Sadly I can immediately see the difference in manufacturing, or sourcing as it would be, in that my Mountain 25 (purchased in 1990s) has Easton poles.. not produced for TNF, but literally printed on the poles. They are noticeably thicker than those shown in this video.. I have been buried in snow many many times. It is sad a great company like TNF would let the bottom dollar and social climate dictate the development and production of 'historically' some of the finest outdoor equipment available.. =(

I am impressed that It only broke the poles, the canvas seams fine. This was way beyond 'normal use' where the occupants would periodically clear snow to prevent complete burial but an interesting idea about ultimate failure points in dome tents. Yes doubling up poles or heavier poles may give a higher snow load before failure but may also lead to the canvas failing before the poles which could be potentially worse! Never heard of this happening during normal use on any expedition tents though. It is something I though about when recently getting a new tent as I live in the NW coastal ranges and a foot of snow is not uncommon.

It can be debated as for the use of the tent. Knocking from the inside to shed the snow regularly, as well as extra poles on the main two ones. Actually the 4 main ones. The apsis one cannot be doubled, as there is not enough space for it. I tried. And also some would say the old poles were stronger, before they went to DAC poles. The windows may crack of age, but can easily be sewn in with a piece of sail window plastic as I did, and it's UV proof and storm proof for mountain use. The two foam pieces on mine, I just made new ones, that work well to separate the two layers of tent. One the new one, there are no such things, but instead two eyelets (strings) for two stakes. I would prefer both to be honest. I have not had mine (a bit old version) for long, but it didn't collapse and held fine in storm and heavy snow. My version is double side silicone treated, the present day one is not. The early DAC poles were not so great but the new DAC should be fine. The problem is, that TNF does not, and do not want to sell extra poles. Especially in Europe, but in the North America, there is a far better warranty, and you can sometimes talk them over to sell you parts. A pity that TNF became so bad compared to many years ago, when they had world class service. Not today. So I bought an extra set of poles second hand. I also got extra stakes, so I can stake every single eyelet etc. there is, and that's a lot. The upper two small vents sticks work better on the new present model of VE-25, than mine. I inspect the poles very carefully for possible damage/material getting tired/stressed. I also retaped mine, and it works perfectly. The newer VE-25 with it's clips a la Geodome 4 and many more, is faster to set up, but the old one I have, with it's longer sleeves all over, is maybe a bit stronger as it supports the poles in their entire length. Also, the clips may break due to various forms of stress, where as the long sleeves on mine, does not. If I had the new one, I would improve on that to resemble the older one, before taking it on a serious trip. I think TNF made some cost savings and also sacrificed a bit of strength to be faster/more user friendly with the new model. Overall I would take this over more modern constructions, also from other brands. I have found Hilleberg to shake a lot in high winds. For smaller use, I take my old Fjällräven Akka Shape R/S 2 (stronger than the new version) strong tunnel tent, that can also really take a beating. Very fast to set up. Double sided siliconed as well. All get a new treatment every year. Also all elastic strings as well as guy lines. For situations of more space and other tasks, I use my Geodome 4, which is very sturdy, and use longer stakes, but bigger more secure ones are needed. I nearly lost mine in really bad weather - too short not secure enough stakes. It's very hard to hold a Geodome 4 setup in strong wind when it's loose off the ground. But apart from that, it worked well afterwards. I like it very much. But ultimately, the VE-25 is stronger/lower. And for high risk trips, I use my TNF Bivuak, which is the second newest, that I find better than the new one I have also had. I just took the idea of the single short pole, and made something similar on my version, which also connects better than the overly small overly tight corners on the new version. I also sewed in two stake loops for security/anti-roll off the cliff etc. A dab of silicone treatment on the mods, and it's watertight. Btw. I always keep a small one hand use rope knife on me at all times, so I can cut my way out if collapsed and in danger. Just my two p. Kind regards.

What other said. I shake it once in a while.

Great video on a great tent that delivers 90% of the time - tjis is the weakness for sure ! . As Tom said - the trango does a better job on this but that does not help noe hehe

You deserve many comments on this. A great video showing and exposing a weakness of a highly regarded tent. The snow was most likely wet but in reality that does happen so fair enough I feel. The lack of 10mm poles and the aerodynamic side walls allowing the weight of snow to build up on the tent contribute to this fail. A Mountain Hardwear tango 3 for example has steeper side walls with an extra pole crossing point and 10mm poles.... Most manufactures have adopted the 7 pole crossing point design instead of the 5 of the Ve25. Not a great tent in high winds either for similar reasons form my experience of having 3 of them. Performs reasonably well in most conditions but definitely has limits before it should. ATB and really enjoyed your video. Shared too. Tom

Did the company replace the tent for you since it was destroyed in the weather?

DD tarp in a tent config may have dealt with that much better.

What is that at 4:36 what is it for?