SnowTrekker High Country Hybrid Tent

The year was 2018 and I had just returned from an elk trip with my father. The trip was rather difficult compared to years prior. For the first time in what seemed like all my life, I saw that age was finally taking hold of his ability to repeatedly sustain the physical abuse a hunt has to offer. This fact was only magnified as we layered up opening morning, hunched side by side in our teepee-style tent. It was on that trip I realized that if I wanted to continue hunting with him, we’d need to figure out a more comfortable sleeping situation.

On my list of wants was a tent that had an internal frame, as most of the country we hunted was transitional with no timber available for use. I desired the ability to run a stove. I needed wall-tent comfort without the heavy weights usually associated. I also wanted a frame that broke down small enough to be packed on a few llamas or a single horse.

It was a tall order indeed–my work was cut out for me. I searched tirelessly through many different options and always found something that just didn’t quite fit the bill. That was until I heard a podcast by Duane Margot, developer and owner of SnowTrekker Tents.

SnowTrekker Tents is well known in the hot tent community in the Rust Belt and Canada. Their exposure to the western hunting market is somewhat recent, as just a handful of years ago they designed some tents for Beau Baty, which are specifically geared toward packing with llamas.

SnowTrekker Tents recently developed the High Country Hybrid. A tent that blends modern lightweight nylon with tried-and-true 7-oz breathable canvas. This combination of materials lowers the overall weight of the tent while still maintaining a level of breathability for moisture mitigation. This fall, I ran the 9.5 x 9.5 High Country Hybrid and came to the following conclusions:

Geometrical Shape

The geometrical shape of these tents provides more efficient heat retention than your typical wall tent, as the lowered side walls create less “open space” where it’s unneeded. Though the side walls are lowered, there’s still plenty of room while sleeping and sitting on a cot. The steep pitch of the tent mitigates wind disturbance, assists with natural snow shedding, and withstands heavy snow load. A ridge height of 6 feet 7 inches means the large majority of us are going to have no problem standing completely upright.

Moisture Mitigation

Nylon can be a bit of a rainforest, especially if running a stove in any highly fluctuating temperature environment. The placement of ripstop waterproof nylon on the Hybrid is key as it allows a reduction in the weight of the tent but also keeps much of the falling moisture away from you and your sleeping setup.

Lightweight Material

Constructed of 7-oz cotton canvas and 1.9-oz ripstop nylon, the 9.5 x 9.5 comes in at 10.4 lb. SnowTrekker Tents provides the option of upgrading to a lightweight Easton internal frame, which comes in at a measly 7.4 lb. Purchasable tent stakes make up another 3.3 lb, which brings a total package weight of just over 21 lb! If you’ve done any research on wall-tent-style setups, you know that finding anything even remotely close to these weights is difficult.

Setup Time 

The simplicity of design and quantity of parts make the setup clean and quick. No additional tools are needed to assist in construction other than one on-scene-located rock to pound stakes.

Packability

This frame breaks down to a maximum length of 25 inches, making it very easy to stow in a pannier fitted for a horse or mule. While it may not fit in every pannier built for a llama, it is definitely short enough in length to be top-packed on the lid. Depending on the size of your goat, the same may apply. 

Tent Options

SnowTrekker offers numerous options that you’ll find suitable for the different environments you hunt in.

Removable Screen Door: It can be beneficial to have a screen door for those spring and early fall hunts to keep flies and mosquitos out. However, come late season, it’s practically useless to be packing around the extra weight of a screen door.

Stove Jack: Select from stove jacks ranging from 3 inches to 5 inches.

Ground Tarp: Purchase a removable 8-oz waterproof and flame-retardant ground tarp that has sewn-in stainless steel G-hook quick-release buckles, allowing the tarp to be attached internally to the tent and tightened so it lays taut. The ground tarp also doubles wonderfully as a mantie tarp for your packed loads. The ground tarp is factory-cut to allow a portion to fold under the floor, providing a spot for a stove to sit directly on the ground.

Cons

While it’s very difficult to come up with anything negative to say about this tent, I do believe there are a few things to consider if purchasing is on your mind:

SnowTrekker offers 12-inch aluminum military tent stakes for purchase. For the size, holding ability, and weight, they work great. However, I do believe there exist other aftermarket options that could further reduce your packed weight, as you’ll need 14 tent stakes to secure the Hybrid.

The Hybrid does not come seam-sealed on the nylon portion of the tent. While this process is easy to do yourself, it does require extra time, and for that reason, I felt it was worth mentioning.

This last constructive note is more of a wish list than a con. I’d love to see SnowTrekker come up with some specific changes that allow their tents to be run with a timber-built external frame, thus eliminating the need for the internal frame. I will be fiddling around in the future with this tent to see if the current construction allows for it, as no real changes may be required as is.

Conclusion

To wrap it all up, I’ll say this: The SnowTrekker High Country Hybrid fits the bill for many, if not all of the needs of any western hunter. To top it off, their customer service is excellent. Jonah Lottig (Operations Manager) has gone out of his way to assist me expeditiously in years prior with a different tent I had purchased from them. If you’re looking to add a new shelter to your arsenal of options, I don’t see how you could go wrong.

Visit SnowTrekkerTents.com or check them out on Instagram @snowtrekker.

Specifications

Fits three people on ground pads – two on cots.

Sidebar: Brautigam Expedition Works – Raccoon Wood Stove Pipe Support and Badger Camp Wood Stove Rake

Hot tents are not the only hot products that have been hitting the market recently. Other worthwhile investments are some lightweight innovative products developed by Peter Brautigam of Brautigam Expedition Works.

If you’ve ever run a hot tent, then you know the frustration of a stove pipe shifting with every gust of wind. If I could count the number of times I’ve checked and re-checked a stove pipe in worry I’d wake up to a tent on fire, it would add up to more than I’d like.

Brautigam Expedition Works has developed a product that aims to fix this problem. They’ve designed a wood stove pipe support that simply slips over the last section of pipe and can be guyed out wherever you see fit (tent, tree, etc). This support keeps all sections of the pipe secure and elevated for proper draft. The support system can be used with both vertically and horizontally-run stovepipe.

The kit comes complete with pipe support, aluminum clips, and abrasion/freeze-resistant cordage. It’s available in titanium or stainless steel with nesting pipe diameters ranging from 5” to 4” and 4” to 3”.

In addition to their pipe support, this company developed a very unique wood stove rake. 

Raking hot coals to the front of a stove allows for increased gathering of oxygen, which translates to a better burn. The unique design includes a bellow built into the handle that allows you to blow oxygen deep into the firebox to help start a fire or reignite coals.

Additionally, the round-edge design allows you to scrape creosote from the inside of the stove pipe prior to storage. This product comes in three different lengths (12.5” / 17.5” / 20.5”) and is designed to fit in a 3” diameter pipe.

The Badger Rake comes in either 304 Stainless Steel or Titanium. Both materials are heat resistant, and either acts as a useful tool to adjust your damper or assist in touching any other piece of stove that becomes too hot to touch.

Brautigam Expedition Works makes a wide assortment of lightweight high-quality products that would be useful to the western hunter. Follow them on Instagram @brautigamexpeditionworks and find more unique products at BEWgear.com.