The vision of a winter festival—from snow-blanketed music concerts in the Swiss Alps to holiday markets in Canada’s Rocky Mountains—comes with unique challenges. Ensuring that tents, stages, and structures can survive heavy snow and winter storms is paramount for every festival producer. Temporary structures must be designed and managed to withstand the weight of snow, fierce winds, and sub-zero temperatures. This guide offers seasoned advice on building structures that survive on snow, covering everything from snow-load ratings and snow-shedding plans to clever anchoring solutions and post-storm inspections.
Snow-Load Ratings: Know Your Limits
In cold climates, festival tents and stage roofs must be rated for expected snow loads. It’s not enough to assume a standard tent will hold up—only engineered structures with proper certifications can guarantee safety under heavy snow. Festival organizers across the world, from the US to Germany to Japan’s northern regions, work with structural engineers to specify snow-load capacities for their temporary structures. For example, a clear-span festival tent in the Alps might be certified to hold 20–30 pounds per square foot (about 100–150 kg/m²) of snow before risk of collapse. Always check local building codes and manufacturer data: some jurisdictions require that any public-event structure can handle the region’s design snow load (which in heavy snow areas can exceed 50 psf, or 240 kg/m²). If your structure isn’t built for that, plan accordingly to avoid accumulation above safe limits.
Small-scale vs. large-scale: Even a small 3×3 meter pop-up canopy can fail under a few centimeters of snow if it’s not a heavy-duty model. On the other hand, large festival tents (like a 30 m span marquee) might be engineered for winter but still vulnerable if left unattended. No matter the size, ensure every tent and roof at your event has a known snow-load rating or an explicit plan to keep snow off. Never assume “it’s just a light snow” – design for the worst and have contingencies.
Active Snow Shedding Plans
Having a robust snow management plan is as important as the structure’s design. Festival teams from Quebec to Switzerland have learned to be proactive during snowstorms. Active snow shedding means you don’t allow snow to accumulate to dangerous levels: staff or contractors should regularly clear snow off tent roofs, stage canopies, and truss structures throughout a storm. Assign a snow-monitoring crew to watch all structures whenever flakes start falling. For instance, at a mountain music festival in Colorado, the production crew might schedule roof checks every 30 minutes during a blizzard, using soft tools (like snow rakes and brooms that won’t damage fabric) to gently push snow off the sides.
In some cases, design helps shed snow actively. High-peaked tents and sloped stage roofs naturally encourage snow to slide off before it builds up. Some festivals even install heating systems to warm tent roofs slightly – keeping the fabric just above freezing so snow melts on contact. European safety standards (EN 1991-1-3) note that if a tent’s roof is kept above 2 °C and snow is cleared before it exceeds ~8 cm depth, structural stress is greatly reduced (www.rhitents.com). However, beware of ice: melted snow can refreeze at tent edges, so ensure ice is also removed if it starts to accumulate. Whether through human effort or built-in systems, make it clear in your operations plan: snowfall will be dealt with immediately, not after a few hours. This level of vigilance can be the difference between a safe festival and a structural failure. For any winter event, a written snow response plan isn’t optional – it’s an essential safety measure (beyondtent.com).
Ballasting When Ground Anchors Freeze
Securing tents and truss rigs on frozen ground presents its own hurdles. Staking into frozen soil or a thick snowpack is often impossible – you simply can’t drive anchors deep enough or get them to hold in ice. The solution used by festival producers from Alaska to the Alps is to employ heavy weighted ballast. Ballasting means using weight (like concrete blocks, metal plates, or water barrels) to anchor structures when traditional stakes or ground screws won’t work. For example, a winter festival in Finland might swap out stakes for several 1,000 kg concrete blocks strapped to each leg of a stage roof. Similarly, at an outdoor expo in New York during a cold snap, organizers might use large water barrels (mixed with non-freezing additives) or sandbags as ballast because the ground is too hard to stake.
When ballasting, calculate your weight needs carefully. Don’t just guess – use engineering guidelines or tools to determine how much weight is required for a given structure and wind condition. (Industry tools developed by tent safety organizations can compute ballast needed based on tent size, wind speed, and surface conditions.) Always err on the side of more weight if high winds or blizzards are forecast. And remember to secure the ballast itself: tie down or strap the weights so they don’t shift. In regions like the UK or northern Japan where winter festivals may be held on frozen fields, producers ensure that every tent leg or truss base has adequate ballast, often adding 25% extra weight as a safety margin against gusts and snow pushes. If using water as weight, add antifreeze or use brine solutions so your barrels don’t turn into solid ice cubes (which can expand and crack the containers). The key is making sure nothing can tip or uplift – even if the ground is iron-hard with frost.
