Re: using tarp under tent in winter necessary?

Gee, kutenay, "Kifaru" means "rhinoceros" (in Swahili). That ought to be tough enough to stand up to anything, even "bc in BC" burley types of folks (that's "backcountry in British Columbia", which is one of the toughest environments anywhere).

Re-reading my post, I should make it clear that I use a groundsheet (dropcloth cut to shape) for all trips where I might have to pitch the tent on non-snow-covered ground. Even glacier ice below the neve line (which is bare of snow) has enough sand and glacial flour to abrade the bottom of a tent. Since I keep tents "forever", and most of the tents I have bought in the past 20-30 years are expensive, top quality ones (Integral Designs and Mountain Hardwear for the most part), I want to take good care of them.

As kutenay says, though, for most snow camping, I do not use a tarp or footprint. I haven't had the problem of the snow getting trapped and melting, but I have seen it for other people.

Again, most of the deterioration of tents I encounter is UV damage to the fly, thanks to the high altitudes I most frequently camp at. Polyester fabric is more UV-resistant than nylon, and the coating Integral Designs uses for their single-wall tents is similar in its UV resistance to the polyester. But even at the high price of top quality tents, it doesn't take too many nights to bring the effective cost per night down. At the $575 that Backcountry.com is selling the MH Trango 3.1, 100 nights brings the cost to $5.75/night for the 2 of us (that's 2 winters worth of backcountry ski and snowshoe plus 2 summers' of 3 week expedition travel - though not December's Africa trip where all the gear was furnished). The Trango is going on its 5th year, so it's well below the Motel 6 level (old original Motel 6 pricing, that is)