UKC

I'm going to the alps this summer and was thinking of bivying on the summit of some 4000m peaks. What is the best sleeping mat to take? It should be fairly light, but on the other hand they save so much heat that you can take a lighter bag if you have a think mat. Here are the options:

One or two normal thin cheapo mats from camping shop.
3/4 or full length thermarest (Guidelite or ultralight)
Mountain Hardware High mountain mat (3/4 or full)
Karrimor expedition mat.

Or any combination of the above.

Your votes please ladies and gentlemen.

My vote go to the guidelite, most comfy nights sleep I ever get is on one of these.

Never had any probs with cold sleeping on Glaciers at 5000-6000m.

I think you're daft sleeping on an alpine summit though!

Have fun
MH

Make sure you use a high desencity mat. Thermarest are ok but if you off them then you loose your insulation and they are quite heavy. If you do only use the ultralite. The high mountain mat is big and bulky and also fairly heavy.
The Karrimor expedition mats are a good choise or Thermarest do a high desencity mat called the ridge rest which I use alot and is also worth a look!

Have a good season and might see you out there!

Try a combination of a cheapy roll-mat and a 3/4 length, lightweight Thermarest. I`ve used this combo on long camping trips to Antarctica( 3 mths ), Alaska ( 1 mth ) and of course on alps trips. May be slightly heavier than prefered but will give you good insulation. The other advantage is that if your Thermarest does get holed, you do have another layer under you. There`s still tons of snow in Scotland so try a few combinations if you can before you commit yourself to something!! Kev

Thanks for the advice everyone! If there is any more I would be interested.

Why does the Mountain Hippy think I am "daft" to sleep on teh summit of some of the Alps. I though it could be a great laugh, and what a view in the morning!

>>Why does the Mountain Hippy think I am "daft" to sleep on >>teh summit of some of the Alps. I though it could be a >>great laugh, and what a view in the morning!

Can't argue with the great morning view aspect, it's the shitty afternoon weather that makes it an 'experience'.

Banter aside though, can I reccomend that you take a decent lightweight bivvy sac with you? I use a Rab survival zone which while not a full bivvy bag is great for keeeping the worst of the spindrift off.

Yeah! Good idea. I was thinking of taking a full-blown Gore Tex one.

I think sleeping on the top of the a 4000 mtr peak is really daft. First the altittude would make me feel crappy. Secondly and far more importantly the whole idea of fast and light is that you get up and down out of harms way as rapidly as possible. If you are mega experienced in the Alps feel free to totally disregard this advice. Which one were you thinking of, the Dru? The Droites? Grande Jorasse?

And for your next summer holiday, you could have a "great laugh" picnicing in picturesque Balkan minefields...

I was thinking of the summit of the Eiger actually, and also Monch. They are only just 4000m.

The Eiger? Make sure you don't get too close to the edge. I saw a guy pitching a tent literally right on the edge of the N Face of the Midi "to get the best views". What a nutter.

I suppose that as long as it isn't stormy there is quite a bit of room up there, and some shelter too, around the forepeak

not much room on the Moench tho! That would be very dodgy, maybe iINSIDE the summit?

What do you mean "inside" the summit?
I was actually thinking of digging a snow hole anyway.

every time I've been up it it's been an extremely delicate cone of soft snow, with very steep drops off it, or a very thin ridge ... bit precarious, safer to dig right in, but I think you'd actually remove the summit

In reply to Help: There`s not much room at the top of the Eiger! You`ll probably get trampled. Have fun anyway.