Gear

I have been replacing my gear with lighter versions over the last 5 years or so as they wear or as the desire takes me (self-confesssed gear freak). I have been using a TAR prolite 3 standard length for a number of years (orange one with the grey bottom). What a revelation over my old CCF mat! It meant I actually slept in the hills (supplemented with my earplugs bought at the same time).

However it is not light by today's standards and I was wondering if people thought it worth replacing? I have no reason to replace, i.e. its not leaking, its still doing its job of insulating me and providing cushioning, etc. Its onlyfailing is it is a few hundred grammes heavier than other pads you can now buy. Is this enough to spend up to £100 on something else? I am a tall guyy (about 6'5") and I have been thinking that I could use a small mat with a rucksack under my legs in order to get the weight down. I was just wondering if it was worth it or should I look elsewhere for weight savings?

I've dropped my pack weight down from somewhere in the region of 30kg to about 8-11kg all in (including a few litres of water in the last case). I think my base load (or base with food for an overnighter or slightly longer) is about 7.5-8.5kg. So as you see I'm getting there just not completely.

Not really important but just thought I would put out the questions to learn from the more experienced and knowledgable out there.

Guy - I can hardly talk about things to do with weight as I replaced a rucksack for one only 500g lighter at 1kg ish. I don't know really why but I did it anyway. Now I'm looking to get a pot gripper I've seen on the GSI Outdoors website with a pot that is kind of like two shaped, silicone thimbles joined to form a kind of pinching devies to act as a pot grip. I want to buy one on its own if I can find one. Now that would probably save only grammes but I feel I have to. I don't fancy drilling out the traditional one I got with my AGG cookset with can stove. i know tht since I don't have a vice I will end up drilling through my hand while I hold it and try to dril with the other one. I'm not very practical I admit it.

I have both and I find the opposite is true. The end tubes of the exped keep me mat bound whereas I tend to roll off the NeoAir.

Still a cracking bit of kit for summer though.

Or you should switch to a quilt and stick themat inside your quilt straps so it moves with you. I'm a quilt convert now. Recently I bought a Golite 20 quilt (old model down to -7C apparently) for £100 and I have a problem. It is currently too warm for me at this time of year! I don't know if it is me or the quilt but I sweat like a fat man in a sauna. Apologies to the more rotund but as a skinny streak of ... I shouldn't be sweating in a -7C (everyone who has or had one says comfort rating should be 0C) comfort rated bag. I mean at definitely no more that 6C at valley level in towns and I am about 300-500 metres the temperature should be lower. That means I should be well within a down quilt's comfort range especially since I always thought (based on information from gear reviewers articles on down bags in magazines) that down had a wide temperature comfort range compared to synthetics. Anyone else has found that a down bag has been found to be way too warm in use? Is there another quilt Golite produce that could be a higher rating? I wonder if I got a 0F rated Golite quilt (-18C).

Sorry, off my own topic.

I use a montbell UL Pad 120 with a 150cm (cut to size ) thin (8mm) closed cell foam pad which is 60cm wide from shoulder to hands and tapers to 50cm at the feet. Neither of these cover my head area, for which I use a stuff sack with some spare clothing which can be held in place by the strap on the montbell pad. I made the ccf pad 60cm wide because my elbows always seem to fall off the edge of the MB pad (standard 50cm/20" wide). The set up works pretty well for 3 season use and I can sleep either on my side or on my back. I find that getting the foot padding thickness correct is critical for a good nights sleep if one is a back sleeper - too little and your heels will complain. Too much and the knees will be uncomfortable due to lack of support under the middle of the leg. I'm afraid I will have to get back to you on the total weight - however I intend to measure it this weekend though for a trip report.

Funnily enough I did suffer from an over specc'd sleeping bag on this trip - I found that the temperature was such that zipped up was just too hot, but unzipping caused uncomfortably cool air to circulate in the 'dead' space whenever I moved or there was a draught. I suspect that paradoxically if it had been warmer then I could have been more comfortable as then I could have just draped the bag over me like a quilt. The nights were spent in a bothy, or rather the local equivalent, and I think that the best aid to sleep would have been ear plugs. Infact my ccf pad came in handy when in desperation I cut 2 fingers off the edge and stuck them in my ears. The foil backed mylar coating was a bit scratchy though...