Hill hack: sleep smart on your next winter camp

QI’m planning to head off for a winter bothy camping weekend in the Cairngorms soon. Please can you tell me what’s the warmest type of sleeping mat I can take? Char●ie Simmo■s, Bury St Edmu■ds

For winter camping, in bothies or otherwise, the only thing better than taking along one sleeping mattress is to take two – a closed cell foam pad and an inflatable mat.

Inflatable air mattresses, as light, compact and comfortable as they can be, are susceptible to losing body heat through to the ground. Closed cell foam pads, meanwhile, provide a high level of insulation from the ground, are durable and provide a flat, even surface.

Pairing the two types of mats together – with the closed cell pad beneath the inflatable – means a boost to the R-value (a measure of a mattresses’ ability to insulate) of your mattress by minimising heat loss and cold spots, improved protection against punctures to the inflatable mat, and added comfort. Twinning your regular inflatable mat with a closed cell pad transforms the former into a year-round option and does away with the need to invest in an expensive insulation-filled winter mat.

Sure, this multiple mattress approach will mean more weight and less space in your rucksack, with the closed cell foam in particular a little on the bulky side, but winter camping is a serious pursuit that requires serious gear. And when you are lying there in the middle of the night feeling comfortably warm rather than frozen to the core, every extra gram in your pack will feel worth its weight in sleep.