Oppland, meaning ‘the upper countries’ in old Norse, is the Norwegian county that hosts eight of Norway’s ten highest mountains, including Glittertind and Galdhøpiggen, the loftiest of them all. Nordisk’s Oppland tents are named after this spectacular region and this title gives more than a subtle hint to their suitability for the high places.
The Oppland 2 LW is a palatial two-person tunnel tent that boasts high levels of weather resistance and two main living areas – the inner sleeping area and a humongous storage area. This is thanks to its three-pole structure, which gives it its whopping 430cm length. Despite its size, it’s surprisingly lightweight and packs down into a tiny unit, making it more than portable enough to lug up mountain after mountain.
The lack of weight and smaller pack size is what sets this tent apart from its sibling, the much heavier (3,050g) and more robust Oppland 2 SI, which otherwise features a similar design.
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Pros
- Loads of living and storage space
- Impressively lightweight
- Compact for its size
- Easy to pitch
- Very weather resistant
- PFC-free
Cons
- Overkill for most
- Requires larger area to pitch
- Pricey
| Type | Tunnel |
| Weight | 1.74kg |
| Packed size | 40 x 13cm |
| Doors | 1 |
| Vestibules | 1 |
| Inner | 15D nylon |
| Fly | 10D nylon w/ PFC-free silicone coating (2000mm HH) |
| Groundsheet | 20D nylon w/ PFC-free PU coating (8000mm HH) |
| Poles | DAC Featherlite NFL |
Shape, structure, pitching, and internal liveability
Picture a two-person backpacking shelter in your mind’s eye and it’ll be nothing like the Oppland 2 LW. At first glance, this looks more like a family tent, thanks to its three-pole tunnel structure and elongated octagonal shape, which is around twice as long as most backpacking tents.
Just over half the tent is home to the inner sleeping area, or “the cabin”, as Nordisk’s design experts call it. The other end of the tent can be used for storage, as a refuge during bad weather days or as a handy space in which to have a meal. The main door opens up fully into this relatively palatial space, making it nicely ventilated too.
The Oppland pitches using an all-as-one approach, and the three DAC Featherlite NFL poles (two pre-curved gold poles and one slightly longer, pre-curved silver pole) are threaded through sleeves in the outer fabric and clipped into place, creating a trio of arches that help the tent maintain its tunnel shape.
After one end is pegged out, the whole structure can then be brought to life by pulling out the other end and pegging it into place. It can be pitched with the inner already attached, or this can be added or removed as required via a series of rubber attachment hooks.
This interior ‘cabin’ is large enough for two and a fair amount of gear as well, being 220cm long and 145cm wide. This compares favourably to most other lightweight two-person backpacking tents, even those we consider to have impressive liveability such as the Sea to Summit Alto TR2 Plus. It’s also decent in terms of headroom too, with enough to comfortably sit up within the space between the pole arches.
Easily measuring over 4m in length, it’s fair to say you’ll need a little bit more flat ground to pitch the Oppland 2 LW than most backpacking tents, meaning it’s not one for really pointy summits or for tiny peninsulas jutting towards the middle of brooding lochans, tarns or llyns.
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Waterproofing
The 20-denier ripstop nylon groundsheet is polyurethane coated and boasts a high hydrostatic head HH of 8000mm, making it very well suited to the worst conditions Britain’s mountain regions have to offer.
The silicon-coated, super-light, 10-denier nylon flysheet also offers very good levels of waterproofing, with a hydrostatic head grade of 2000mm. These stats are particularly impressive when you consider the lightweight qualities of this excellent shelter. Taped seams provide additional protection against water ingress.
Condensation
There’s plenty of adjustable ventilation here, meaning condensation should never be too much of an issue. The clearance of the rainfly above the ground can be adjusted, while there are also vents on either end that can be adjusted via the guylines. When the weather turns biblical, you can batten down the hatches and close everything up, while you can open the vents to ensure plenty of airflow on milder, balmier nights.
Wind protection
Britain’s uplands – or should that be opplands? – have a habit of being pretty gusty at the best of times, so a sturdy backpacking tent that can deal with the wind is crucial. Fortunately, Norway’s high places have to deal with their fair share of wind too, often Arctic flavoured, and the Oppland 2 LW is well equipped to cope with our breezier days. Its tunnel shape, when pitched in the direction of the prevailing winds, feels very stable, partly thanks to the presence of a whopping eight guylines.
Weight and packed size
Considering its size, it’s almost unbelievable that the Oppland 2 LW weighs just 1,737g on our scales. If that wasn’t impressive enough, it also packs down into a 40cm x 13cm sack, which compares favourably to other smaller, leading lightweight backpacking shelters.
The LW achieves its low weight thanks to lighter, lower denier nylon fabrics when compared to the SI, as well as deploying guylines made from Dyneema, a cutting-edge polyethylene fibre that’s supposedly 15 times stronger than steel but very, very light.
The weight of the tent is broken down as follows: combined flysheet and inner with eight guylines (1,239g), three poles (358g), 10 pegs (83g), pole and peg bag (15g) and main storage bag (42g). The pegs are excellent – tri-angled, Y-shaped, 15cm-long stakes with integrated pull loops.
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Features
The main door opens completely and can be stowed into a mesh pocket to the side. This allows the main storage space to be fully opened to the outside world on fair weather days. Similar mesh pockets provide gear storage, if you were looking to keep your phone or teddy bear off the tent floor. Overhead loops provide attachments for camping lanterns, or to thread a line through to make a dry line.
There’s the option of purchasing the compatible Oppland 2 footprint (£78) for even greater abrasion resistance, insulation and weatherproofing.
The Oppland 2 also comes supplied with a pole repair sleeve and rip repair patches.
Verdict
The Nordisk Oppland 2 LW is a unique, triple-hooped tent with premium features, excellent weatherproofing, and a humongous porch – but it’s very expensive and overkill for most scenarios.
How we tested
The Nordisk Oppland 2 LW tent was tested and reviewed by James Forrest who is based in the Lake District and one of the UK's leading outdoor writers.
James is a prolific wild camper and backpacker in the UK's hills and mountains, and you'll struggle to find anyone with more experience on these subjects.