Updated March 9, 2026 01:55PM
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Everything You Need to Know About Crashpads (Plus Our All-Time Favorites)
What type of foam should you use? Carry system? Bi-fold or Tri? Accessory pads? It's all here.
(Photo: James Lucas) (Photo: James Lucas)
My thumb wrapped around a small edge on Crimping Matters (V10), a 20-move series of granite crimps at Guanella Pass, just outside of Georgetown, Colorado. As I exited the cave, my elbows pointed skyward and I entered the upper crux: a cross to one more crimp. The landing’s 30-degree slope and jagged features made it difficult to spot, so the pad setup needed to protect me. I tried to pull through the last move but my hand opened. I was off. I slid down the seven pads we had placed on the slanted granite below. Luckily, our variety of pads, the small ones filling holes and the big ones protecting the slabs and flatter sections, covered the talus pit landing, and I was unscathed. Had my friends and I lacked the proper pads, I could’ve easily broken an ankle and ruined a climbing day, or even my season.
Climbers have long been flattening out landings. When Ron Kauk did the first ascent of Thriller (V10) in Yosemite, he placed palates under the landing, then nicked some employee mattresses. Other early pad iterations included sofa cushions wrapped in duct tape and creatively placed wooden pallets. Up until the late 1980s no one bouldered with a pad.
“Before pads came out you had to kind of be a masochist to be a boulderer,” said Hueco Tanks legend John “Verm” Sherman, who was also responsible for inventing the V-scale grading system. In 1992, Verm and his friend Bruce Pottenger, the head of the Kinnaloa crew who made t-shirts and chalk bags, joined forces to sell the first commercial crashpad: the Sketch Pad. The two had developed it for personal use, but then realized they had the tools to bring it to market.
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Like most pads today, the Sketch Pad had a nylon sleeve with pack straps and two densities of foam. It was made out of cloth material with a carpet area to wipe your feet. The pad measured 2.5 feet by 3.5 feet with roughly 2 inches of foam. “By today’s standards, those things looked like cocktail napkins,” said Sherman.
Since the development of the Sketch Pad, manufacturers have enlarged the original design. There are now over 50 manufacturers worldwide providing pads with advanced harness systems, room for gear, and high-tech foam setups for maximum protection. “A real revolution in my eyes was when we started padding stuff, because that opened terrain like crazy,” said Sherman. “The pad changed everything. It brought bouldering to the masses.”
What is a crash pad?
The primary purpose of a crashpad is to add a foam layer between the climber and the ground, to lessen the impact of a bouldering fall. A standard crashpad has various different attributes, including the type of folding system, materials, foam types, and size. Crashpads are used on all sorts of terrain; some pads are better for flat ground while others are better for uneven, rocky landings. Each pad is constructed with certain benefits (and users) in mind.
Crashpad folding systems
Folding systems affect the cushion of the foam, the carrying system, and the pad’s closed size. The type of folding system can influence how well a pad protects a particular landing; but it also impacts the ease of transportation. Being able to sufficiently carry the gear that I need in a condensed space is crucial for the long approaches of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP).
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Hinge crashpads
In a hinge pad, a piece of nylon material holds two large sections of foam together, and the nylon then serves as the hinge, allowing you to fold the pad in half. These pads easily carry as backpacks (or unwieldy briefcases, provided they have a side handle). Hinge pads lie flat (unlike tacos), making them ideal for flat landings. They also fold up tightly and double as spacious gear carriers. The downside, however, is that straight hinge pads lack contiguous foam coverage at the hinge point, so if there’s something sharp below the hinge (for instance a protruding rock or root) and you land on it, it could hurt. Some hinge pads (for instance Trango’s Stratus and Metolius’s Session II) use an angular hinge, which means there’s no gap in coverage. In general, hinged pads perform worse on uneven terrain or rocky landings than tacos; but because of their simplicity, they’re still the most common form of pad closure.
Taco crashpads
Whereas hinged pads are essentially two separate pads sewn together, taco crashpads are composed of one continuous piece of foam that’s soft enough to be folded like a soft-shell taco. Although tacos are by necessity softer than hinged pads, they maintain the same level of cushioning throughout the whole pad, including the fold point. One major plus about taco-style pads is that, because they fold into a tube shape, they offer a fair amount of room for gear. A common complaint with taco-style pads is that, though they mold nicely into uneven, rocky landings, they never really lie flat. For the same reason, they’re annoying to store in your home or car because they don’t lie flat. Editor’s tip: If you have a taco, be sure to store it open to preserve the foam.
Hybrid fold crashpads
Many pad manufacturers, like Organic and Asana, construct their pads with a “hybrid” fold—essentially a blend of a taco and a hinge pad. This style provides a thin but consistent layer of foam on top, to give more cushion at the hinge, yet a hinged system below that enables the pad to fold easily.
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Tri-fold crashpads
Tri-folds are large pads that are hinged in two areas, which means they’re less bulky when folded up and therefore easier to carry or store in a car or closet. While you cannot carry much gear in a trifold, their condensed size makes them easier to carry, particularly when you’re squeezing through tight talus fields or hiking between closely set trees. The multi-hinge design also allows you to add significant height to a landing when the pad is closed, allowing you to even out sections or use the pad as a step stool to project hard moves a few feet off the ground. One con: One of the hinges is always upwards facing in your landing zone, so most tri-folds have some sort of velcro system that minimizes your risk of falling through the open hinge.
Velcro connections
Some lighter weight and inflatable pads are designed to work modularly, with small squares of padding that can be connected by ultra-strong strips of velcro. The benefit to this, is that you can customize your landing zones by rearranging the pads into non-standard (i.e. non square) configurations. The downside: setup takes more time, since instead of simply throwing one or two large pads onto the ground, you may throw four or five small ones, which then need to be linked together to offer safe coverage.
Crashpad sizes
Large pads vs standard pads
Pads vary significantly in size and thickness, but in general, large pads generally offer 4′ x 5′ coverage while standard pads offer 3′ x4′. Pad thickness, meanwhile, usually ranges from 3″ to 5″.
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What’s best for you? Well, that may depend on where you’re climbing—and whether you’re intending to do most of your climbing alone or with friends. For example, in RMNP, where the climbs are often steep (which means the climber covers a lot of horizontal ground) and the landings are made of talus (i.e. are very uneven), it’s often better to have a small army of standard pads rather than one or two large ones. So if you’re planning on climbing alone, you’re probably best off with two or three small pads. But if you’re climbing in a group, you can probably get away with one big one. In areas like Bishop, however, where the boulders are high and the landings often flat, you’re best off with larger pads that can cover as much surface area as possible without gaps.
