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Marmot Up High

rated 4.5 of 5 stars

The Up High has been discontinued. If you're looking for something new, check out the best four-season tents for 2024.

This tent is a very nice, very solid, and very light and inexpensive four season tent. It is a double-wall tent, (and thus warmer than some of the single-wall tents I have been in), but it sets up by threading the poles through the fly and having the inner tent hang from the poles. This provides for the easy set up time since all you have to do is thread the two poles through two continuous sleeves. One person could do it in less than a minute.

The tent is roomy and brightly colored, so I would not mind being cooped up in it for a few days. I have used it on a few mountaineering trips with high wind and sleet/snow in the Cascades, and it has performed very well. I have even used it as a three-person tent on Rainier.

I only have two complaints. First, there is no vestibule available. So, bring a tarp to cover your gear or something otherwise stake your gear down and mark it. The tent is big enough for packs and two people, but not with any extra room to spare. Second, there is no ground cloth available. Again, bring a tarp. I personally cut a lightweight piece of nylon to fit the bottom (weight: 4 oz) and clipped it to the base.

Also something to keep in mind, there is no mesh on this tent. I like it, because it keeps things warmer, but if you are planning to get this tent for backpacking, don't. It is truly built for four seasons, bad ventilation and all.

But, do not think I don't love this tent. The ability to carry a tent that can cram two (and even three) people into it in a 60 mph sleet and windstorm, which weighs less than some people's summer tents, and costs half of what other lightweight four-season tents cost is not something to laugh at.

Design: Four season freestanding double wall
Sleeps: 2
Ease of Setup: Extremely easy
Weight: 5-6 lbs
Price Paid: $250

Besides not having a vestibule (or anything available that fits) this is a perfect 2 person tent. I have taken it on 6 years of trips all over the world, from ice cold Aconcagua Argentina to a 42C German music festival. It holds up amazingly in any situation.

Since the actual tent hangs from the fly, in Germany I just removed it and slept underneath the fly for shade. This is how you get ventilation (the only way with this tent). It's built so well for winter weather that I have many times woken up in a sweat in sub zero temperatures. In my books, not too bad a thing.

Anyway, well worth buying, owning, and enjoying for years... Unbreakable. Carbon fiber poles that hold up to the fiercest winds and heaviest drunken friends falling on them. Sets up in less than a minute by one person in a severe wind storm. What more could you ask for?

Design: Four season free standing
Sleeps: 2
Ease of Setup: Couldn't be easier
Weight: 2.7 Lbs
Price Paid: 425 CDN

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Price Historic Range: $298.95
Reviewers Paid: $250.00

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