Mountain Designs Fortress

I chose this tent for several important reasons. First of all I needed a tent that would stand up to the most ferocious winds. The Fortress has four reinforced poles and an excellent system of guy ropes. Considering I will be spending a lot of time in the tent I wanted a tent that was generous in size (as a two man tent), and had two entrances with spacious vestibules. The fortress is relatively wide and long for a two-man tent (actually I am sure I could squeeze in three) with entrances and vestibules at each end. My saddle and other precious equipment will be stored in these vestibules at night. This tent also has a bathtub floor which is essential in wet or snowy conditions. Lastly the tent is relatively lightweight considering its features. Potential disadvantages I can see are probably just weight at this stage. Anything that takes up that much space has to be worth every gram! Thanks to Mountain Designs for this product which is their high range mountaineering model. REVIEW FROM THE ROAD This tent has already done about 150 nights and is starting to show signs of fatigue. In general the design has been very pleasant, easy to set up, and has remained extremely stable even in the most ferocious storms on the steppe. I like the two vestibules and the various ways you can set up the entrances. The problem seems to be that the material was weakened by the sun over 150 days, and when I hit the minus twenties some moisture was collected in the fabric, which then froze, and the tent began to rip up. The clear windows went first- shattering when I rolled up the tent in extreme cold. Then it began to rip up very easily. I would recommend the tent in general, but perhaps not for extended specialist journeys in extreme cold.