Smaller pads, like sliders or sit pads, tend to be much thinner, though the coverage area can be larger. The Organic Slider Pad, for example, has dimensions of 23″ x 35″ x 1″. Many manufacturers consider size based on various other elements. Asana founder Jamey Sproull says his company bases their sizes on “ease of carrying, overall pad weight, the ability to fit into most cars, and shipping dimension so that we keep the cost of getting the pad to our customers at a respectable level.”
Big pads
Big pads cover large surface areas well and are best for flatter landings. On the downside, they tend to be heavier, more expensive, and take up more room. In the summer of 2017, I traveled to Rocklands, South Africa, where many of the tall boulders have big, daunting falls. While crimping up sandstone edges on the overhanging 20-foot cave through which Un Petit Hueco Dans Rocklands (V9) climbs, I was happy to have an array of large pads covering the big landing zone, without which I doubt I’d have had the confidence to send.
Standard pads
Standard-sized pads are usually lighter and, thanks to their size, are easy to chink over uneven terrain, including rocky or debris-ridden areas. Standard pads can also be piggybacked together (using either a manufacturers strap system, rope, or similar strapping setup), which allows you to carry just as much foam if not more than one large pad. I found this size useful when projecting Crimping Matters, a V10 in Guanella Pass Colorado, where my partners and I used ten pads to build a protected, multi-pad landing zone—with smaller pads covering rocks and cracks and standard-sized pads forming the base.
Editor’s tip #1: Many devoted boulders pair a large pad with a standard pad—strapping the standard pad to the large one.
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Editor’s tip #2: Since they’re easier to carry and store, standard-sized pads are a good option for travelers.
Accessory pads
Small pads, sometimes called “mini” pads, are smaller, thinner versions of crash pads—and meant to serve as supplements. They’re primarily useful for dabby sit-starts, covering the seams of multi-pad landings, or covering rocks or trees that climbers might dab on. However, in areas with short boulders and flat, sandy landings (for instance Fontainebleau, France) these “lilly pads” are often used by climbers doing long, moderate circuits.
Landing zone toppers: unlike small pads, toppers tend to have a large “fall zone” but are very thin. They’re primarily designed to sit on top of a multi-pad array, covering seams and smoothing out height variations.
Sliders: Sliders are thin like toppers, but smaller, designed to cover single seams or to keep your butt clean (and at least marginally padded) on lowball starts.
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Inflatable pads: Two truths about bouldering: (1) Not all boulders are roadside. (2) Though not all crashpads are heavy, they all tend to feel heavy if you walk far enough. For this reason, climbers have been experimenting with inflatable pads—pads that are light, low volume, durable, and provide a sturdy enough platform that it won’t break your ankles when you fall—for decades. There are now several companies making inflatable pads, and while our reviewers aren’t about to trade in our tried and true foam pads, we have found that the advantages of inflatable pads (namely their portability) make them a nice accessory pad.
Foam Types
Almost all crashpads are padded with two types of foam—open cell and closed cell. The two foams affect falls differently. Closed-cell foam offers more support (i.e. a firm landing), while open-cell foam creates more cushioning (a soft landing).
Closed-cell foam
Often made from polyurethane, closed-cell foam tends to be stiffer than open-cell foam, allowing it to provide a solid base for bigger falls, as it can endure a fair amount of impact without flexing or making the climber “bottom out” through the pad. Closed-cell foam is also more resilient to wear, since it “helps move energy out toward the edges of the mat,” said Sproull.
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Most pads have at least one layer of closed-cell foam to keep you from simply plunging through the softer open-cell foam. However, if pads were solely made of closed-cell foam, they’d be painful to land on, since they provide minimal cushion. Because of this, most companies combine both foam types in layers for maximum comfort and protection.
Open-cell foam
Like closed-cell foam, open-cell foam is generally made of polyurethane. Indeed, open-cell foam starts out as closed-cell foam and undergoes a process called reticulation, in which heat breaks down the stiffening elements of closed-cell foam to create a more sponge-like consistency. The result: Open-cell foam is softer and more “cushy,” which allows it to better absorb the impact of a bouldering fall. However, the softness makes it more prone to wear. And since it has a fair amount of give, absorbing more impact than it deflects, you’d simply fall through (i.e. bottom out) if a pad was solely made of open-cell foam puts you at a higher risk of bottoming out.
Getting the right foam blend for you
Crashpad companies tinker with foam ratios to curate a unique pad, catering to climbers’ various needs and preferences. When looking at foam ratios, think about two things: your weight, and the height from which you expect to fall. If you’re a heavy climber, you’ll want a pad with more closed-cell foam (the Trango Stratus, for instance). Lighter climbers, however, may want to go with softer, springier pad with more open-cell foam, since the closed-cell foam will feel harder, and since lighter climbers are less likely to bottom out through softer pads.
Materials
Crashpads are expensive, and you’ll want yours to last years, so consider the durability of each pad’s material before purchasing. Most pad exteriors are made with a ballistic nylon material such as Cordura. However, some use polyester, an auto upholstery, or velvet topside. Nylon and polyester tend to be durable for synthetic fabrics. Nylon is a bit stronger than polyester, though polyester is slightly more weather and abrasion resistant.
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Crashpad harness/carry systems
With the exception of mini pads, sliders, and inflatable pads—all of which are designed to fit inside other pads—most crash pads employ a backpack style harness system. The cushiness and fit of the harness system becomes more important the more weight you’re carrying and the farther you get from your car. Nothing kills psyche like arriving at the boulders sore from hiking with a poorly fitting crashpad. Fortunately, in recent years, manufacturers have beefed up their harness systems.
Many modern harness systems include a waist belt (often padded), padded shoulder straps, a chest strap that buckles, load lifters, and adjustable size fittings for each of these attachments. Some pads, such as Organic’s Backfourty Pad (made in concert with the backpack-maker Mystery Ranch) and Black Diamond’s Erratic, use an actual backpack harness system to ensure maximum comfort when hiking deep into remote areas.
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Generally, carry systems are crucial for your main pad—but if you’re looking for a second pad to strap onto your main pad, you might want to save weight by buying a pad with a minimalist (or removable) carry system.
Special features
Additional features vary depending on the manufacturer but may include the closure/strap systems, points to attach multiple pads together, water bottle holders, or even rug material to wipe your shoes. Some pads include handles on each side so you can carry it briefcase style, which can be helpful for traveling short distances with multiple pads.
Gear storage
Before committing to a pad, check out how the pad stores gear—and how that fits with your system. Many pads offer flap closure systems to secure gear—but not all of them do. I’ve had shoes fall out of the side of my pad before while hiking between boulders at Upper Chaos Canyon in RMNP. This was a major red flag for me—since I stuff made pad with loose gear. But if you plan to store your gear in a small backpack that can fit inside your pad, this won’t be a risk for you.
