I did a bit of winter camping 20 years ago, and would like to rekindle the romance so to speak, so I'm looking at gear (for next year).

I appreciated looking through the older posts and finding some winter "hot tent" options.

I don't have a suitable tent at the moment, and I see the new crop of quick-set-up ice-fishing houses for sale right now at reasonable prices. Aside from the fact that they come in garish colors, anybody know of reasons why one of those wouldn't be a good option? I suppose some of them are of fire-retardent fabric?

Also, can anybody recommend a make/model of collapsing wood stove.

Thanks much in advance for any advice.

The pop-up ice shelter may work ok, but they pack large and fairly heavy. Depending on the time of year you may just want to throw in your solo tent. We often just sleep under the stars unless it snows or is extremely cold.

Hi barney-
People have discussed using a popup fishing shelter but I haven't heard any reports on how it worked. Bulk and weight would be a concern with a "dual" hub style shelter potentially weighing 40#. The bigger issue in my mind with one of these shelters would be the lack of breathability. My snowtrekker (cotton) breathes real well so drying gear inside and keeping a dry environment in it is no problem. My ice fishing shelter (a flip over otter shelter) on the other hand does not breath well and when I fire up the buddy propane heater in there on a cold night it rains condensation-which would be bad if it was raining on your sleeping bag. You could try reflextix on the roof to mitigate the condensation issue though. I am sure it could work but may not be without compromise. All that being said about breathability I know at least a couuple people who have put stovejacks in their CCS lean shelters-and that silnylon definitely doesn't breath well so people do it. Kyle-whiteH2O may be able to speak to this. Dan Cooke or his buddy Dave Morlock (beaglefur) may also be able to speak to the issue of breathability in a winter tent heated by a stove-I think there are some pictures on the CCS website showing this-maybe under the mukluk page? If you do try it please report your findings because there are other interested in trying it because it would be a lot more economical solution and more readily available tent solution.

There are a lot of stove options out there. Kni-co, Four Dog, Titanium Goat, Kifaru to name just a few. You mentioned "fold down." Unless you are wanting to go SUPER compact/lightweight I think I would steer you away from a stove the folds completely flat-if that's what you meant. By virtue of their construction they are not very air tight which makes it more difficult to maintain a burn and in the event of windshifts make dealing with a backdraft worse. Whereas a Kni-co stove or better yet a Four Dog is a solid firebox with a swinging door and removeable legs and stovepipe. This seems to be the prefered style of stove for toboggan travel as the firebox contains all the parts and it fits nice on a sled.

I have a small snowtrekker stove (made by Kni-co) which compacts down to 10x10x18-19"ish for example thanks to folding legs and nesting stovepipe. It heats my 8x10 tent well-still is not completely air tight but much more so than a fold down model. I might be looking to sell that little stove actually if you wanted to try it out. check out this link furthest on the left-Snowtrekker stoves mine has a nice patina of rust but otherwise is structurally quite sound. HTH!

tg