We always wondered why other backpackers would choose non-inflatable sleeping pads over those that inflated. It just seemed like the more uncomfortable, less stow-able choice. However, on a close to single digit night in the Whites it all clicked …

It all came together with the sound of a deflating sleeping pad and a quick plummet to the floor of the tent – the only layer separating us from the cold, icy snow blanketing the ground beneath us. One of the baffles in our sleeping pad gave way to a sleepless night of trying to fit two humans and a dog onto the only remaining insulated pad: a petite sized pad for someone around 5’3″ tall. Tricky to say the least …

Needless to say, it hit us like a bag of bricks in that moment. Why not use non-inflatable sleeping pads? We wouldn’t have been lying there, the three of us, trying to balance on a petite sized pad in a way that was comfortable enough to maybe get a little bit of sleep. Chris would not have been on his phone searching the web for the best insulated closed cell sleeping pads for us to purchase the next day. We would have been peacefully sleeping with the full moon above us not giving a care about the fact that it was fourteen degrees overnight. But, you learn through your experiences and that we certainly did. For that reason, we found this topic important enough to dedicate a post to it so that others can consider the consequences of pads with the potential to pop.

To play devils advocate, we may have been just fine had we remembered duct tape (which will never be left behind ever again), but we hadn’t been so thoughtful in our packing. To our defense, we normally bring it with us on most every trip, but in a little bit of “reorganization” we failed to remember to place it back into one of our packs. Also, it is worth mentioning that we had a patch kit too, but after reading the directions we realized that the resealing process wasn’t as instant as we had imagined it might be …

Long story short, we learned the benefits of a non-inflatable sleeping pad the hard-ball way. We have since made the switch and to be honest, we find our selves comfortable, more easily able to sprawl out (this is important for fellow side sleepers and those that practice yoga in their sleep like Alli) and the stowing isn’t as daunting as it once seemed. We also were pleasantly surprised to find that this option was about half the cost of the inflatable options we had tried. For our fellow weight weenies, this option is also ultralight, which is always a bonus!