Four season tents are fast becoming the Sport Utility Vehicles of the outdoor industry. Why? Since today'sfour season tents are almost as light and easy to use as yesterday's moregeneral purpose three-season shelters, it makes sense to purchase a moredurable shelter, even if your camping needs stray from the extreme.

If you are a heavy three-season, occasional four-season user who desires wind and weatherprotection all year round, then the newer design of fours season tent might befor you.

What features are found in this "new-design" of all-season / four season tent?

Typically, in two-layer models (featuring a tent body covered by a rainfly), the designers turn toventilated panels or windows that can be secured shut to prevent spindrift fromgetting inside a tent, more rigid pole structures, d ual entrances withvestibules to increase ventilation flow-through, etc.

Single-walled tents also rely on ventilation versatility, two points of access, vestibules and more, buthave to fight the consumer perception that condensation will be a problem incold-weather, doors-closed-down-tight use.

Four-season tents are also being offered in more sizes, including one-person, personal shelter sizes, foradventurers who prefer to sleep alone.

While three-season tents have a definite place in the market, four-season tents offer more versatilityfor all seasons. These features include hooped vestibule rainflys and multipleventilation points which are often excluded or compromised by three-seasonmodels in an effort to save weight and cost.

Just as four-season compromise has managed to blend into all-season versatility, some manufacturersare finding the need to offer a "fifth season" shelter designed for hard-core,mountaineering / extreme weather use with no compromises, no shavedcorners-call it the expedition tent and companies such as Sierra Designs,vauDe, North Face, Marmot and Quest make a point of differentiation.

Like their four-season cousins, the expedition tents offer versatile features, but they also turn tolarger diameter aluminum poles (most often Easton), lower profiles, increasedand more judicious use of guy points, and stronger, more wind-resistantfabrications. All of these additions translate into higher consumer costs, butalso far greater weight to strength ratios and structures that really can holdup in 100 mph winds.