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Winter/Snow Sleep Systems: Add a Tyvek Ground Cloth

By

Jason Albert

A cozy mid with a view. The sleep system begins with a Tyvek ground cloth under the sleeping pad/foam, to interface with the snow.

A cozy mid with a view. The sleep system begins with a Tyvek ground cloth under the sleeping pad/foam, to interface with the snow.

Tyvek® Forward Together™.  As the lead sentence from the DuPont chemical marketing team eludes, the fine chemists at Dupont continue to make “better living through chemistry.” Sarcasm aside, in the short run, at least, the folks at DuPont have delivered. Tourers sleeping on snow know that snow melts. They also know that heat generated by…

Responses

  1. Slim

    What size was the closed cell foam pad? I ask, because if it was full size, what’s the point of the tyvek? The foam is already waterproof, so that’s no benefit.

    1. Jason Albert

      Hey Slim, good question. We all had some iteration of the foam pad. The size of my foam pad was roughly the same dimensions as the Tyvek. But, for me, the foam pad offered some redundancy in the event my inflatable pad sprung a leak and was not fixable in the field, I at least had some form of insulation from the snow. (The Tyvek was yet another light tool to haul along that had the upside of creating a weatherproof barrier when needed. Although, granted it has limited applications.) The Tyvek also came in handy on several days—I would spread it out on the snow, and create a “dry” place where I could change out clothes or spread out my gear as I packed/unpacked. Lastly, and Kelly came up with this idea, we would lay a few Tyvek sheets down in the tent, but we ran them with the long side perpendicular to our sleeping bags’ head-to-toe orientation. We were able to create a “tub” of sorts, so our sleeping bags would brush up against the Tyvek while we slept rather than a snow wall or a tent side glazed with condensation. This application worked well.

  2. Patrick Fink

    I haven’t tried this but can imagine a small hack: Use 2 document clips, one at top and one at bottom, to affix the tyvek to the foam pad. Poof, no more pad creep.
    Also, Tyvek mailers make a superior light weight crampon pouch.

    1. Jason Albert

      That is a good idea Patrick with the document clips. On that recent trip, I was nicely snugged up against a snow-wall and a partner every evening. A somewhat no-pad-creep situation.

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