Wild CampingNortentExpedition Tent

Nortent Gamme 4 review: solid-as-a-rock protection for the roughest winter adventures

The closest thing we have ever come across to a portable brick building. Designed to withstand the worst weather imaginable — the type you only get on Arctic tundras — fully stove-compatible, with an optional inner, and it makes very easy work of typical British conditions.

✓  Specialist ChoiceNortent Gamme 4 Weight5.8–8 kgPrice£1,241+Seasons4 season The good✓  Super strong in all conditions
✓  Incredibly confidence-inducing
✓  Very versatile — duo/trio, with/without inner, hot tent
✓  Incredibly roomy (almost stand-up height)
✓  Stove-compatible
✓  Storm flaps around entire base
The not-so-good✗  Too large for one person to carry solo
✗  Very expensive at £1,241+
✗  Relatively heavy at 5.8–8 kg
✗  Requires seam sealing yourself

At a glance

Overview

Nortent is one of the most interesting brands we have had the pleasure to connect with at GBAC. Hailing from Norway, they follow a design process that involves building, testing and rapidly iterating — all to deliver what we think are some of the best tents on the market today. These include the ever-impressive Nortent Vern 1, one of our favourite 1-person 4-season backpacking tents of all time, and the Vern 1 PC, one of the most innovative shelters we have seen in recent years and our number-one choice for windy summit camps in the UK.

All that is to say we are pretty familiar with Nortent. Over the years, we have tried everything from their lightweight backpacking lines and their 4-season tipi shelters to their unique take on the bivouac. But, as their products are designed with Norway in mind — the home of proper winters and rolling snowy tundras — we were especially excited to test out their ultimate solution to 4-season Arctic camping: the Gamme.

The Gamme is Nortent’s most rugged, adventure-ready and hardcore camping tent. It is a spacious and super solid expedition tent that comes with storm flaps around the entire base of the tent for keeping out snow, can be fitted with an optional inner for camping when insects are an issue, and is even fully stove-compatible for making the inside of this shelter toasty warm when the weather outside is anything but.

In true 4-season, expedition-level style, the Gamme is decidedly not ultralight. All in, with inner, stakes, footprint, poles and bag, the Gamme pushes 8 kg. Without the inner — which, in our experience, is the configuration you will use most often — the weight drops to an advertised 5.8 kg. And while that puts this tent far out of the bounds of anything even resembling UL, the packed tent can be easily divided amongst your group to bring down the total per-person pack weight.

When it comes to price, the Nortent Gamme 4 is almost as expensive as it is heavy. Bought through Valley and Peak, the Gamme will set you back a whopping £1,241.35 for the cheapest version (the Arctic configuration without inner or footprint). This puts it very much at the top end of the price spectrum, making it only a consideration for people who are looking for a true 4-season shelter for use on bitterly cold expeditions — the exact use case the Gamme was designed for.

There is no point comparing the Gamme with traditional backpacking tents. To understand how it sits price-wise on the market, it is best compared with other products in its class: the Hilleberg Saitaris (6.6 kg, 4-person, £2,250), the Terra Nova Expedition Terra Firma (6.7 kg, 4-person, £1,800), or The North Face Bastion (6 kg, 4-person, £850). None of which are stove-compatible, we might add.

The Nortent Gamme 4 in the conditions it was built for (image courtesy of Nortent)

How we tested

To test the Nortent Gamme 4, we took this tent out on a few trips in and around the UK. We test-pitched it and camped in it in the Chiltern Hills to get a better feel for the user experience, tried it with a stove in some still woodland when the temperature dropped, and truly put it up against the worst the UK could throw at it on a multi-day hike through Scotland’s Cairngorms National Park in January. Unfortunately, at no point were we able to put the Gamme up against the Arctic conditions it was built for. On all of our testing trips, the Gamme never once saw snow (despite temperatures dropping deep below freezing numerous times), nor were we able to put it up against sustained sub-zero temperatures.

We were, however, able to put it up against wind gusts of up to 120 km/h in the Cairngorms, and we got to see how it performed in a sustained British downpour — both of which it shrugged off comfortably. Therefore, even though we could not gauge its ability to handle snow load or to see how the interior felt in temperatures below -9, our experiences with the Gamme have made us more than confident in its ability to perform in some truly awful conditions — and we would be happy to hunker down in this tent on a windy Arctic plateau somewhere.

Features and performance

Pitching and packing away

The first thing we particularly appreciate about the Nortent Gamme is the ease of pitching. For a tent this strong, you can pitch it in less than 10 minutes when you share the job with a friend, or around 15 minutes on your own. This includes guying out all lines, pegging out all tie-out points and making the tent as tight as a drum skin.

To properly pitch it, all you need to do is peg out one side and start building the structure. You slide the 3 black poles into place so they are all criss-crossed over one another, then simply slide the ends of each pole into the large plastic grommets. At this point, you add the 2 red support poles by feeding these through the holds around the structure before pegging out the rest of the tie-out points. Numerous guy lines around the Gamme can also be pulled tight to ensure the tent remains strong in winds from every direction.

Pitching in high winds

When we tested the Gamme in the Cairngorms, the windspeed was showing around 70 km/h with additional gusts of around 120 km/h coming in through the night. To maintain structural integrity, we untied some guy lines on the sheltered side of the tent and reattached these on the side being battered by the wind. This reduced the amount the Gamme shook when the big gusts hit it and made the inside substantially quieter.

