I've got a friend who recently tried to save pack weight on a winter backpacking trip by leaving his sleeping pad at home.
"Snow's soft enough," he said.
Yeah, but sure as heck isn't warm enough. Padding isn't the only thing that sleeping pads provide-they also insulate sleepers from the cold, cold ground. When the ground consists of frozen water, this is especially important.
This is probably why I was so smug about bringing along a highly insulative (if that isn't a word yet, it is now) sleeping pad that added less than two pounds to my pack.
California company Brooks Range Mountaineering is known for their high-end, extremely lightweight mountaineering gear, and their Backcountry Sleeping Pad ($79.95) lives up to the company's reputation.
It weighs a scant 28oz and packs down to roughly the size of a football. It combines structural foam with inflation to provide insulation and padding for a good night's sleep.
I've tried it out on Mount Whitney and Mount Shasta on both frozen dirt and snow, and it (combined with a solid sleeping bag, of course) kept me warm and cozy throughout the night.
On Whitney, I shared a tent with someone who had a sleeping bag with roughly the same temperature rating but a lower-end sleeping pad, and he suffered a few frigid nights.
I chalk it up to the pad's reflective back, which combined with the above-mentioned foam skeleton and air cushion, effectively prevented the ground's temp from penetrating my toasty little world.
Besides the basic necessities, the Backcountry Sleeping Pad comes with a few nice touches. The front side comes with charts that outline SOS signals and helicopter landing protocol (you know, just in case), and the footbed sports a chessboard graphic for when you're stuck waiting out a storm.
Since it's less than an inch thick, it's not as thick and cushy as some of the heavier sleeping pads out there, but if you're looking for solid insulation and decent padding with a minimal cost to pack weight, the Backcountry Sleeping Pad is a solid investment.
Take a closer look at Brooks-Range.com.
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