Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Medium sleeping mat pt2

A couple of weekends back, I used my newly arrived Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Medium sleeping mat and reported that I thought the mat might have been responsible for me sleeping cold that night. On Friday night, I put down a foil mat below the NeoAir, and slept warmer. The Silva ADC unit reported that the groundsheet temperature had dropped to 4°c.

The foil doesn’t add much weight. I didn’t use my Blizzard bag, keeping it for emergencies. I am sure that I saw Geoff do something similar at the Lakes meet a few years back.

Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Medium sleeping mat

I found a Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Medium sleeping mat for sale at The Outdoor Shop and collected it from the local corner shop on Friday. Based on my use of the Prolite 3/4-length mat in the past, I had decided that the small (47”) was too small. The regular (72”) too long for me, as that was similar to the Insul Mat I had been using, and the end usually disappears under my rucksack at the foot of the Akto. The medium, at 66”  (5.5’) sounded just right. The weight is quoted at 370 grammes, exactly the same as the quoted weight on the Prolite 3/4 mat. The Insul mat is 570 grammes. When I swapped the mats out, my backpack suddenly had much more space.

As the website had stated that a stuffsack was not provided, I had taken along the Prolite 3/4’s sack. The NeoAir only took about 3/4 of the space.

Upon unrolling the mat in my tent, the instructions and stuffsack were found.

In the morning, I compared the re-rolled NeoAir with my 2 litre Camelbak, and above that, the Ajungilak Air Pillow.

product sheet

Experience

On Saturday morning, my feet felt cold. I put this down to the vent being open into the prevailing (cold) breeze. Other than that, I had slept comfortably, and the mat had stayed put. Some other people have reported that theirs have softened overnight. I didn’t have that problem on either night.

To repeat the experiment, I closed the vent at on end. Yet on Sunday morning, around 2am, I could feel the temperature dropping, and pulled on a pair of socks. Checking the Silva ADC, the temperature during the night had dropped to 4.5°c. That isn’t that cold, as I have been out in lower in the same bag.

Next time that I am out, I will use my Blizzard bag as an insulating mat, to see if I can stop heat being leached out of the NeoAir to the ground. I didn’t want to try that on the Saturday night, in case it was just the cold breeze coming through a vent that was causing it. I carry this bag anyway, in case of emergency, so it isn’t an extra weight to carry to assist the NeoAir – which would kind of defeat the purpose of a sleeping mat advertised (on the box) as a 3 season mat.

Other than that, I had a great couple of nights sleeping, and even got some dream time logged. But you really don’t want to hear about that.

preBellingham

Getting ready for the Bellingham meet. I'm still keeping Saturday night free, and will either be at the Brown Rigg camp site or off somewhere in Kielder Forest. See what's what.

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Trying out the dehydrator that came on Tuesday from QVC - making some beef jerky. Seems simple enough for my chuck-it-all-in 'style' of cooking. £2.60's worth of thin cut beef has filled two 13" diameter drying trays when sliced and soaked.

The dehydrator doesn't have a timer on it, so I've cunningly rigged it to one of those timer switches that plugs into the wall-socket. Set for 8 hours, it'll switch itself off at 2am. Hopefully. If not, I can use the results to make some wargames buildings.

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Amazon delivered a bundle to a neighbour for me, I'll take them (and some other books) down to Bellingham...along with some snacks.

• "Lighten Up!: A Complete Handbook for Light and Ultralight Backpacking" by Don Ladigin (link)
• "Lightweight Backpacking & Camping: A Field Guide to Wilderness Hiking Equipment, Technique & Style" edited by Ryan Jordan (Backpacking Light) (link)
• "Backpack Gourmet: Good Hot Grub You Can Make at Home, Dehydrate, and Pack for Quick, Easy and Healthy Eating on the Trail" by Linda Frederick Yaffe (link)
• "Trail Food: Drying and Cooking Food for Backpackers and Paddlers" by Alan Kesselheim (link)

All look like they are packed with interesting facts and hints and tips. I need a new bookcase - or rather, I have an ingo that has some empty wall-space that would be suitable for a narrow bookcase. Hmm, I'll be passing Ikea-Edinburgh on the way to Bellingham. I'll have a skeg round their site.

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Poor BG caught Lymes Disease from a tick. Unlucky, Stef :( He was such a nice chap too. Hmm, I'll need to fumigate the sleepmat he sent me on - which might be at the Sorting Office just now. I came home to find a "we called, but you were working" cards. I'm supposed to wait until 10.30 of Friday, but I'll be at work, so I'm up for some anarchy - turning up only 20.5 - 21 hours later to see how long it takes for someone to correctly file an undelivered packet.

It sounds petty, but I've seen the haradrin at the Sorting Office refuse to even go and look if a customer dares to come in a few hours early. Of course, she may know that the delivery people didn't have time to sort yesterday's undelivered packets and they are all in bags all over the shop. Or whatever the technicalities of it are.

