UKC

Matt Bird enjoys a pleasant few nights testing the Zhota, a 3-man tent from Alpkit's new mountain tent range, which sits between the Heksa (four man) and the Kangri (two man), in November and December rain, snow, fog and high winds.

Like the rest of the Alpkit range, the Zhota is very competitively priced but does it really mean business in tough mountain conditions?

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=4375

In reply to UKC Gear: Matt, very good review, though I'm interested in some more details about condensation. How was it. Was the internal sheet wet (or covered with sheet ice) in mornings?

In reply to mloskot: Hi, whilst condensation was not completely eliminated, I did not have any major problems with condensation compared to other tents I have owned in the past.

I had a maximum of three in the tent during the review and while the outer was soaked by rain, the inner stayed largely dry. Only times I experienced any significant damp on the inside was when I constructed the tent badly due to me (a) being an idiot (b) it was in the dark and (c) I was doing it in a hurry and air could not flow effectively between the outer and inner. You could argue that wind knocking the tent around could cause the same affect but I got blown around a bit and it was fine.

Maybe have a look at hiring the tent out a bit before you buy to see if it fits as it is still quite a big outlay?

Hope this helps,

Matt

In reply to mloskot:
Three of us used one of these Alpkit tents for two months solid in America last year. We encountered a variety of weather conditions, heavy rain, damp mist, high winds, below zero temps, etc.
We never had any condensation problems, certainly nothing worse than I have experienced in 30 years of using tents.
It's a great tent.
Cheers
Alex

In reply to UKC Gear:

so, the big question: is the Zhota, and by extention, the Kangri, a 'real' 4 season+ mountain tent in the mould of the TN Quasar/Hyperspace or MHW Trango?

In reply to Birdo: Big thanks for the update.


I'm just curious. Two weeks ago I spent night in Peak District in my MSR Hubba Hubba and I experienced fair amount of condensation.
The night started with temp around -5C and later dropped to -9C. Around 5am, I touched the sheet from inside and it was wet and in places covered with sheet ice

A few pics of conditions and the external sheet in the morning:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mloskot/6717037439/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mloskot/6717050999/

So, I'm just wondering...

In reply to mloskot: If it was really -9 the only thing that could produce dampness would have been you breathing directly on to that patch. At -9 everything freezes on contact.

In reply to TobyA: Good point. I didn't watch the thermometer all night. Shortly after I arrived to Hardhurst Farm after 10pm, the temp was -5C.
In the morning, a chap from caravan nearby said it was very cold and confirmed he checked the temperature at some point and his thermometer was showing -9C.

The MSR tent is not very big, so perhaps two people is enough to make condensation happen.

In reply to mloskot: Addition, here is thermometer in my car showing -5C

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mloskot/6697612047/

In reply to mloskot:


Particularly depending on what the two people are up to!

In reply to TobyA:

Hehe! Actually, I intentionally didn't mention I was camping with my girlfriend to not to suggest any hints