WE LIKE FUTURISTIC MATERIALS, WE LIKE THEM USED INTELLIGENTLY TO PUSH THEIR PROPERTIES, WE LIKE THE COMPANIES THAT DO THAT, AND WE LIKE REAL SOLUTIONS TO THINGS THAT ARE DOUBLE-DIGIT PERCENTILES IN WHAT WE DO.

INSULATED SLEEPING MATS ARE ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT TOOK A BRANCH IN EVOLUTION A WHILE AGO, DIVIDING AT THE TIME FROM WHAT WERE THE MATERIAL LIMITATIONS IN ONE AREA AND INNOVATIONS IN ANOTHER. THESE THEN BRANCHED AND BLOSSOMED INTO AN ARRAY OF NEW DEVELOPMENTS THAT FOCUSED ON MOSTLY ONE THING – R-VALUE – AND EVOLUTION STAGNATED ANYWHERE ELSE EVEN THOUGH MAJOR PROBLEMS STILL NEEDED WORK.

A MARKET EASILY COERCED BY NUMBERS AND APPARENT METRICS DRANK THE R-VALUE KOOL-AID, SWEETENED BY ENOUGH REAL ADVANCES TO JUSTIFY NOTHING BEING DONE ABOUT THE ELEPHANTS IN THE ROOM. MATS HAVE INCREASED R-VALUE SEEMINGLY IMPRESSIVELY DUE TO INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS IN CONSTRUCTION, MATERIALS AND THERMAL DYNAMICS, DESPITE THE FACT R-VALUE IS A HIJACKED METRIC THAT DOESN’T REALLY TRANSLATE WELL TO THE PURPOSE.

COMING FROM THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY, R-VALUE IS A METRIC FOR THERMAL RESISTANCE MEASURING HOW MUCH HEAT PASSED ACROSS A BARRIER BY CONDUCTION. WHILST PART OF THE EQUATION, IT IS NOT BY ANY MEANS ALL OF IT, AND DOES NOT MAKE UP FOR WHAT IT DOESN’T MEASURE WHICH IS OTHER FORMS OF HEAT LOSS LIKE CONVECTION AND RADIATION. ALSO R-VALUE IS NOT AN ABSOLUTE METRIC, INSTEAD IT IS PER UNIT OF SPACE, FURTHER COMPOUNDED BY A DIFFERENCE IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES QUANTIFYING OF THE VALUE. EVEN A QUICK LOOK AT HOW IT ALL WORKS DISPELLS ANY NOTION THAT WHEN APPLIED TO SLEEPING MATS IT IS A MATTER OF MARKETING JIBE, THAT IN MANY CASES IS FANCY CODE FOR MAKING MATS THICKER, LARGER AND RELATIVELY HEAVIER.

IS THIS GOOD ENOUGH? WE DON’T THINK SO, ESPECIALLY IN LIGHT OF OTHER THINGS BEING OVERLOOKED IN THE OBSESSION TO MARKET WITH R-VALUES AS A FACTOR. WHILST THIS PSEUDO-QUANTIFYING ARMS RACE HAS BEEN GOING REAL DEVELOPMENT HAS QUIETLY BEEN TAKING PLACE, SOLVING THE REAL ISSUES AROUND KEEPING A CLIMBER WARM FOR THE MANY HOURS THEY WILL SPEND LAYING ON THE THING.

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FIELD RECORD IS A SMALL JAPANESE COMPANY THAT – LIKE MANY IN JAPAN – MAKE EXCRUCIATINGLY HIGH QUALITY, LOW VOLUME PRODUCTS YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE MISSING OUT ON. PART OF THE NEW WAVE OF MICRO-INDUSTRIES COMING OUT OF JAPAN, CHIN AND KOREA, FIELD RECORD IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THE THINGS BEING DONE WITH HIGH END MATERIALS THE MONOLITHIC DINOSAUR COMPANIES LACK THE AGILITY TO EXPERIMENT WITH. NORTH EAST ASIA AS THE PLACE WHERE MANY OF THE MATERIAL COMPANIES ARE THESE DAYS BASED FROM MEANS A DYNAMIC SCENE OF SMALL COMPANIES PUSHING INNOVATION AT AN INTENSE LEVEL, AND UNLIKE ELSEWHERE, WITH A HIGH DEGREE OF OPEN SOURCING, SHARING AND CROSS-POLLINATION.