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Note: the pads below are ranked in alphabetical order by type.
Asana Superhero
Weight: 15 pounds
Landing zone dimensions:: 57″ x 40″ x 4″
Folded dimensions: 29″ x 40″ x 8″
Foam: Four inches of foam, sandwich style: 1″ closed cell, 2″ open cell, 1″ closed cell. It’s a stiff landing zone, especially at first—which helps offset its relative thinness compared to some of the 5-inch pads.
Hinge: The SuperHero is a bifold with a hybrid-hinge, which means that there is a single layer of padding over the hinge, but the pad can still clap closed around your foot if you fall hard enough on the center.
Pad Exteriors: 1000 denier nylon cover; 1680 denier Ballistic nylon edges; and 900 denier polyester landing deck—in short: highly durable.
Carry system: Padded shoulder straps, thick (but unpadded) nylon waist straps, chest strap, and adjustable load lifters. For heavy loads and long hikes, we’d want the nylon waist straps to be padded and for a back plate to be added to the pad; but it’s relatively comfortable, and customizable to various body sizes.
Closure system: Their triangular load flap system allows you to carry multiple pads without adding a supplementary carry system. It also allows you to stuff your pad full of gear without risking that it will fall out of the bottom.
Other: The SuperHero has a cargo clip on the outside, which allows you to clip a backpack onto the back of the pad. (The backpack can then get tucked into the load flap so it doesn’t swing freely and upset your balance.) While we all love stuffing gear into pads, the added convexity makes for a less comfortable carry and will ultimately distort and decrease the longevity of the foam. Manufactured in Garden City, Idaho.
Asana’s Superhero is a bi-fold hybrid hinge pad, and the largest pad in Asana’s line. It’s much lighter than most rivals in the large pad category—though it’s also thinner than most. Asana’s load flap closure system allows you to piggyback multiple pads without adding a supplementary pad carrying system.
As one of the smallest and lightest of the large pads, the Asana Superhero is a great option for climbers who don’t need the coverage and cushiness of an Organic Big 5 or Black Diamond Mondo; it’s also great for lighter climbers who want to avoid heavier loads. One highlight of the Asana system is the fact that the system is designed to carry multiple pads. One thing to note, however, is that, early in its life, the Superhero’s foam is on the stiffer side, which makes it great for helping heavier climbers from bottoming out, but less ideal for lighter climbers, who may want a bit more cushion. But as the pad wears in, heavier climbers may wish they’d gone for a 5-inch-thick pad.
Black Diamond Mondo
Weight: 20 lbs, 6 oz
Landing zone dimensions: 47.6″ x 60.2″ x 4.7″
Folded dimensions: 47.6″ x 30.1″ x 9.4″
Foam: 1-inch of cross-linked closed-cell foam over 4 inches of open-cell foam. Because it lacks a sandwich construction, the pad offers far less protection if used on its reversed side (if, say, draped over a rock). It also gives it less support on the absolute biggest of falls—since you don’t have a force dispersal layer at the bottom of the pad to keep you from bottoming out.
Hinge: A classic hinge. But black Diamond has added straps on the bottom of the pad that can be closed, locking the hinge in position. This means that, if you fall into the hinge, the pad’s two ends won’t fold back up on you, which minimizes your risk of bottoming out.
Pad Exteriors: 100% recycled polyester shell fabric with ripstop grid, and reinforced corners for durability.
Closure system: Straps with buckles. But the straps are elongated, giving it an in-built piggybacking system. Alas, it only works with other new-generation Black Diamond pads. If you’re trying to attach a different brand or an older pad, you’ll need a supplementary loading system.
Carry system: The padded waist straps, shoulder straps, and load-lifters are a huge improvement from the minimal padding on older iterations of the Mondo, but there is no chest strap, the height of the shoulder straps is not adjustable, and the straps are still thinner than ideal. In other words, the system is less developed than pads like Black Diamond’s Erratic or Organic’s Backfourty, which is a turnoff given the pad’s weight… and the expectation that you’ll piggyback another pad on top.
Other: Grab handles in the corner make it easier to adjust landings on the fly, and the large handles make it easy to carry the pad over one shoulder when moving short distances. Manufactured in Vietnam.
Wow, that’s a big pad. The Mondo is the largest bi-fold hinge pad on the market, and it’s justifiably beloved in highball bouldering destinations around the world. The Mondo has been around since 2001, when it was by far the largest bouldering pad yet made and helped redefine our understanding of highball bouldering; but it’s also seen several complete redesigns over that period. The current version has a somewhat-beefed-up (but still too minimalist, in our opinion) carry system—and a whole lot of foam.
If all you care about is foam, lots and lots of foam, this may be the pad for you. It’s heavy, sure, and pricy—but you get a lot of coverage for it. One real con is the carry system, which remains more minimalist than for most other big pads and is far inferior to pads specifically designed for backcountry bouldering; so if you’re planning on regularly doing long approaches (anything over 30-45 minutes), we recommend sparing your trapezius and checking out something with wider shoulder straps and a chest strap. (See the Pads for Long Approaches section below.)
Kinetic KiloNewton
Weight: 23 pounds
Landing zone dimensions: 54″ x 48″ x (4″ or 5″)
Folded dimensions: 27″ x 48″ x (8″ x 10″)
Foam: Both Newton and KiloNewton use three different foam layers in a traditional sandwich configuration: 1″ closed-cell, high-density foam; 2″ or 3″ open-cell, high-force deflection foam; 1″ closed cell, high-strength foam
Hinge: A hybrid-hinge bifold, which means that there is a single layer of padding over the hinge, but the pad can still clap closed around your foot if you fall hard enough on the center.
Pad exteriors: The landing zone is 1000 denier Ballistic nylon. The exterior is an abrasion-resistant 1680 denier heavy duty Ballistic nylon. Military-grade, polyester reinforced waterproof vinyl bottom and carry harness protection flap. You can also customize the color scheme on your pad’s landing zone.
Closure system: Kinetic’s Omni-flap closure system is pretty spectacular. It uses large load flaps to keep gear from falling out of your pad and to serve as an in-built piggyback system that allows you to carry another pad of equal or smaller size (from any brand). But when you’ve reached the crag, those flaps can be folded back to cover the shoulder and waist system and solidify the downward facing hinge: Not only does this ensure that the pad won’t fold upwards if your foot lands in the hinge, it keeps the shoulder straps and back from getting wet or muddy, so you stay warm and dry when trudging back to the car.
