Winter backpacking – sensible redundancy or packing fears?

Henrik – i have a T-rest Xtherm, several years old. It has always seemed fairly stout to me. I use a piece of 1/8″ thick foam as a groundsheet, mostly to keep it from sliding around on the snow since I generally use a floorless shelter when snow camping.

Thanks Paul. That is the pad with all the right specs and reviews that I have been trying to avoid due to the lack of comfort – at least that’s the impression I get from all the reviews I’ve read. A good nights sleep after a long day of skiing is important if there is more work to be done the day after. But if the one(s) I have now (Tensor Extreme Conditions and Ether light XR Pro) does not provide enough warmth, then I’ll have to give it a go.

one time my mini Bic lost all its fuel when pressed inside a ditty bag

I fashioned a thin snug fit but removable zip tie around my lighter which does a nice job of blocking the fork from ever accidentally getting depressed.

Does reflective work without an air gap?

Not really

https://natural-resources.canada.ca/energy-efficiency/home-energy-efficiency/keeping-heat-section-3-materials-insulation-house-wrap-barriers-weatherstripping

“Research has shown that the insulation value of reflective bubble foil insulations and radiant barriers can vary from RSI 0 (R-0) to RSI 0.62 (R-3.5) per thickness of material. The effective insulating value depends on the number of adjacent dead air spaces, layers of foil and where they are installed.

…. If there is no air space or clear bubble layer, the RSI value of the film is zero.”

Clarifying on the reflective film. I guess that means that deflating a pad where the isolation is based on several layers of film, like the Nemo Tensor Extreme conditions, means that the isolation value drops. Wonder if that’s the case with Exped Ultra or Dura.