ANYWAY, THE RESULT IS STUFF LIKE AEROGEL FINALLY MAKING ITS WAY FUNCTIONALLY INTO SLEEPING INSULATION, WITH IMPRESSIVE RESULTS WE ARE JUST STARTING TO SEE THE FIRST OF. WE ARE WELL AWARE THAT AEROGEL HAS BEEN AROUND FOR DECADES WITH OCCASIONAL USE IN CLIMBING GEAR AND EVEN SLEEPING MATS, BUT UNTIL NOW IT WAS NEVER STABLE OR HANDLEABLE ENOUGH TO WARRANT UPTAKE OUTSIDE FOR A FEW REASONABLY EFFICABLE USES.

WHY AEROGEL? IN R-VALUE TERMS IT HAS THE HIGHEST VALUE KNOWN, A SECTION OF THE SAME DIMENSIONS AS SAY EVA, BEING UP TO 30 X GREATER. EVEN WITHIN THE LIMITS OF WHAT R-VALUE ACTUALLY MEASURES THIS IS A BIG DEAL, MADE MUCH BIGGER AGAIN BY THE STUFFS PROPERTIES REGARDING HEAT LOSS VIA CONVECTION AND RADIATION. BY FAR IT IS THE BEST INSULATOR POSSIBLE, FAMOUSLY BEING USED TO INSULATE SPACE SUITS, WHERE CONDUCTIVE RESISTANCE IS NOWHERE NEAR ENOUGH BY ITSELF.

THE PROBLEM WITH AEROGEL IS IT IS BRITTLE, POWDERY AND RIGID, THUS NEEDING TO BE SANDWICHED WITH OTHER THINGS THAT MAKE IT THEN USED MOSTLY AS DENSE STRIPS AND TEMPLATED PIECES. IN GLOVES AND BOOTS IT COMES IN SHAPED SLABS, AND IN SOME FIBERS SUCH AS PRIMALOFT A TOKEN AMOUNT IS MIXED IN AT THE POLYMER STAGE TO FORM A COMPOSITE FILAMENT THAT THE INSULATION IS THEN FORMED OF, THOUGH HOW EFFECTIVE THIS IS IS DEBATABLE.

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FIELD RECORD RESOLVED THIS BY BLENDING AEROGEL WITH EVA FOAM TO MAKE IT SOFT,  RESILIENT, STRETCHY AND NICE TO THE TOUCH. IT FEELS MUCH LIKE ORDINARY EVA OF THE SAME THICKNESS, A BIT MORE PLIABLE AND NOTICEABLY DENSER, AND IS SOFT ENOUGH TO FORM BUT THE AEROGELS HEAT RESISTANCE MAKE IT LESS THERMOFORMABLE THAN EVA IS USUALLY KNOWN FOR.

THE BIG QUESTION OF COURSE IS HOW WARM IS IT – SPECIFIC DATA OF WHICH IS NOT READILY SHARED – BUT IT IS ROUGHLY ABOUT 2/3 THE PROPERTIES OF AEROGEL ALONG AS THE DILUTION WITH EVA COMPROMISES THIS WITH IT’S FAIRLY AVERAGE OWN PERFORMANCE, BUT IT IS STILL FAR ABOVE ANYTHING ELSE FOR THE AREA/THICKNESS (ie R-VALUE) AS WELL CONVECTION AND RADIANT LOSS. WE USE THE AG3 DIRECT ONTO FROZEN GROUND AND SNOW PACK WHERE IT HAS NO ACUTE SENSE OF COLD COME THROUGH EVEN AS A SINGLE LAYER, AND CERTAINLY NONE OF THE SHIFTING COLD THAT INFLATING MATS HAVE AS YOU MOVE AROUND A SIT UP. AT 3mm OF COURSE IT DOES LITTLE TO PAD AGAINST HARD GROUND AND ANY PROTUBERANCES CREATE A COLD SPOT, BUT FOR SOMETHING THAT FOLDS TO QUARTER THE SIZE OF A DIMPLED MAT YOU HAVE SOMETHING ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE WARMER. 