Carry system: The carry system uses a basic nylon waist strap and breathable moisture mesh shoulder straps. The load lifters on the shoulder straps are adjustable, as is the vertical height of the shoulder straps—allowing you to adjust the height to your frame size. If you’re looking to carry bigger loads, the Alpine Edition carry system (cushioned shoulder and waist straps) can be added onto your pad aftermarket. This modularity comes at a cost: Kinetic does not use the back plates that make the Organic Backfourty and Black Diamond Erratic so ergonomically successful. But the pad probably takes third place when it comes to long hikes.
Kinetic pads are made in Bend, Oregon, and are some of the highest quality pads on the market. Their main line consists of variations on the Newton (a standard sized pad) and the KiloNewton (its big brother). Like the Organic Big Pad line, the KiloNewton comes in two widths: 4 inches and 5 inches. Unlike Organic’s Big Pad line, both KiloNewton widths can be kitted out with their beefed up Alpine Edition carry system. The KiloNewton’s closure flap is waterproof and can be folded back over the carry system; this keeps the carry system dry on wet spring bouldering days; it also ensures that the pad won’t fold up like a taco if your foot lands in the hinge.
This is a fantastic—if heavy—pad option. Though it has a smaller drop zone than the Big Pad and Mondo, the KiloNewton makes up for it with its bells and whistles. If you’ve ever carried a pad coated in icy mud down from the boulders, you’ll know that the closure flap system is worth its weight in gold.
Mad Rock Triple
Weight: 24 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 44″ x 72” x 5″
Folded dimensions: 24″ x 44″ x 15″
Foam: With its five inches of foam (three inches of soft open-cell foam sandwiched between denser closed-cell layers), the Triple has a stiff and sturdy landing zone—making it unlikely that you’ll bottom out. Historically, Mad Rock’s foam has tended to lose stiffness faster than its rivals, but more recent pads seem to be holding up fine—albeit after months, rather than years, of use.
Hinge type: The Triple has a parallel rather than angled hinge; and since it’s a trifold, one of those hinges face upward. But Mad Rock has added velcro straps that mate the hinged part of the trifold together, making it less likely that you’ll twist an ankle or bottom out in the gap.
Pad exteriors: Recycled polyester
Carry system: The minimalist shoulder strap and waist belt are not the most comfortable for heavy loads—and at 24 pounds, the Triple is not particularly light.
Other features: All MadRock pads also have velcro on their interior edges, allowing you to link multiple pads together into a huge, seam-free landing zone.
The Mad Rock Triple is made in Vietnam and is a thick, trifold hinge pad; it’s the largest 5-inch pad on the market, and it’s also one of the cheapest. It stands out for its low price and large footprint of foam. The cost of the low-cost is the minimalist carry system and the brand’s reputation for a lack of longevity. But for $300, that’s a heck of a lot of foam.
Metolius Magnum
Weight: 18.7 lbs
Landing Zone Dimensions: 47″ x 70″ x 4″
Folded Dimensions: 47″ x 25″ x 13″
Foam: A classic sandwich foam design involving 1-inch closed-cell upper layer, a 2.5-inch open-cell center, and a 1/2 inch closed-cell base.
Hinge: The magnum is a trifold hinge, like the Madrock Triple, but Metolius cuts their hinges at angles, which minimizes risk of bottoming out when you land on a crease.
Pad exteriors: 900 denier body fabric—somewhat less tear-resistant than most other large pads.
Closure system: Composed of nylon straps and load flaps, the closure system includes two pockets, large enough to stash shoes, chalk, and water bottles rather than stuffing them into your pad.
Carry system: Minimalist: lightly padded shoulder straps; thin nylon waist strap; no chest strap.
Other features: The landing zone has a built-in rug for cleaning dust off shoes before attempts. As with Kinetic’s pads, the Magnum’s closure system can be folded back over the shoulder and waist straps to keep them dry and mud-free.
Made in Bend, Oregon, the Magnum is Metolius’s largest pad; it’s a tri-fold and has a gigantic landing zone but relatively thin pad structure, which makes it lighter than many rivals but also less adept at fielding bigger falls.
It’s a good compromise between weight and landing zone size. If you’re a lighter climber desirous of a large drop zone but put off by the weight of the Big Pad (or KiloNewton, or Mondo), the Magnum is a great choice. One con for this user group, however, is that the shoulder strap system is not height adjustable—so shorter climbers may want to give one a test drive to see if it fits their frame before committing to a purchase.
Too large? Check out the Magnum’s little sibling, the Recon, which weighs 14 lbs and has a landing zone of 42″ x 60” x 4″.
Organic Big Pad
Weight: Big 4: 17 lbs. // Big 5: 19 lbs.
Landing zone dimensions: 46″ x 58″ x 4″or 5″
Folded dimensions: 29″ x 46″ x 8″ or 10″
Foam: Three layers of foam: A 1-inch memory foam on top layer, a 1-inch urethane rubber closed-cell foam mid layer, then either 2 inches (Big 4) or 3 inches (Big 5) of soy-based open-cell foam base.
Hinge: The Big Pad is a bifold with a hybrid-hinge, which means that there is a layer of padding over the hinge—but the pad can still clap closed around your foot if you fall hard enough on the center.
Pad exterior: Organic pads are notoriously durable, with an exterior made of 1050 denier Ballistic nylon shell and 1000 denier Cordura nylon landing zone. Indeed, the outer material is so durable that Organic sells replacement foam. They know that, in five or eight or ten years, when your pad finally gets too soft, the outer will probably still be in good shape, so you can simply replace the foam. Like most Organic Pads: the color schemes on the landing zone are customizable.
Carry system: The carry system is relatively unsophisticated, composed of a padded shoulder-strap system with an unpadded nylon waist belt and chest strap, and no load lifters. You can order a beefier waist strap (memorably called the Muffin Protector). Or you can buy the Big 5 with a Backfourty setup (see below), which is arguably the cushiest carry setup on the market. One note: the Backfourty setup cannot be added to an existing Big Pad.
The ultra-classic organic Big Pad is a thick, stable, hybrid-hinged large pad that comes in three possible iterations: the Big 4, the Big 5, and the Backfourty (which we’ll talk about in the “Pads for Long Approaches” section). All three pads have the same ground coverage, but the Big 4 is four inches thick, which makes it less cushioned but lighter than the Big 5 and Backfourty, which are five inches thick and offer premium protection on highball problems.
Despite their weight and price, Organic’s Big Pads are wildly popular—and justifiably so. They’re some of the most durable and supportive pads on the market, often retaining their stiffness for more than a decade of serious use. One of our former editors climbed on his pad for nine years before replacing the foam.