Vestibules and Weather Protection
Keeping the insides of your tents warm and wind-free is crucial for winter events – and it also protects the structure. Vestibules are a simple addition that pay huge dividends in cold weather. Essentially a tent vestibule is a small entry tent or double-door buffer zone at the entrance of a larger structure. By having an enclosed vestibule, you create an airlock that reduces heat loss each time people enter or exit, and it dramatically cuts down on frigid wind gusts blowing into the main tent. Festival organizers in freezing climates like Canada, the northern US, and Scandinavia commonly add vestibule attachments to their main event tents. For instance, a beer hall tent at a winter carnival in Germany might have a 2-door vestibule: attendees pass through one door into a small foyer, then through a second door into the heated main tent. This setup prevents the sudden rush of cold air that would occur if the tent opened directly to the outside.
Vestibules also serve other purposes: they keep snow and slush from being tracked deep inside (since people can stomp off or wipe their feet in the entry), and they cut down on wind stress on the structure by minimizing how long any door is open to the elements. If a vestibule isn’t feasible, even a simple double-curtain doorway or an L-shaped entrance (where you have to make two turns to get in) can help break the wind. Additionally, consider using insulated materials and flooring in your structures. Insulated wall panels or linings, and flooring on a raised platform, can help maintain heat—which in turn assists with that snow-shedding by keeping the roof warmer. The bottom line is to treat your temporary structures more like permanent buildings in winter: seal them up, add buffers at entries, and think about insulation, so both people and the structure itself stay warm and protected.
Constant Vigilance: Inspections After Every Squall
Winter weather can change rapidly. A calm morning can turn into an afternoon squall with high winds and heavy snow in minutes. Festival safety teams must remain vigilant, inspecting structures frequently and especially after every squall or storm. It’s a best practice to formally log inspections of all tents, stages, and support structures whenever severe weather has passed. These inspections should cover: checking for any fabric tears or sagging under snow weight, looking at truss joints and connections for signs of stress, ensuring that ballast weights haven’t shifted, and confirming that stakes or anchors (if used) remain taut and secure. For example, after a 50 km/h wind gust event at a winter expo in New Zealand, the crew would immediately tour all tent locations, tighten any slack ropes, re-center any moved weights, and brush off any new snow buildup, all while documenting each action in an inspection log.
Logging inspections serves two purposes: safety and accountability. By keeping a written or digital log (with time, date, who inspected, and notes), the festival production team ensures that no step is missed and creates a safety paper trail. This can be crucial if there are permit requirements or insurance inquiries. It also helps the team learn and improve; patterns might emerge (e.g., one particular tent always has snow buildup in a certain corner – maybe the tension needs adjustment there). Remember the stage collapse in Quebec City – while thankfully no one was hurt, investigators noted that days of foul weather had stressed the roof before it gave way (www.cbc.ca). Regular inspections and clearing could have prevented that failure. Don’t let “storm fatigue” set in: even at 3 AM after a blizzard, a final walkthrough is necessary to ensure everything is safe for when crowds return in the morning.
Key Takeaways
- Use Snow-Rated Structures: Only deploy tents and roof systems designed for winter loads. Verify their snow-load capacity and don’t exceed it – if unsure, assume a standard tent has zero snow capacity and plan to keep it clear.
- Have a Snow Removal Plan: Don’t let snow pile up. Assign crews and tools to continuously clear snow from all structures during storms. Heated tents or high-pitch roofs can aid in shedding snow, but nothing replaces an active human response.
- Anchor Securely with Ballast: When the ground is frozen or anchoring is impossible, use properly calculated weighted ballast (concrete blocks, water barrels with antifreeze, etc.) to secure tents and truss. Never skip anchoring – weight down every structure to withstand wind and snow push.
- Install Vestibules for Climate Control: Add vestibule entryways or double-door systems to your tents. They preserve heat and reduce wind gusts inside, which keeps guests comfortable and helps the structure by reducing thermal loss and wind stress.
- Inspect and Log Frequently: Treat every weather event as a reason to check your structures. After heavy wind or snowfall, immediately inspect all tents, trusses, and anchors. Log each inspection – it ensures issues are caught early and creates a record of your diligent safety practices.
25th August 2025