WHERE MOST INFLATING MATS LOSE HEAT (AND ARE NOT EVEN MEASURED) VIA CONVECTION, THE FR-AG3 IS IMMUNE BECAUSE IT ALLOWS NO AIR FLOW AND DISPLACEMENT. LIKE A NORMAL FOAM MAT, THE FR-AG3 IS A SHEET OF INHERENT THERMAL STABILITY, NOT RELYING ON THE CAPTURING OF AN UNSTABLE MASS (ie AIR). AS YET, THE FR-AG3 COMES ONLY AT 3mm THICKNESS, WHICH ISN’T MUCH AS IT COMPRESSES, THOUGH IS STILL 1mm MORE THAN THOSE DIMPLED MATS THAT ARE SO ANNOYINGLY POPULAR 

WHAT THE AG3 GETS SO VERY. VERY RIGHT REGARDLESS OF THE UNHOLY THERMAL PROPERTIES, IS IT IS PUNCTURE-PROOF, COMPACT AND IT IS VERY, VERY LIGHT. AT <100g PER MAT (150 X 50cm) YOU COULD STACK UP 5 OF THEM FOR A LEVEL OF INSULATION AN ASTRONAUT WOULD APPROVE OF, AND STILL BE MUCH LIGHTER AND MORE COMPACT THAN ANY INFLATING MAT KNOWN.

ADD TO THIS THE OTHER ADVANTAGES OF A NON-INFLATING MAT SUCH AS DURABILITY, EASE OF USE AND PACKABILITY AND TO THE ALPINIST IT’S A NO-BRAINER. PULL IT OUT OF YOUR PACK AND LAY ON IT, JOB DONE, SAVING YOU PRECIOUS TIME AND MESSING ABOUT, ESPECIALLY IN THE CONFINES OF A SMALL TENT, A WIND-BLOWN LEDGE OR A SNOW HOLE. THESE ARE VERY REAL FACTORS DURING ASCENTS IN PLACES WHERE EVERY HOUR IS SPENT WORRYING ABOUT WHAT THE NIGHT WILL BRING, SIMPLIFYING AND SECURING A GLARING ELEMENT THAT TEETERS ON CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES. THE AG3 REMOVES BOTH THE FUCKERY AND RISKS OF INFLATABLE MATS AND THE CLASSIC ISSUES WITH A BIG FOAMY STRAPPED TO YOUR PACK (LET US NOT MENTION THE STUPIDITY OF A DIMPLED MAT USED IN SNOW…), KICKING SLEEPING SYSTEMS INTO A NEW PARADIGM THAT IS LIGHTER, BOMBPROOF AND WARMER.

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WE SEE THIS SORT OF THING AS THE FUTURE, AS AN INDICATOR OF WHAT PROBLEMS CAN BE SOLVED AND WHAT PROCESSES WILL SOLVE THEM, AND ALSO AS AN INDICATOR OF HOW THE MARKET WORKS. WHILST THE BIG PLAYERS ARE BEDAZZLING A VORACIOUS CONSUMER APPETITE FOR MORE LOGOS, VELCRO AND SHINY ANODIZED ALUMINIUM, THINGS THAT ACTUALLY SHIFT THE ALPINISTS EQUATION ARE BEING DONE – AS THEY ALWAYS HAVE BEEN – AT THE FRINGES.

THINGS LIKE THIS HAVE ALMOST HALVED THE WEIGHT OF OUR EQUIPMENT IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS ALONE (NOT A TYPO) WHICH CHANGES THE OBJECTIVES WE TAKE ON AND THE TIMELINES WE USE THAT LETS US INNOVATE IN ONE OF THE BRANCHES OF ALPINISMS EVOLUTION.

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