SlingFin CrossBow 2 Four-Season
Best strength-to-weight ratio of winter tents
Our take When the double-walled CrossBow 2 Four-Season first came out in 2015, it turned heads with its unique truss system: Its pole sleeves are detached from the tent canopy and connect with clips, improving stability and setup in inclement weather. With this year’s update, designers increased the tent’s winter-worthiness with thicker aluminum poles, improved waterproofing, and pre-installed guylines that attach through the fly to the walls inside the tent. (The latter add tension to the tent walls to keep them from collapsing in high winds or snow.)
“The tent stood up well in 50-mph gusts,” one tester said after a trip in Alaska’s Chugach State Park. It also had no trouble handling a couple inches of snow on the Grand Mesa in Colorado. Tradeoff: The CrossBow 2 Four-Season is expensive for a two-person tent.
The details Testers found the new kickstand vents in the vestibules and the drawstring porthole in the back helped avoid condensation, even on cold nights in the Colorado desert with the tent door closed. A 32-square-foot floor and 42-inch peak height easily accommodated two tall testers, and two 11-square-foot vestibules swallowed winter gear. $650; 4 lbs. 7 oz.; 2-person