Tent review: Save money on winter lodging with the Kelty Foxhole four-season tent

October 20, 4:53 PMMinneapolis Outdoor Recreation ExaminerMarie Malinowski

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Photo source: Kelty

Fall, spring, summer, winter, if you buy one tent, one tent at all, make it the Kelty Foxhole four-season tent.

The Foxhole, which comes as a two-person or three-person tent, is a high-performance shelter at an affordable price ($379). I hate to bring up the faltering economy but camping is still the most affordable option for away-from-home accommodations. With a quality four-season tent, like the Kelty Foxhole, you’ll be comfortable and save ducats.

Last weekend, in the woods of northern Wisconsin, where the nighttime temperature plummeted below freezing, the Kelty Foxhole 2 was a top performer, keeping us warm and dry and with its exceptional ventilation, sturdy construction, and entertaining us for hours with all its neat features.

The Kelty Foxhole 2 at Namekagon Lake campground

Ventilation, as you may or may not know, is a must for a four-season tent, especially when camping in colder temperatures because you exhale moisture during the night.

A tent with poor ventilation can leave the tent’s walls and the top of your sleeping bag soaked with cold dampness in cool or freezing weather.
My sleeping bag, and the tent’s internal walls, was dry in the morning thanks to the unique zip open head-level mesh panels on both sides and another pair of zip open mesh panels on the ceiling.

Plus, the entry doors also have zip open flaps with mesh panels. These all help distribute air so that the moisture from your breath doesn’t build up on the ceiling and walls, freezing, melting, and then dripping onto you and your sleeping bag.
 

The Foxhole 2 with a lake view

In warm weather, the vents can be opened to provide good cross flow ventilation, or they can be closed to varying degrees to provide more warmth and draft resistance during colder, windier weather, making this tent a true four season tent.

Inside the Foxhole is thirty-five square feet of living space. Plenty of room for two people to stretch out on camp mattresses and then some. Mesh side pockets by your head and a mesh shelf that suspends from the ceiling conveniently hold your night light, glasses, etc.

In addition to the thirty-five square fee of internal living space, the rain fly provides seven extra feet in the vestibule areas for storing backpacks, boots, and other gear. Welded clear windows on each side let you watch all hell breaking loose outside while the taped seams and fusion-welded floor seams keep you dry. Despite the sturdy construction and the cool features, it’s still light and small enough to strap onto a backpack. And it looks really cool!

Another important feature of a four-season tent, most notably when winter camping, is the tent’s ability to sustain the weight of snow and the abuse of strong winds when camping in open terrain. The Foxhole’s aerodynamic design, its venting system, and strong copper-plated stakes provide extra strength and stability when a nor’easter is bearing down on you. If you plan to use the Kelty Foxhole for winter camping in the snow, get yourself these snow stakes and you're good to go.

The pole design is ungodly simplistic, making this an easy tent to set up. I did it without even bothering to read the directions. It’s basically one pole with three hubs that attach to three points of the tent with poles that snake out from each hub to secure into a guy out loop. Throw on the rain fly, secure it, done.

There are only two other shelters that set up faster and easier than the Kelty Foxhole 2: The Sierra Designs Lightening XT-1 and the Sierra Designs Zagori bivy. Speed and ease in setting up a tent is typically a good thing when you’re in the midst of inclement weather or setting up camp in the dark. 

I close with a tiny lesson in economics: A $379 tent, that you can use all year, beats a $379/night hotel room on one weekend trip. Not to belabor the point, but last weekend, for $14/night, we had a quiet campsite, in the woods of northern Wisconsin, with a lake view, the sound of loons, and a beautiful sunset.

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For more info: Visit Kelty for more information on the Foxhole 2 tent and their complete line of quality gear.