When it comes to packing away the Gamme, the process is just as simple as pitching: deconstruct the shelter, remove the pegs and roll up the guy lines. The tent can then be rolled up or stuffed back into the generously sized carry case, and the poles slide back into their provided bag. Due to the size of the fly, it can get a little flappy in the wind. To avoid it being swept away in a gust, we got used to leaving one side fully pegged out before rolling the rest of the tent up into itself.

“The Gamme is the closest thing to a brick house we have ever had the privilege to test.”

The interior

The Gamme comes with two doors: one to the front of the tent underneath the chimney flap and one to the back. Both come with a built-in bug net as standard, and both offer enough room to easily climb in and out, even when it is full of kit. Around the top of the tent, numerous ventilation ports can be opened and closed depending on the wind direction, and there are even some along the bottom for increased airflow.

Inside the Gamme, there is tons of space to play with. You have almost enough room to stand up in this tent, and there is easily more than enough space for 4 people to sleep comfortably if you are happy to sleep directly on the ground (as is common in the cold conditions this tent was built for). If you are camping in insect-prone conditions and want to use the inner, the interior space reduces substantially. With that clipped in, you have only enough space for 2 people and kit, or 3 people at a push.

On cold winter days in the UK, we found ourselves only using the footprint. This kept the soggy Scottish ground at bay and allowed us to make maximum use of the generous space inside. In this configuration, around a quarter of the floor space remains uncovered, which gives you a vestibule-style area to pile up wet kit or to mount a stove if you are hot tenting.

It is also worth establishing that the Gamme is completely void of a vestibule. This tent is little more than a big dome, so your soggy kit will need to come inside with you. To keep the sleeping area dry, however, both the inner and the footprint leave a large section of ground exposed in front of the Gamme’s main door which serves as a great place to pile up wet kit. The Gamme also comes with a 20 cm wide nylon shelf around the foot of the inside wall which can be used to keep bits of kit off the ground, clean and dry.

Durability and seam sealing

With a flysheet made from a 40-denier silnylon material, the Gamme is decidedly durable. Thick yet flexible, strong yet reasonably lightweight, the purpose of this tent is to be both practical and solid — allowing you to not only move through inhospitable places but to stay safe while you are in them. And, in our experience, that is exactly what the Gamme delivers. Granted, as with any silnylon tent, you are not going to want to put this material near any open flames, nor are you going to want to hang it over a barbed wire fence to dry. But as long as you are considerate in how you pitch it, pack it and store it, the Gamme will easily last you many seasons.

As with any Nortent shelter, you do need to seam seal the Gamme yourself before first use. In a move to keep the price accessible, you have to go over all of the permeable seams with the seam sealant provided by Nortent. This process can be a bit messy and can take a bit of time, but it does render the shelter 100% waterproof and extends the life of your tent.

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Our verdictThe closest thing to a brick house we’ve ever tested. And the best winter tent on the market.All in, we have been nothing but impressed by the Gamme. For a tent of this style, it is relatively lightweight and easy to carry — especially when you share the load amongst a group. It is so incredibly strong that the tent will keep you safe wherever you use it in the UK.That said, at well over £1,000 for the basic model, the Gamme is mostly overkill for UK use. Aside from winter summit camps or extensive cold-weather trips in Scotland, wild camping in the UK does not really warrant something this hardcore — as long as you are willing to pick camp spots out of the wind, at least.But if you are looking for a tent to take on an Arctic winter expedition, enjoy spending multiple days off-grid, are a fan of hot tenting and do not mind carrying a heavy pack — the Nortent Gamme 4 might well be the best tent for you on the market right now. But only if you need a shelter that checks all of those boxes.

FAQs

How does the Nortent Gamme 4 perform in summer?The Gamme 4 is a do-it-all tent that is more than capable of withstanding anything the UK could throw at it — which is why it is largely overkill for summer adventures. This tent is designed to be a safe haven in the worst winter weather, so the weight and pack size are arguably too much for UK summer conditions unless you are planning to hot tent.

How does the Nortent Gamme 4 perform in winter?The Nortent Gamme 4 is the best-performing winter tent we have tested at GBAC. Incredibly rugged, solid in the wind and capable of withstanding huge snow load. Built to keep you safe in deep Arctic conditions — and we would be happy to rely on it in any weather in the UK.

How does the Nortent Gamme 4 perform in the wind?Excellently. A 5-pole design and dozens of peg points mean it easily stands up to horrendous wind. In gusts of up to 70 km/h with peaks of 120 km/h in the Cairngorms, the tent barely moved — holding its own like no tent we have ever tested before in the wind. Even though it was occasionally loud and the walls would flex a little in the strongest gusts, the structure held completely.

How easy is the Nortent Gamme 4 to pitch?Relatively easy, especially with a partner. We have pitched it solo in 14 minutes and as a pair in 8 minutes. Note that the footprint is at least 3 x 3 metres, so you will need a suitably sized flat pitch to use it properly.

Is the Nortent Gamme 4 worth the money?Costing well over £1,000, the Gamme is mostly overkill for UK conditions. It is too hardcore for summer use and the expense is difficult to justify for your average UK wildcamper. If you do a lot of winter camping in the Scottish Highlands, or like to summit camp in January in the Lakes with friends, it might be a smart investment that will keep you safe for years to come.