Should you get a Big 4 or a Big 5? If you’re planning on taking big falls, or are a heavy climber, we’d recommend the Big 5. If you’re planning on doing serious hikes or piggybacking other pads, we recommend the Backfourty. The Big 4’s weight and price savings are a little underwhelming in our opinion; it feels like a lot of cushion to lose given the 2-4 pound difference, and it’s just $10 cheaper than the Big 5. But if you’re a lighter climber, 2-4 pounds can feel like a lot—and you may not need that extra inch of foam. The Big 4 can also serve as a great piggyback pad to the Big 5 and Backfourty. (Organic sells a separate piggyback system.)
Pads for Long Approaches
Black Diamond Erratic
Weight: 12 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 48” x 40” x 4.3”
Folded dimensions: 48” x 20” x 8.6”
Foam: A very stiff sandwich of cross-linked closed-cell foam surrounding a core of softer open-cell foam.
Hinge: Bifold with a standard, parallel hinge. Since this pad is extra light, when you land on the hinge the sides of the pad will close over your ankle like a set of jaws.
Pad exteriors: Dynex grid fabric with water resistant TPU coating. What does that mean? It’s incredibly durable and nearly waterproof.
Carry system: The Erratic has Black Diamond’s most chichi carry system: It’s padded, easily adjustable to fit different frame-sizes (it’s particularly comfortable for shorter climbers), and easily removable (so the pad can lie flat).
Other features: Like the Mondo, the Erratic has a multi-pad piggyback system, but it’s not compatible with pads from other brands, so if you’re supplementing with one of those, you’ll have to get clever with your attachment system. The top-carry backpack strap allows you to attach a bag to the top of the pad—which makes for a top-heavy but ergonomic approach. It also has an exterior water bottle holder—which is especially nice on big approaches.
Black Diamond’s Erratic is a lightweight, medium-sized crash pad with a heavy-duty suspension system designed for long approaches and a stiff landing surface for large falls. It’s also one of the most durable pads ever made—and almost entirely waterproof, which means it doesn’t acquire water weight during monsoonal approaches or when used on snowy or muddy landings.
If you’re doing big days into the backcountry, the Erratic may be the single best pad out there. It’s not as big or cushy as either the Organic Backfourty or the Mad Rock Duo (see below), but it’s far lighter (almost half the weight of the Backfourty Big Pad) and still offers a larger-than-standard landing zone. (Organic’s Simple Pad can be fitted with the Backfourty setup, but it offers a substantially smaller landing zone—and is the same weight as the Erratic.) Smaller climbers, especially, will find the Erratics’s adjustable carry system, light weight, and relatively generous size attractive. The biggest con aside from the price is that the pad’s stiffness (though it’s great for highballs) and lightness (though it’s great for morale) also mean that this pad doesn’t conform well to variable landings. Where a softer, heavier pad might bend around rocks or roots, the erratic tends to wobble around on top of them.
Mad Rock Duo
Weight: 17 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 56″ x 42″ x 5″
Folded dimensions: 28″ x 42″ x 10″
Foam: With its five inches of foam (three inches of soft open-cell foam sandwiched between denser closed-cell layers), the Duo has one of the stiffer landing zones out there—making it unlikely that you’ll bottom out. Mad Rock’s foam has historically tended to lose stiffness faster than its rivals, but our testers have reported good longevity for the price.
Hinge type: The Duo has a parallel rather than angled hinge, but Mad Rock has added velcro straps that mate the hinged sides together, making it less likely that you’ll twist an ankle or bottom out in the gap.
Pad exteriors: Recycled polyester
Closure system: Load flaps and buckles that help contain gear inside the pad.
Carry system: Designed to carry heavy loads with relative comfort, the Duo has a well-built suspension system with padded shoulder straps, load lifters, chest strap, and padded waist belt. The system is also adjustable to different body sizes—a crucial feature for smaller and larger climbers.
Other features: The Duo has a built-in piggybacking flap, which makes it very easy to strap another pad onto its back. While it’s easy to use, we’ve found that it’s designed such that the additional pad hangs too “low” on the back of the Duo; this pulls the weight away from you rather than centering it ergonomically over your shoulders, forcing you to lean forward to stay on your feet. (For best ergonomics, you want your second pad to be higher than the pad on your back, so when you walk, the weight distributes down into your feet.) Like the Erratic, the Duo has a water bottle holder that’s easily accessible during approaches. All MadRock pads also have velcro on their interior edges, allowing you to link multiple pads together into a huge, seam-free landing zone.
The Mad Rock Duo is a thick, bifold hinge pad with a comfortable (and adjustable) carrying system and an intuitive, in-built piggybacking system—at a great price.
This pad stands out for its thickness, carrying system, piggybacking flap, and its low price. The piggyback system is convenient, but it’s also far less ergonomic than ideal, so that should be a consideration if you’re planning any truly long approaches. Lastly, the brand has a reputation for a lack of longevity. But at $269, it’s a steal.
Organic Backfourty
Weight: Backfourty Big Pad: 21 lbs // Backfourty Simple Pad: 12 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: Big Pad: 46” x 58″ x 5” // Simple Pad: 36 x 48″ x 4″
Folded dimensions: Big Pad: 29” x 46″ x 10″ // Simple Pad: 24″ x 36″ x 8.5″
Foam: Big Pad: 1” memory foam on top layer, 1 inch urethane rubber closed-cell foam underneath, then 3 inches of soy-based open-cell foam base for cushioning. // Simple Pad: 1 inch of closed cell foam, 3 inches of open-cell foam.
Hinge: A bifold with a hybrid-hinge, which means that there is a layer of padding over the hinge—but just one.
Pad exteriors: Big Pad: 1050 denier Ballistic nylon shell and 1000 denier Cordura nylon landing zone. // Simple Pad: 1050 denier Ballistic nylon shell, 1200 denier recycled Cordura landing zone. What do these numbers mean? Organic pads are durable as all get-out. In fact, the outer material is so tear-resistant that Organic now sells replacement foam, allowing you to simply re-stuff your pad when it gets too soft. Like most Organic Pads: the color schemes on the landing zone are customizable.
Carry system: The Backfourty has a heavy duty suspension system. The shoulder straps are constructed with a blend of plastic and foam to help evenly distribute load. A plastic back frame contours to your back and allows for easy adjustment of the suspension system (there are 10 adjustment points that allow you to customize the shoulder strap height and placement). The entire carry system is removable, allowing the pad to lie flat on flat ground, but our testers found this to be more trouble than it was worth.
Other features: Since the Backfourty is designed for big loads, it comes with extra attachment points that, paired with the Organic Load Flap, allow you to piggyback multiple pads.
