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From: Wintercampers.com

The 8 Man Ultralight Tipi with Large Wood Stove by Kifaru
What started as a mere dream when first discovered by R&D chair Uncle Jim, the Tipi turned into a reality when Mark and Matt finally broke down and bought it.  Well after one trip we can safely say that the Tipi is worth it's weight in gold...well actually being that it only weighs 12 total pounds it might be worth more than that.  Yes, that's right....12 lbs for an 8 man tent with a packable woodstove.  They don't call it ultralight for nothing.  Leave the extra sleeping bag and down booties at home because you will be basking in near sauna-like conditions with this system.

Now for the details:

The Tipi is made of an ultralight fabric which resembles  parachute material.  The tipi material itself is very light and easily stuffs into a small sack.  It has one aluminum center pole and several stakes.  This part of the Tipi weighs in at just over 7 lbs.  Setting it up is rather easy.  If there is a lot of snow, however, we recommend digging out the area first for easier set up, especially if you don't have the longer tent stakes.  Taking the time to clear out the snow saves a lot of time and trouble in the end.
The woodstove is stainless steel and weighs in at just over 4lbs.  When folded up it is roughly the size of a laptop and comes in it's own carrying case.  This can prove to be a little tougher to set up the first time especially the stove pipe.  We recommend rolling the stove pipe a few times at home first in order to loosen it up a bit and to get the hang of it.  We did not do this the first trip but hindsight is always 20/20.

Once set up it is time to build your fire.  The firebox is 8x9x20 so you will have to keep the wood small especially since the door only allows wood of approximately 3.5 inches in diameter.  However, burn time is about an hour and a half.  With a fair amount of attention you can easily warm the inside of the tipi up into the 70s.  The sides of the stove and stovepipe do become red hot so you will want to make sure that the sleeping bags, packs, bare skin, etc. stay well away.

One of the greatest pleasures of sleeping in the heated tipi was discovered in the morning.  Waking up to sub freezing temperatures, putting on stiff-frozen boots, and packing up gear in the cold is not one of the highlights of winter camping.  Now all of that is in the past.  Simply roll over, stoke the fire and wait a few minutes until the tipi is nice and warm.  You can now climb out of your light sleeping bag, put on warm dry clothes, enjoy a leisurely breakfast without the normal tremor-like convulsions from shivering.  Then let the fire burn down as you pack up the majority of your gear.  Once the stove has cooled some and burnt up most of the wood/coals, simply pull of the stovepipe, carry the stove quickly outside and dump the remaining coals in the snow.  There should be very little ash but still be sure to make sure all embers are fully extinguished.  If you wish to leave no trace, simply scoop up the ashes and put in a ziplock bag to be carried out by an unsuspecting team member of whom you placed the ashes in their pack when they weren't paying attention.

Final Score*:
comfort- 10
ease of setup- 7
spaciousness- 8.5
pack stowability- 7

*bear in mind these scores are the opinion of E.R.O.T.I.C. after only one trip and are purely random in nature

Update!!! ----We have now used the Tipi on many trips including our recent Dog Sledding trip with Wintergreen in Ely, Minnesota.  The Tipi has been used in a variety of circumstances and performed well everytime.  The main things that we have learned is to fully dig out the area you want to place the tipi to allow for an easy time staking it out.  If you wish to have a fire going all night it is also very important to position a light sleeper near the stove.  Burn time is roughly an hour to and hour and a half so unless you just plan on re-lighting it in the morning you need someone to who sleeps lightly to keep waking up and throwing a few pieces of wood on every hour or so.  Finally, we have found the stove to be an adequate cooking stove.  The stove is sturdy enough to hold pots of boiling water, frying pans etc. so now we just use that to cook all of our meals....saves the weight of carrying an extra cooking stove.

