Monday Kit Tip - Pillow Talk

This week's Monday Kit Tip is another sleeping related one, how to pillow up for camping comfort.


There are plenty of ready-made options out there - Ajungilak produced an inflatable camp pillow with a thin fleece outer, which works decently, but has a hint of crisp-packety acoustics that doesn't always make for sweet dreams.

Meanwhile, Therm-a-Rest has its urethane foam-filled  Compressible Pillow in three sizes with weights from 198 grammes to 340 grammes and Exped boasts a self-inflating Comfort Foam Pillow - above - which packs small and weighs in at just 170 grammes.

They all work, but with a little ingenuity, you can construct a comfortable pillow from the kit you have with you already. No fixed rules, but here are some options that might work for you. You could take the stuff sac from your sleeping bag and fill it with spare clothing - fleece works well - and use that. You an even carry a lightweight stuff sac just to use as an improvised pillow case.

Or, for ultimate luxury in winter, fill the stuff sack with a down or Primaloft jacket. Or for even more comfort and a soft feel against your face, use a microfleece as the pillow case and fill with down clothing. Or more fleece. Or spare kit.

Finally, if you're feeling spartan, boots - or in winter - plastic boot inners, supplemented with spare clothing, can be surprisingly effective.

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