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What Lies Beneath
Your body loses heat up to three times faster to the ground
than to the air, so when it comes to nocturnal comfort,
your bag is only part of the equation. Fortunately, you
have as much choice in camp mattresses as you do in sleeping
bags. This year's catchword is versatility. No longer
do you need two separate pads, one for ultralight backpacking
and the other for car-camp comfort.
(1) Exped's Foam Air Mattress ($55, one pound 12
ounces) incorporates a polyurethane-film air mattress
that slides into an envelope of two four-millimeter closed-cell
foam pads. Leave the air mattress at home if you need
only minimal insulation. Just want a basic, no-frills
pad? (2) Coleman's Convoluted
Pad ($15) is a five-eighths-inch-thick waffle of
closed-cell polyethylene. The full-length version weighs
one pound eight ounces. (3)
Slumberjack's Denali Composite Shorty ($35, one
pound 12 ounces) is laminated from closed- and open-cell
foam, no inflation needed (and no punctures possible).
The (4) Therm-a-Rest Fusion
EX ($140, two pounds five ounces) (REI.com: Therm-A-Rest Fusion EX) is a self-inflating
mattress that packs in six configurations. Choose the
short mattress for backpacking, or add the foot section
and the three-sixteenth-inch foam pad for full-length
comfort and extra warmth. -J.H. |
| >> View the Therm-A-Rest Fusion EX at REI |
| >> View All Ground Pads at REI.com |
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