All in all we highly recommend the Tipi by Kifaru. Feel free to ask us any questions and if you purchase your own tell them you saw this on Wintercampers.com

Click here to see the recent article from Wild Sheep magazine

		I just got the following scoop from Nepal regarding how the Kifaru Tipi was used on the trek to Mt. Kailash. Following message from Nepal-----<BR> Regarding the Kifaru Tepee Tent, this was the easiest and most convenient tent to assemble considering the wind factor in Tibet so they used it as the main dining and gathering tent during the Kora or Parikrama around Mt. Kailash as this could be assembled in less than 5 minutes. Inside the tent they had laid a large tarpaulin and all sitting arrangements were on the floor on the mattresses. Tibet is one of the windiest places on earth. I'm not surprised they decided to use the Kifaru Tipi, its often close to impossible to set up other types of tents in the strong winds. Thanks, Scott

		July 22nd, 1999 "Dear Patrick; What a great tent! The Everest Extreme Expedition used your 12 Man Kifaru Tipi throughout our 1999 Everest expedition. Along the trail we used it as a rapidly deployable shelter to protect our high technology research equipment, and as a sleeping shelter for team members. During the trek to Everest Base Camp, it also became a site for our village medical clinics due to its compact carry size, light weight, rapid set-up and large and comfortable interior space. At Everest Base Camp the Tipi demonstrated an exceptional ability to shed snow and withstand tremendous winds. Believe me when I tell you there is plenty of wind and snow at Mt. Everest ... the Tipi remained remarkably stable when other large tents in nearby camps collapsed. I have enclosed a few photos of the Kifaru Tipi in use along the trail and at Mt. Everest. Your Tipi is a great tent!" Sincerely, Scott hamilton, Expedition Leader
Steve Pitts, Adventures Made Easy		"Dear Patrick, I just wanted to check and see if you got the negatives I sent. I Also wanted to let you know that during the last full moon I was using the Tipi with some clients when we got POUNDED with wind.That trip ended any question about how the Tipi would stand up to high winds.The snow pegs never budged! Take care. Steve"

Just got back from a two day trip to one of the local
mountains north of Tokyo. Went solo to only 6,000 feet, but the weather was terribly cold...for everyone outside my tent. My casual 80 degrees made the sleet and ice outside much more bearable! Needless to say, your tent stole many a second and third glance from the Japanese hiking by. I gave your website to one. The stove and "indian" tipi were a huge hit. Talk to you soon. Take care. Grant

Dear Patrick;
Sun Valley Trekking has one of your early 8 man Tipis, circa 1986?, still in service. We are an outfitter/guide operation specializing in backcountry skiing, but have also used the Tipi for southwest Utah canyon backpack trips and river and sea kayak trips in Alaska. We are pleased with the Tipi's performance and utility in our service stations, but my comments here apply to its use in the winter environment, especially our 8 day trips into Yellowstone.
  In winter, we need a communal shelter in which to bring together our clients for meals and comradship while protected from cold and wind. The simplicity of the Tipi is ideal. It's quick pitching given the single center pole and perimeter pegging whereof we use skis and poles. The center pole is strong compared to shock corded poles on conventional tents whose joints freeze together more easily, whose shock cord fails in sever cold, are easily bent or stepped on in snowy situations, or rocket downslope. The steep pitch of the Tipi walls sheds both rain and snow readily, taut pegging the only caveat, a thing easily adjusted. Not having a floor is especially important. Keeping snow out of a tent is an eternal problem in winter that is eliminated without a floor. Condensation freezing and thawing on the inner wall at colder temperatures while both cooking and sleeping is inevitable. The melt runs down the steep walls unimpeded into the snow. We don't worry about spills while cooking, have an in-house grey water hole and snow for melt water. Or a midnight pissoir in the event of severe cold and storm. We often shape the floor for comfort, i.e., benches on the perimeter and a table around the center pole. We get more height that way too. We reshape at night for the sleeping platform and lay down our ground sheets. Weight is a big factor in winter travel. Our floorless, single pole Tipi eliminates precious weight while sleeping four comfortably. On the downside, big snows (three feet plus) make us shovel out the walls and mind the pegging occasionally, but these scenarios are problematic with any kind of shelter save an enclosed snowcave. That we continue to use the Tipi after all these years speaks volumes. Thanks for a fine and versatile shelter.
Sincerely,
Bob Jonas, owner /operator of Sun Valley Trekking