Nortent Varde 1 Tent | Review

A seriously robust 4-season tent with huge space, expedition-grade stability and impressive value for money

Nortent are still relatively new in the UK camping scene, but they’ve rapidly built a reputation for making tough and thoughtfully designed 4-season shelters. The Varde 1 sits at the top of their solo tent lineup. It’s a one-person geodesic tent designed to take on exposed summit pitches, winter trails and mountain weather that would send most lightweight tents packing.

At 3.2kg in weight, this isn’t the lightest one-person option out there – and you’ll notice that as soon as you pick it up – but the combination of durability, internal space and precise engineering gives it a lot of appeal for serious hillwalkers, winter backpackers, mountain photographers or anyone who wants peace of mind in bad weather.

Buy the Nortent Varde 1: £414 at Nortent.com

What I’ve Used it For

I’ve so far used the Nortent Varde 1 in a number of scenarios, including on a very windy camp in Borrowdale in the eastern fells of the Lake District. Winds were being funneled down the valley and hit around 60 mph, which provided a pretty good real-world stress test for the structure. The tent held incredibly well thanks to its four crossing poles, the huge number of guylines and the overall seriousness of the build. There was no bowing or bending – it came across as a totally bombproof shelter for some serious conditions.

Details and Materials

In terms of packing, this is not a tiny bundle. When packed away it takes up a fair bit of space (roughly similar to most 4-pole winter tents) so you’ll want a 60-litre or above rucksack if you’re carrying a full winter setup.

Pictured in use during Will’s tests in the Lake District. Photos: Dave Macfarlane.

The Varde 1 has four colour-coded DAC poles, which immediately set a quality tone. They slot in easily, the colour coding helps to make things intuitive, and once everything is tensioned, you can see how the geodesic design distributes stress around the frame. Nortent has actually designed this so that, in the worst of conditions, the Varde can actually be used with the poles all doubled up – you’ll obviously need to buy the extra set though or use any spares with the same length.

The flysheet is 30D silnylon with a 3,000 mm hydrostatic head, and the overall quality of the fabric is excellent. It feels tough without being excessively heavy. I would say, however, that the stitching on the areas where the pole hooks are attached isn’t the prettiest – it’s functional and secure, but visually it looks a little “busy” compared to premium Scandinavian brands.

The porch is huge – genuinely one of the most spacious in a true 1-person tent. I’ve found I can easily cook inside, store a large pack, and still have room to sit and organise kit, all with my lively border terrier charging about.

Will faced strong winds during this pitch up, but the tent handled everything extremely well.

Usefully, the vestibule can be opened on the left or on the right hand side, so you can pick the lee side based on wind direction. You can also fully open the porch so that the tent’s side turns into a sort of overhang to create a big, open space for rain or sun-sheltered cooking or relaxing. It’s a quirky feature, although in angled rain it might expose the inner – and there’s a risk of it catching and billowing up if the wind gets under it. To me, this feature feels like more of a happy accident than a deliberate choice, but if you don’t like it or need it, it doesn’t need to be used.

Inside, you get a double-panel door: one full mesh and one full fabric door and there are two-way zips inside and out, meaning you can open sections for ventilation. Venting is further helped by two hooded top vents. The only mild gripe with these is that they don’t have lips to help to channel rain water fully away from the porch and, as a consequence, I’ve found rain can drip down at the porch entrance.

Nice other touches include:

Dyneema guylines that wrap around the poles
Simple bungees to tuck away spare guylines
Optional footprint available for £30
20 aluminium Y-pegs
Flysheet: Ripstop silnylon 30D, HH 3000m
Floor: 70D nylon, HH 10000mm
Internal stash pockets and hanging points.

Performance

This is a shelter built for rough weather. In my test camps it felt remarkably composed in high winds, with four the thick poles and five crossing points, all working together to keep everything rigid and secure. Once all the guylines are deployed, the tent becomes extremely hard to deform – you really feel the strength in the frame.

Pitching is surprisingly straightforward given the complexity of the structure. I found it reasonably quick and intuitive, but it can take some time if you’re using all of the many guylines – it takes me about 3 minutes without the guy lines and 10 minutes with them.

Head height and sleeping length are excellent. I think tall users will appreciate the space and lack of inner sag. There’s easily enough room to sit up comfortably, work on kit, or use the porch as a sheltered cooking area.

How it Compares

Nortent Varde vs Nortent Vern

Vern has 3 poles and uses more basic aluminium
Vern is lighter and packs a little smaller
Varde is more robust, roomier, and uses higher quality DAC poles.

The Varde feels more expedition-ready with genuine 4-season confidence

Nortent Varde vs Hilleberg Soulo

Soulo is lighter, slightly smaller overall, and has better finishing quality
Soulo costs significantly more, as you’d expect from Hilleberg
Varde is cheaper and roomier – arguably better value for money.

If you want a tent that can take on storms but don’t want to spend Hilleberg money, the Varde 1 represents a good option in my opinion.

Verdict

The Nortent Varde 1 is a genuinely impressive solo shelter. It’s heavy compared to typical backpacking options, but that weight buys you storm security, internal space, big-tent confidence and winter-ready stability. The porch space is very handy, the pole system is robust, and ventilation options are thoughtful and practical.

It’s the kind of tent you bring when you know it’s going to get rough and you want to wake up without the flysheet pressed against your face. I normally reach for my Terra Nova Southern Cross 2 in bad weather, but I can see myself turning to the Varde on those seriously wild, high-ridge or summit nights.

It’s not quite at Hilleberg’s level in terms of premium finishing, and the packed size means you need to plan rucksack space accordingly, but the overall build quality is still very good – especially at the price point.

Buy the Nortent Varde 1: £414 at Nortent.com