When is a tent not a tent? When it’s a yurt. Although technically classified as tents, it would be a great disservice to lump these hardy tent-like structures indiscriminately with their homespun cousins.
It’s impossible to trace yurts to their exact point of origin, but it seems likely to have been among the Mongols of Siberia who referred to their round, lattice-walled shelters as home or ger.
For them, ger was more than a name for their portable shelter. The circle was a symbol of profound importance in how they organized their life – and even the interior of the shelter.
Modern yurts are adaptations of the ancient shelters invented by Asian nomads. The earliest yurts made use of sapling roof struts gathered into a central ring. The lower ends of the roof members were tied to circular lattice walls and covered with felted mats fashioned from sheep’s wool. The result was a simple and efficient shelter that was lightweight and portable.
Western civilization’s yurts are tent-like, but they are far stronger and have greater weather resistance than tents. Modern yurts are round and have wooden frames (radial rafters, lattice walls, a compression ring and a framed door). Yurts are usually built on wooden platforms of post-and-beam construction. They have minimal impact on the environment and can be removed without damage to their surroundings.
Simple and flexible, yurts range from basic shelters to fancier accommodations complete with electricity and plumbing.
Contemporary yurt builders use cutting-edge materials, including aircraft cable and space age fabrics. Today’s yurt designers and builders are champions of the new causes of sustainability and minimal impact—for which the yurt seems to be the ideal poster child.
Teacher Bill Coperthwaite was instrumental to the growth and development of the yurt movement in the United States in the 1960s. He built yurts in California and a complete yurt campus in New Hampshire.
In 1972 he established the Yurt Foundation. His goal was to continue “. . . a vision of studying indigenous cultures and applying their technologies to modern culture to design a simpler, more harmonious and sustainable way of living.”
Although traditional yurts were built to be disassembled and moved easily, today’s modern versions in North America and Europe are actually semi-permanent tent-like structures not intended to be moved. Or at least not very often.
That’s because in a growing number of state, provincial and national parks in Canada and the United States, yurts are seen as inexpensive and easy-to-build structures for public camping.
More rustic than cabins but more convenient and comfortable than tents, the yurt is proving to be an ideal solution for the camping public.
Thanks to the yurt’s versatility, they are seeing service in wide variety of settings. They can be used for virtually anything. As campground rentals, yurts are used for both accommodations and as meeting halls. Yurts are also used as shelters in ski areas.
Here, they allow operators to expand their offerings to include yurt-to-yurt skiing, snowshoeing and dog-sledding excursions. Yurts are also ideal choices for fitness and retreat centers and for adventure travel and ecotourism outings.
Yurts are still not mainstream with campers and travelers, but there are lots of them out there – and they’re very popular. In fact, campground operators report that they go quickly and are often reserved months in advance.
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