If it is the Insul Mat Max Thermo Lite sleeping pad, and I get it on Friday, I'll take it to Bellingham (sorry, I'm stating the bleedin' obvious there). Some good photos from BG - oops, just found his email from Monday. Strange that his 'long' packs smaller than my 'regular' mat. Hey ho, all part of life's rich tapestry. I'm looking forward to comparing it with sleeping on the 3/4 length ThermaRest. If you don't get a good night's sleep, I found that it knocks you out for the next day.

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And then the Ben Starav group the weekend after with Simon Parke. We're meeting in the Kingshouse. I suppose I should wear a pink dehydrated carnation and carry a copy of TGO so he'll recognise me.

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Drive to/from Peterhead this morning was brightened by swathes of yellow oil-seed plants that have bloomed over the Easter break. Very nice.

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Quote heard on Radio 4 on Monday: "We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us." Winston Churchill. Seemed apt.

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And on the topic of Radio 4, their excellent "Open Country" programme was on Kinder Scout, and included a discussion about the 1932 Mass Trespass. (Link to site, with 'listen again' feature).

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Craig from Fast & Light popped up on SkypeChat to say that the Montrail Namches are almost here. Jacket's already in. Great stuff.

Sleeping Mat

Spent some of evening looking at replacement for the Thermarest Prolite Short. A fine mat, but I'd like to try something more comfortable. Looking at the following items:

• Insul Mat Max Thermo Lite Sleeping Pad, but Sierra Trading Post only have them in regular or long. (link)
• Big Agnes produce an insulated air core pad, and the 60" mummy shape looks fine and dandy. 18 ounces, and packs to 3.5"x8". I've just emailed them about UK shipping. (link)

With the current exchange rate, the products are even more tempting than normal. I'd gotten into the habit of using the bivvy bag to hold the sleeping mat, and then the sleeping bag together. That way, no matter which way I turned, the arrangement kept together. I didn't roll the bivvy bag all the way up, just to about knee length. Not too restrictive, and did the job.

Also doubled as a seat in the morning over breakfast, as the bivvy would protect the thermarest and the sleeping bag from the dewy grass.

I'll be rolling out items here over the next week. Today's been a slow day for me.

Trail: April 2007

April's "Trail" magazine came through a tear in the space-time continuum back to March.

• Sad article about people escaping from Tibet, and the reports on the plight of exiles mentioned in the International Campaign for Tibet's "Dangerous Crossings" 2006 update (available soon).
• The 6 of the Best..Sleep Mats has fun "get it/snub it" comments. Thought the price of the ME Fusion looked too good to be true at £6. Out by a factor of 10.
• As ever, the sense of recognition is a good thing. So enjoyed reading the "Hill Zen: The distance check".
• The main article is "The Trail 100. The finest UK mountains, the best ranges, one list." Well, I'm at 3% just now. Ben Macdui, Lochnagar, Ben Hope.
• The knowledge - as ever, this has lots of information .
• "My inspiration" is an inspired article and should get people thinking of their own heroes and people who inspired/inspire us. And you can view some of the interviews on YouTube too.
• Gear reviews are on footwear. 3-season boots; multi-activity shoes; trail-running shoes; kids' boots; sandals.
• Fitness academy is on scrambling this month. I'll read this in detail later, as Trail's given me good information in the past about overcoming "confidence demons".
• Range guide: Langdale Giants. Routes: wild walks.
• Mountain connections: I've yet to find one I'm interested in. IMHO, bring back the 15 Things, or something better.

Link to magazine site; forum; YouTube.

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Off phone with nice lady from the mobile phone company. Free upgrade to the k800i - 3.2mp camera. Oh, and all the other bits and pieces. Not been worth trying photo-blogging on the k750i as 'only' 2mp. But will be worth giving it a go for the SUW. Also, the old phone's battery has not been lasting as long as before.

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Getting tempted seriously tempted by the "The Backpackers Club AGM & TGO Ultralight Fest" in late April. I'll need to look into accommodation and getting there and back again. With more traders going, it looks like a fun gearfest. If the worst comes to the worst, I could drive down, wildcamp, head into town, tab it round some nice terrain, reive some cattle and head back north. Sorry, I was born in Dumfries, and some traditions are hard to break.
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Good call, WeirdDarren. He found that the US Army had been testing water filter systems. Reported here by the "US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine"

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And if you though WD's article on plastic bags was detailed, then read this by Jim Wood on keeping your gear dry. I've written less words in degree submissions! Cracking stuff.

WHW day 2.2

To the marketing manager, therm-a-rest. Do you produce an ultralite short in MacLeod hunting tartan with a clip-on chanter? If not, then I'd be happy to sell you this idea for making the hills come alive to the sound of music as campers break camp in the morning. Yrs, D MacLeod, nr Conic Hill.