Wet snow equalls broken tent

[spider solo]

At least that's what happened to us on this last snow storm (SAT 12th).
Fortunately we were not in the back country.
I kept our winter tent set up for these past few storms as we like to sleep out when it's snowing out. (Actually it is about the quitest time we can find ..during a snowstorm with no background road noise and no snowmobiles driving circles around their yards with no place to go.)
Usually I just brush the snow off and dig out the tent to make sure there is ventilation and we don't suffocate.
Sure enough as I walk up to the tent, which seemed to have but a couple of inches of snow on it, I see all is not well in "tentland".
Even though it has a 5 pole arrangement one of the poles had snaped and torn through the fly.
I thought of what I usually have (or should have) in the Backcountry and made the repair with a fleixble twig, some wire and of course ...duct tape.
I was surprised it held in the damp conditions.
So now we have a tent that looks like the hunch back of Norte Dame.
Lesson learned was to tend the tent better and perhaps I should have released the tention on the guy lines but that seemed the opposite of what I usually do.
Has this happened to others?...or any tent stories?

I have read that a cheap tent offers no better winter protection but I could the down side to the logic ...and of course I think of the ranger last year whose body they found but not his tent.

 

[sli74]

Was this a winter 4 season tent? You can have 5 poles to the tent but if the diameter and material of the poles is not made for heavy snow loads and winds even 2 inches of snow will break the poles.

sli74

 

[Chip]

I have read that a cheap tent offers no better winter protection but I could the down side to the logic ...and of course I think of the ranger last year whose body they found but not his tent.

You lost me here. A cheap tent should fold up like a cheap suitcase, no ?
and what happened to the ranger's tent ?

I broke a pole on saturday, but it was my fault. I splinted with 3 extra stakes and....drum roll...DUCT TAPE ! But I think your green twigs and wire would have worked better. I've ordered ferrules that will fit, an extra pole and returned the broken pole for repair - which all guarantees I'll never break another pole. The Guy Lines are supposed to help in stress situations. 5 poles sounds like a big tent, which may not be rated for winter.

 

[poison ivy]

what happened to the ranger's tent ?

A hiker found the tent, packed up neatly by the side of the trail, where the ranger had put it while trying to get out of the woods. I'm not following what that has to do with wet snow breaking poles though?

- Ivy

 

[spider solo]

I was wondering if his tent shreded in the cold and blew away. (I didn't know it was found at a later date.) You see photos of
alpine tents all torn up in some of the more severe altitudes.

Though I was thinking more along the inexpensive tents and tube shelters that I see advertized in various catalogues. So I'm wondering if even in moderate temps combined with a little stress could do them in.
Some fabrics become very fragile in the cold particulary plastic coated stuff.
Things like cheap rain ponchos also come to mind.

Sli....Yes, this was our four season tent . I would suspect the poles were light gauge to save weight.