Catch up plus Sleep System Review

Right, I've been up to a few things over the last month, purchased some new kit that I'll review here and in later posts, had a brief trip to the Lakes to try it (and my fitness) out, and went to Sheffield's Cliffhanger event, sponsored by Alpkit amongst others (and yes, I couldn't resist buying a little something ).

First of all I've been reviewing my sleeping system. I've rarely had anything like a decent night sleep while camping, due to a combination of mat and bag and how I sleep.

On the mat front, I've used a Karrimat of various descriptions throughout my camping/sleeping career, and migrated about 8 years ago to a Thermarest Prolite short in the hope of reducing weight and having a better nights kip. I used my rucksack under my legs. But at 5 ft 9 I found the rucksack (either Berghaus or Lowe Alpine, both lumpy internal frame jobbies) too uncomfortable and usually kicked it away. I also found that I got pretty cold with the Thermarest and reverted back to using my Karrimat instead, even flogging my Thermarest on ebay.

As far as bags go my decent ones have been an Ajungilak Kompact followed by a Mountain Equipment Firewalker II, the first lasting well but eventually dying of old age, the second only really performing well for a year or two and then not really worth carrying the weight for the quality of sleep, despite being stored properly etc etc. Plus I tend to sleep on my front a lot and in a sleeping bag I would find I'd end up suffocating with my head in the hood as I wriggled around in the bag rather than the bag moving with me which I found too constrictive.

So, looking at the alternatives and thanks to the wonders of the web I came across quilts, which aren't really that new a concept at all and in the States they've been using them for years. I think I first came across them through Ray Jardine's Trail Life book. I then had a quick email exchange a couple of months ago with Chris Townsend who said he'd been looking at them too, plus Phil Turner aka Lightw8Outdoors who uses a Jacks R Better quilt., in addition to the Backpackergeartest.org website which I've found quite useful generally. In the event, Chris is going to use a GoLite quilt on his Pacific Northwest Trail. There are also other makes including Nunatak but in researching different sleeping mats I came across Thermarests offering of the 'Down Comforter'. It's not quite as streamlined as the JRB, GoLite or Nunataks, being designed to slip over the end of a long Thermarest mat (any sort - see in a bit...) so it's quite wide at the bottom. It's down filled, has baffles that run along the sides and an elasticated foot bed. It comes in two sizes though this fact seems to be missed by some stockists; I opted for the Chili Red Large size.

It looked small when it arrived, even though it wasn't compressed. But I got it out of the structured mesh bag it was supplied in, shook it out over the living room floor, took a few pics because I like being nerdy, and snuggled in. It was lovely.

So, yes, you've probably guessed I opted to purchase a Thermarest NeoAir. But not just the short version, not just the regular or medium version, but the LARGE version! This beastie is 25 inches across, meaning that I can lay on my front with my arms down my sides and not have them fall off and feel like a seal flippering about!! Yes, it's a tad heavier, and it cost a tenner more, but the results for me have been fantastic. As soon as I blew the thing up I had a massive smile on my face as I enjoyed it's bouncy comfiness! Yes, I know I'm getting a wee bit carried away here but it was like nothing on earth that I'd tried for camping. I can only imagine it's like being on a water bed or something!


I had also splashed out on something that some of my 8 followers might laugh at, and that is a fitted sheet. Yes. Thermarest make a fitted sheet to go over the mattress (any type as long as you buy the right size - Regular or Large). It's made of polyester and feels great, so I don't have to kiss my NeoAir (unless I particularly want to) when I'm laying face down.

All three items are shown on the Thermarest site with the pillow - which I thought was overdoing it wafer thin mint style, but who knows.
The next pic shows the underside of the NeoAir, the fitted sheet with one of the pre-attached elasticated bands (why they didn't make these thinner I don't know), and the underside of the footbox with baffles extending (downwards in the pic) with the body of the quilt around. This is quite different to the cosy foot boxes on other quilts which are much more like those on sleeping bags, though depending on the model.

So having opened my mid year Christmas present and having committed myself stupidly to meet someone at the gym at 07:30 the next morning, I had a camp in my wild back garden - the nearest I could get to an actual wild camp. This was in my old Trisar tent, the temperatures probably didn't go lower than about 12 Centigrade, but it was just like sleeping at home. Well, it was sleeping at home, but it was honestly the best night sleep that I'd had, not in an actual bed. The 'system' feels as if you are actually in a bed of sorts, there is room to move around. You can tuck the quilt underneath you or attach it with the poppers to the poppers on the fitted sheet, which fit snugly over the NeoAir, bound in three places by quite thick elasticated straps. I did both but found the quilt was warm enough not to need it tucking under me. The next pic shows the 'system' raised up on its side - you can see the poppers that would attach to one another - or to another system alongside.

There was plenty of room (I guess the Lightweights will call this 'weight') to move around without having a midnight battle, and I don't actually remember waking up until the morning which is a bit of a feat for me.

This is just to give an idea of scale against my trusty SIGG bottle.

I will make a separate entry on the more nerdy side of the kit - or you can view the Thermarest site for info. Altogether the total weight of the three is 1932 g according to the website. Having recently acquired some digital scales I shall weigh and make a separate report.


Generally though I found the kit to be comfortable, light enough for me (the comfort/weight equation listed towards comfort for me on this) and actually gave me the best nights sleep I've ever had while camping. So I would definately recommend it. This was backed up with a trip to the Lakes the following weekend, which will be the subject of another post.