Switching to a shorter size sleeping pad is an efficient option to scale back the burden of your ultralight backpacking gear, since your legs don’t want as a lot insulation as your core in three-season situations. For instance, when you have a brief torso-length pad 36-48″ in size, you possibly can often relaxation your ft and legs on high of your backpack and spare clothes at night time and keep completely heat.
How a lot weight are you able to save by switching to a shorter pad? Let’s say you could have a 6′ lengthy inflatable pad that weighs 14 ounces, and also you substitute it with one which’s 4′ lengthy and weighs 10 ounces. 4 ounces is a fairly vital weight discount with little or no lack of consolation.
Utilizing a shorter sleeping pad additionally offers one other vital profit: diminished quantity. This is a vital consideration if you happen to’re attempting to modify to a lower-volume or frameless ultralight backpack.
Right here’s a listing of brief sleeping pads to present you an thought of the financial savings you will get by shopping for a shorter foam pad or an inflatable one.
DIY Sleeping Pad Shortening
Should you’re keen to gamble on modifying an air-inflatable pad you already personal, there are movies on-line that specify the way to shorten it utilizing a pair of scissors and an iron. Listed here are a few good ones that I like to recommend, though they’re just a little dated now.
As well as, don’t overlook the choice of switching to a cut-down closed-cell foam pad, just like the accordion-style folding Therm-a-Relaxation Zlite favored by many long-distance hikers as a result of it’s so sturdy. Every part of a Thermarest Zlite Sol weighs 1.1 oz, so chopping one down can shortly prevent a bunch of weight with out costing a lot.
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