It started back in the early 1970s – and now to celebrate the 40th anniversary of bringing new levels of comfort to the camping and backpacking world, Thermarest have brought back their original self-inflating mattress.
In a throwback to their earliest self-inflating sleeping mat, the 2012 40th Anniversary Edition looks just like the original, with the same colour scheme, design and logo…but boasting the latest cutting edge technology to cater for today’s backpacking and camping enthusiasts.
In a limited edition that uses the lightest, most compressible foam ever used in a Thermarest, their 40th Anniversary mattress will bring a high degree of comfort and support in a two-inch thick sleeping mat for 4-season warmth, without adding any extra weight or bulk.
Each mattress will have an individual series number, with a glow-in-the-dark valve to make it easy to locate in darkness.
Warmth Without Weight
Other additions to the Thermarest stable include the NeoAir XTherm, the warmest in the NeoAir collection for fast & light winter use. Patent-pending Reflective Barriers guarantee superb warmth without the weight or bulk found in many cold weather mattresses.
Taking up roughly the space of a one litre water bottle, and weighing less than a pound, the NeoAir XTherm promises serious comfort in plunging temperatures.
The secret is in four layers of reflective material which recycles body heat and creates air pockets that reduce convective heat loss. Two and a half inches thick, with a tapered design towards the lower body which adds to the reduction in weight, the XTherm is about as compact and packable as it gets.
Designed for Women
Other Thermarest mattresses in their Fast & Light series include the updated Prolite and Prolite Plus, both with women’s versions designed specifically for the female form, where extra insulation in the torso and foot areas adds warmth exactly where research shows that women need it most.
Diagonal-cut foam reduces convective heat loss, in a new streamlined shape which reduces weight by nearly ten per cent, and rolls up small enough to carry on cold weather expeditions, winter camping, mountaineering and ski touring trips.
Thermarest are also renowned the world over for their Trek & Travel series which includes the NeoAir Trekker, Trail Pro and Trail Lite, and their Camp & Comfort range headed by the legendary Basecamp, the deluxe version of a classic design that has been providing comfort to travellers all over the world for years.
Now revised and updated with an expanded foam core to make it even lighter and more compressible than ever, the Basecamp is the last word in cold weather comfort, tried and trusted on high altitude expeditions to all corners of the planet.
Nicki Williams writes for Gear-Zone, where you’ll find everything for camping enthusiasts including the very latest in tents, sleeping bags and mattresses from Vaude, Terra Nova, Rab, The North Face and Thermarest
Picture source: Compfight
Thermarest’s Throwback To An Earlier Age
