a long and generous three compartment gear mesh panel, see photo above, which is ideal for first aid kit, sunglasses, book etc and keeps the tent free of the small items that we tend to carry.

On the second day the wind dropped and the rain that had been whipping across the lake in horizontal sheets started to fall straight down. I tidied up and enjoyed a hearty meal.

My view was quickly obscured by low cloud that is a common feature of the Arenigs and so I got back into my sleeping bag and read my book. Then I heard the goose calling again and a loud whoosh as another goose landed close by. Her hubby had arrived and there was a lot of chatter for the rest of the day. I liked having the geese for neighbours in this remote spot.

When I came to strike camp the rain had stopped and the sun was out. By then there was a film of moisture on the inside of the porch but it was easily wiped away. I had had the tent closed up against the elements and had been cooking inside, so all in all I was very pleased with this tent. There were a couple of niggles, but no tent is perfect and this one came pretty close. It easily packed away into its bag and I was all set to hike out to where I had left my car. As I passed the hut the geese flew by chattering to one another and perhaps saying farewell to me, who knows?

AGAINST

FOR

Easy Pitch, Huge Porch, Roomy, Airy,

Well made, Strong groundsheet, Almost no condensation. A winner.

Zip flaps prone to jambing, Rear vent needs zip in back. Side door does not open at top.

Nothing else.

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