Designed in collaboration with the backpacking company Mystery Ranch, Organic’s Backfourty Pad boasts an ultra-delux carry system, designed to save your back when carrying large loads on longer approaches. Organic fits its Backfourty carry system on two of its staple pad sizes: the Big 5 Pad, and the Simple Pad. The Big 5 Pad is a monster: heavy, and highly cushioned, with a gigantic landing zone—one of the best pads ever designed. The simple pad is its little cousin, thinner, less cushioned, with a standard drop-zone size.
If you’re planning on doing serious hikes, piggybacking other pads, and want a durable cushy pad—we can’t recommend the Backfourty Big Pad enough. When paired with the relatively svelte (12 pounds!) Simple Pad, the Backfourty might be a good choice for smaller-framed climbers for whom the Big Pad is too heavy, the Duo is too bulky, and the Erratic is too stiff. Also, Organic’s durability is unmatched. After you’ve had an Organic pad for 10+ years, that steep initial investment begins to feel pretty reasonable.
Best Standard Pads
Asana Hero
Weight: 13 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 36″ x 48″ x 4″
Folded dimensions: 36″ x 24″ x 8″
Foam: 4 inches of sandwich style foam: 1 inch closed cell, 2 inches of open cell, and 1 inch closed cell. It’s quite stiff (and therefore durable), but if you’re highballing, you may wish you’d gone with a 5-inch pad.
Hinge: A bifold with a hybrid-hinge, which means that there is a layer of padding over the hinge.
Pad exteriors: A durable combination of 900 denier landing zone, 900 denier exterior, and 1680 denier Ballistic nylon edges.
Closure system: The Hero closes with two buckled load flaps, which help keep gear from falling out of the pad and are large enough to close on (i.e. piggyback) another pad.
Carry system: The Hero uses Asana’s Deluxe Suspension System, the same one used on its far heavier Super Hero pad. That means it has contoured padded shoulder straps, adjustable load lifting straps, a chest strap, and a wide (but unpadded) nylon waist belt. It’s a lot of padding for a small pad—which makes this a good candidate for longer approaches.
Other: Like the Super Hero, the Hero has a Cargo Clip, which allows you to clip a backpack onto the back of the pad (which can then get tucked into the load flap so it doesn’t swing freely and upset your balance). This minimizes the need to stuff gear inside the pad, which ultimately bends and decreases the longevity of the foam. It also centers the weight of your gear higher, over your shoulders, making the whole ensemble more ergonomic.
The Asana Hero is the smaller sibling of the Super Hero (profiled above) and alike in all but size. It’s a durable, well-considered, four-inch pad with a semi-robust carrying system, stiff landing zone, and built-in piggybacking system.
While the SuperHero is one of the lightest of the big pads, the Hero is one of the heavier of the standard pads—which means it has to compete on its other merits. Which, because Asana makes good things, it has in spades.We especially admire its durability, its closure system, and its robust carry system—all of which make it a solid option for climbers looking for a do-it-all midsized pad.
Kinetic Newton
Price: $249 for standard, $259 for Alpine Edition
Weight: 13 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 36″ x 48″ x 4″
Folded dimensions: 36″ x 24″ x 8″
Foam: Like its bigger sibling (the KiloNewton), the Newton uses three different foam layers in a traditional sandwich configuration: 1 inch of closed-cell, high-density foam, 2 or 3 inches of open-cell, high-fore-deflection foam, and 1 inch of closed-cell, high-strength foam.
Hinge: A bifold with a hybrid-hinge, which means that there is a single layer of padding over the hinge.
Pad exteriors: An almost excessively durable 1680 denier Ballistic nylon exterior with 1000 denier nylon landing zone. Both the bottom flap and harness system cover are fully waterproof. You can customize the color scheme on your pad’s landing zone, but you’ll have fewer options than Organic offers.
Closure system: Kinetic’s Omni-flap closure system uses large load flaps which (a) keeps gear from falling out of your pad, (b) serves as an in-built piggyback system for another pad of equal or smaller size (from any brand), and (c) folds back onto itself to cover the pack system and solidify the downward-facing hinge. Thanks to the latter feature, the pad won’t fold up like a book if your foot lands on the hinge, and your shoulder straps and back won’t ever get wet or muddy.
Carry system: The Newton’s carry system uses a basic nylon waist strap and breathable moisture mesh shoulder straps. The load lifters on the shoulder straps are adjustable, as is the vertical height of the shoulder straps—allowing you to adjust the height to your frame size. If you’re looking to carry bigger loads, the Alpine Edition carry system (cushioned shoulder and waist straps) can be added onto your pad aftermarket, which makes this one of the better standard sized pads for backcountry climbing—rivaled only by the Backfourty on a Simple Pad setup and the slightly larger Black Diamond Erratic.
In 2019, shortly after it was released, the Newton won Climbing’s Editor’s Choice Award—and it remains worthy of that category.
The KiloNewton remains a standout standard-sized pad. While the Omni-flap system adds labor to the pre-climbing process, it also keeps your back dry and clean—and for climbers encountering mud and snow, there’s real value to this.
Metolius Session II
Weight: 9 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 36″ x 48″ x 4″
Folded dimensions: 36″ x 26″ x 8″
Foam: A classic sandwich: 1 inch closed-cell foam, 2 inches of open-cell foam, 1 inch of closed cell foam.
Hinge: An angled bi-fold like its larger sibling, the Magnum. (The angle removes the dead zone from the hinge.)
Pad exteriors: An abrasion-resistant 900 denier poly outer fabric, with a rug embedded in the landing zone for cleaning your shoes.
Closure system: The Session II closes using load flaps aluminum buckles. The load flaps keep your gear from falling out of the bottom of the pad. They can also be used to protect the shoulder straps from getting wet when the pad is laid in mud or wet snow.
Carry system: Padded shoulder straps, non-padded nylon waist belt, no chest belt, no load lifters.
Light, low-price, and elegantly designed, the Session II is Metolius’s update on one of the bestselling pads of all time—and our bet is that it’ll remain popular.
The Session II is simultaneously minimalist and exceedingly well-thought-out. It’s a fantastic starter pad or low-cost pad supplement; but if you plan on cratering from great heights, it might not be right for you.
Organic Full Pad
Weight: 12 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 36″ x 48″ x 4″
Folded dimensions: 36″ x 24″ x 8″
Foam: Four inches of foam: 1 inch of closed-cell, 3 inches softer open-cell. The Full Pad offers an exceedingly comfortable landing for small and medium falls. However, though it’s nicer than most 4-inch pads for highballs, we’d recommend a 5-inch pad if you’re planning on going big.
Hinge: A bifold with a hybrid-hinge, which means that there is a layer of padding over the hinge.
Pad exteriors: Durable 1050 denier Ballistic shell and 1000 denier Cordura landing zone. Like most Organic Pads: the color schemes on the landing zone are customizable.
