Tente de bain «MORZH»

Thanks to DHL, the Morzh Cube arrived on my doorstep about 1 hour after returning from a 19 hour car trip from Florida. I set it up that evening, with no experience and no prior video it took me 3-4 minutes to set up. (that was longer than unwrapping the packaging). Subsequently my set up and take down time is about 1 minute. The Morzh Cube is designed much like a ice fishing tent with built in framing that simply pops out the walls and roof. I noticed immediately that because of the walls popping outward the tent felt much more spacious! I have had 4 big guys in my old tent and it was very crowded and tight. I felt like 4 would be easy in the cube and 5 or 6 people would even be possible.

I wanted to experience portable saunas, so I reached out to Morzh, which sent a sample from Yekaerinburg, Russia, in just under a week.

Named after the Russian word for “walrus,” the Morzh system features a quilted tent made with three layers of flame-resistant oxford cloth. Two aircraft-grade aluminum-alloy poles zip into channels on the outside of the tent, giving the structure its shape. Morzh also sells an optional waterproof floor ($160), which provides noticeable insulation against the chill of the ground.

Throughout my testing, the tent withstood a Chicago blizzard that dumped snow over three weeks. I also hiked the setup—including tent, stove, stools, and rocks—to a perch overlooking Lake Michigan, where I cranked up the heat and spent three hours alternating between sitting in the heat, swimming in 34-degree water, and sipping homemade broth from a Stanley thermos.

The stove is made from eight-millimeter AISI 430 stainless steel and occupies about a quarter of the tent to the left of the door. Six chimney sections collapse and fit inside the stove when not in use, along with the legs, which screw into the bottom and raise the unit off the floor. When assembled, the chimney exits the tent through a steel grommet that protects the exterior fabric from coming into direct contact with the stove. The tent fits three people comfortably but could stretch to accommodate four or five.

While the Morzh may be best used for car camping, it is what it claims to be: a truly portable wood-fired sauna that will have the sweat beading from your brow—ideally within cannonball range of a lake in snow-covered woods.

A tent sauna isn’t without trade-offs. You’re not getting the hygge that comes from the cedar aroma and soft electric lights inside a permanent structure. Without raised seating, your feet might feel a little cooler than the rest of your body if they’re resting on the ground. But this is something different: an option for adventurers who want to take their heat with them, whether that’s to set up next to a body of water or on top of a mountain.

My wife and I spent a few years in Tennessee and while we were deciding on whether to move back to the Midwest and put down roots in Michigan, I knew I would need some ways to get through the cold and cloudy winters. I couldn’t find an affordable solution. The saunas either cost thousands of dollars to buy or hundreds of hours to build myself.

I kept seeing a unique option pop up – the Morzh Sauna Tent. What’s a sauna tent? I thought. Upon exploring the option a little further, I discovered that Morzh is a combination of an insulated tent with a small, wood stove inside. The insulated tent material traps the heat and the wood stove vents nicely through the ceiling.

The Morzh Sauna Tent is extremely portable. The tent itself only weighs 18.2 pounds and the wood stove weighs only 38 pounds. Once you get the hang of the setup after the first couple of times, set up and tear down becomes super easy and takes less than 15 minutes to do.

I used the Morzh Sauna by myself, with my wife, with friends, and with my kids at different times.
I tried to keep a schedule of using it a few times a week. I found, for me personally, that I sleep like a baby after using it. This is a huge benefit for me since I’m not as physically active in the winter and I tend to have a harder time sleeping.

My kids even loved getting in the sauna, hopping out to go run around in the snow, and then getting back in to warm up. I’ll be using this heavily here in Michigan in the winter, spring, and fall and even during the summer (with cold water nearby).