Carry system: Standard and minimalist, with padded shoulder straps and a 2 inch nylon hip belt. There are two height options for the shoulder straps, which gives smaller and larger climbers some customization options, but there are far fewer than on other pads like the Newton, Duo, and Backfourty (among others). You can add on Organic’s Muffin Protector for added comfort on longer approaches.
In 2016, Climbing’s editors elected Organic’s Full Pad to the Gear Hall of Fame—and it’s still one of the greatest standard-sized pads on the market. Unlike the other pads in the Organic lineup, the Full Pad has a 24” x 15” nylon closure system, which includes a pocket flap for gear storage. The flap also helps ensure that nothing falls out of your pad when you stuff it full of things—and it serves as an in-built piggyback system, allowing you to strap on another pad of equal or smaller size.
The Full Pad has a nice closure system, highly durable exterior material, and solid foam. If you’re planning to use a standard-sized pad as your primary pad (rather than as a supplement to a larger one), you can’t go wrong with the Full Pad. If you’re looking to supplement a larger pad, we’d instead recommend Organic’s less-kitted-out Simple Pad.
Petzl Alto
Weight: 12.5 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 46″ x 39″ x 4″
Folded dimensions: 26″ x 39″ 10″
Foam: Three layers of polyethylene and polyurethane foam. It’s comfortable for small and medium falls, but like all four-inch pads, it’s perhaps a bit too thin for highballs.
Hinge: A taco-style pad, which means no hinge! Instead, the pad is a single sheet of bendable foam. There are pros and cons to this: While the lack of hinge means there’s no dead zone in your protection, it also means that the pad doesn’t lie as flat. Also, the foam is necessarily softer and more flexible than with hinged pads, which makes it less adept at diffusing the energy of larger falls.
Pad exteriors: The high-strength Cordura Ballistic fabric is waterproof.
Closure system: The Alto’s zipper system had both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage: it forms a sizable and self-contained storage compartment for your gear. The disadvantage: Zippers can break or get jammed up by mud or dust; if this happens (it has not happened to us), you’ll be unable to close your pad.
Carry system: The ultra-wide waist belt and shoulder straps distribute the load evenly. The waist belt uses a heavy-duty velcro rather than a buckle—which minimizes the risk that the waist belt will break (plastic buckles break easily in car doors) but also need to be clean to work. The velcro also ensures that there’s no hard plastic buckle in your fall zone—a necessity because, unlike with other pads, the landing zone with the Alto is the side of the pad where the backpack and waist straps are. Also, the shoulder straps are not vertically or horizontally adjustable, so this pad is not easy to customize to larger and smaller body sizes.
Other: Because the Alto’s fall zone is on the same side of the pad as the fall zone, the closure system has to be tightened up and hidden beneath the load flap before you use the pad. The advantage here is that these straps stay out of the mud and snow and dust. The disadvantage: more prep time before climbing.
The Petzl Alto is one of the most unusual pads in this roundup: a taco-style pad (no hinge!) that closes with a zipper rather than buckles—forming a tight compartment for your gear.
The Alto’s bells and whistles help it stand apart from the crowded standard pad field, but they come with costs, namely (a) more complicated maintenance requirements, (b) longer pre-climbing setup, and (c) price. That said, if you’re looking for a comfortable mid-sized pad that makes carrying gear easy, the Alto is a fantastic choice.
Trango Stratus
Weight: 12.3 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 39″ x 51″ x 4.7″
Folded dimensions: 39″ x 25.5″ x 9.8″
Foam: The Stratus’s standout feature is its foam. While most standard-size pads contain four inches of closed and open cell foam, the Stratus has a whopping five inches, allocated in an unusual ratio. Rather than a 1-3-1 sandwich, like many 5-inch pads, it contains 1.75 inches of dense closed-cell foam on the landing zone, which gives the pad significant energy absorption capabilities. Below this, it’s got 2.75 inches of open-cell foam and a half an inch of closed cell foam on the bottom. The result: it’s the cushiest standard-sized pad we’ve ever fallen on.
Hinge: Like Metolius’s Magnum, the Status’s hinge is angled, which means that falling in the middle doesn’t make the two sides of the pad fold upwards like a book.
Pad exteriors: The Stratus’s landing zone and outer material are made from recycled 600 denier fabric—which is a slicker and less durable fabric than most other pads. One obvious and annoying result of this is that the pad’s underside is slippery and doesn’t grip very well on sloped landings. One of our testers tried to place it on a gentle gravel slope and reported that the Stratus slid “like a sandboard every time I stepped or fell on it,” while his Organic and Mad Rock pads held fast.
Closure system: The closure system is built with extra-long straps designed to allow you to strap on a second pad. It also includes a velcro-closing kangaroo pouch, which makes it easy to secure a crag bag. The downside: those extra long straps can be a bit annoying when they’re tangled up in your landing.
Carry system: The shoulder, chest, and waist straps are adjustable to various body sizes; but the straps are minimally padded, and rather uncomfortable when carrying a lot of weight.
The Stratus is a highly durable mid-sized pad with an excellent blend of energy-absorbing foam—the sort of pad that inspires confidence on highballs while also remaining small enough to carry around on a lazy circuit.
The Stratus might have the best padding on the market—so if you’re planning on taking big falls onto your pads, you can’t go wrong here. But if you’re going to be climbing over talus or angled landings, we’d recommend something less slippery. And if you plan to use this as a primary pad in backcountry bouldering areas, we’d recommend something with a more built out carry system. But, as our lead tester noted, “It’s a great mid-size crashpad.”
Best Accessory Pads
Asana VersaPad
Weight: 5 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 74″ x 44″ x 3/4″
Folded dimensions: 36″ x 22″ x 3″
Foam: 3/4 inch of stiff, closed-cell foam
Hinge: Four hinges. Asana’s choice to bring hinges to the blubber concept adds versatility, allowing the pad to remember its shape when folded in half or quarters. But when it’s used as a cover on a multi-pad landing, you also need to be sure its seams are not aligned with the seams between the pads below.
Pad exterior: Unknown nylon
Closure system: Buckles
Carry system: Handles. (No shoulder straps. This is not a standalone pad)
Asana’s take on Organic’s innovative Blubber (see below), the VersaPad is large-area, 3/4 inch pad supplement that can be used to cover gaps between pads, add an energy-diffusing layer to highball landings, or fold up to serve as a sitstart pad. Unlike the Blubber, Asana’s pad is hinged, which means it stays folded easily.
Blubbers are relatively simple—and Asana didn’t mess it up. A great product. 3/4 inch too thin? Check out their 1-inch-thick VersaPad Pro.
Kinetic MicroNewton
Weight: 5 lbs, 7 ounces.
Landing zone dimensions: 36” x 30” x 3”
Folded dimensions: 18” x 30” x 6”
Foam: 1-inch of closed cell foam over 2-inches of open cell cushion
Hinge: Hybrid hinge
Pad exteriors: 1680 denier nylon body. 1000 denier nylon top sheet
Closure system: Two simple buckles.
Carry system: Briefcase handles.
The MicroNewton is a miniature pad designed to supplement another, larger pad—and though it’s not ideal for taking large falls, it’s great for folding over rocks, filling in pad gaps, or cushioning dabby sitstarts.
Well-considered, and offering a lot of foam for very little weight, the MicroNewton is a fantastic supplement.
Organic Blubber
Weight: 8 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 48” x 72″ x 1″
Folded dimensions: 24″ x 36″ x 7″
Foam: A 1-inch layer of closed-cell foam
Hinge: Taco. The lack of hinges makes for a more unified landing surface, it also makes for somewhat less convenient storage, since the pad doesn’t fold entirely flat. Nor does it remember its shape if folded in half or quarters—so it’s less useful as a sitstart pad.
Pad exteriors: Both the landing zone and shell are 1000 denier nylon. It can be a bit slippery on the surface of other pads.
Closure system: Aluminum buckles
Carry system: None
Primarily designed as a pad topper, the Blubber is a 1-inch-thick sheet of hardshell foam that helps you avoid falling between cracks in large landing zones and further diffuse energy on big falls. It can also be used to cover talus, wet landings, or be used as a bed in the back of a car or truck
With their Blubber, Organic was the first company to introduce a thin topper pad of this kind—and while there’s now competition from many manufacturers, it remains the industry benchmark for quality.
Organic Big Tri
Weight: 22 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 46″ x 88″ x 3″
Folded dimensions: 29″ x 46″ x 9.5″
Foam: Sandwich of closed- and open-cell foam.
Hinge: Tri fold, hinge style. There’s a velcro cover to close the upward facing hinge.
Pad exteriors: The landing zone is 1000 denier recycled nylon. The shell is 1050 denier Ballistic nylon.
Closure system: Basic buckles, with straps long enough to piggyback onto a Backfourty or Big 5 pad.
Carry system: A minimalist setup: Padded shoulder straps, a nylon waist belt that’s compatible with Muffin Protector (sold separately), and chest strap. No load lifters, no vertical adjustment options for smaller or larger climbers.
Is this a very thin pad or a gigantic pad supplement or both? You tell us. Organic has yet again shaken away the definitions. At 3 inches thick, the Big Tri is “designed to be the ultimate topper over large pad piles”—but it’s also thick enough to serve as a pad in its own right on lower boulders, particularly since it has one of the largest landing zones out there.
Though it’s pricey, this is one of the more interesting new entrants into the crash pad market, offering a massive amount of coverage for the weight. Though its thinness makes it minimally useful as a standalone pad for highballs, it is a serious supplement to any landing made of 4 or 5-inch pads, and it would be an absolute boss on a solo circuit through smaller boulders.
Too heavy for you? Check out Asana’s smaller, lighter, cheaper, and shoulder-strap-less pad supplement: the Triptick Trifold.
Send 4×6 Skinny Pad
Weight: 5 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 45″ x 66.5″ x .75″
Folded dimensions: 45″ x 23″ x 3”
Foam: 3/4 inch of closed-cell foam designed to distribute impact.
Hinge: Trifold hinge
Pad exteriors: 1000 denier Cordura nylon
Closure system: Single buckle strap
Carry system: Carry handle made of recycled climbing rope
A trifold take on Organic’s Blubber (a taco) and Asana’s VersaPad (a quad-fold) by America’s pre-eminent maker of … kneepads. You heard that right.
Send has brought real thoughtfulness to their pad. We especially like how their “PadLink” loops allow you to secure the pad to angled landings (an especially common feature when climbing in talus). These loops also allow you to strap it down on windy days.
Sick Sequence Inflatable Backcountry Crash Pad
Weight: 5 lbs
Landing zone dimensions: 36″ x 48″ x 6″
Packed dimensions: Ostensibly 14″ x 8″ x 7″, though our tester found them quite hard to get that small. He preferred to just fold them in half and slide them into his Organic Big Pad like you would a slider.
Foam: None! You’re riding on air. And you have a choice of inflating the pad via either a foot pump ($24) or an electric Rapid Air Pump ($44). The problem with an “air landing” is that it’s bouncy, and very unstable underfoot—making you far more likely to twist an ankle if landing on your feet. It can also provide a surprisingly jarring landing when you land on your back or butt, even from a low height. But the weight of the pad is the weight of the shell—and there’s serious utility in that.
Hinge: None
Pad exteriors: The TPU shell is incredibly sturdy. Our tester climbed with his pad in razor-sharp basalt talus fields and spikey East Coast forests, and the pad has no holes. He also inflated his pad and left it that way to see how long it would take to lose pressure. He gave up after a week.
Closure system: None
Carry system: None
Other: The inflatable pads attach to one another via a heavy duty velcro strap—helping form a wide solid landing base.
While marketed as standalone pads, inflatables are, in our view, better described as very useful, if very specific, accessory pads. Our tester, a former Climbing editor, found them incredibly useful when climbing alone on a boulder with a large landing zone. Unable to hike four foam pads a mile to his project (a steep, traversing project in Great Barrington, Massachusetts), he carried an Organic Big Pad, a Black Diamond Circuit Pad, and two Sick Sequence inflatables out there and was able to make a safe(ish) landing.
While inflatable pads can be incredibly useful, particularly for solo boulderers, their lightness and stiffness makes them relatively unstable. They don’t conform at all to the ground they’re on, so if the landing is uneven, they tend to just “float” over the features until you land on them. You never quite know where you’re going to bounce. They also quasi unstable for your ankles; and since they have basically just two modes, too soft or too stiff, they can feel surprisingly jarring when backflopped on. All in all, we’d think very hard before taking big falls onto this pad.
If that sounds like a lot of bad news, note that it’s also defining inflatable pads as pads. But once you think about them as pad accessories, a supplement like the models listed above, the upsides are clear: they’re light, they pack down into small sizes, they’re infinitely nicer to fall onto than rock, and they’re durable—which makes them a useful supplement for solitary climbers looking to ferry extra padding out into the backcountry.
“What are you carrying on your back?”
It’s a common question hikers ask. The possible responses are endless. While most commonly referred to as “crashpads,” the question has thousands of answers:
- Elk saddles
- Tree bandaids
- Bear shields
- Glacial sleds
- Massage tables
- Foldable kayaks
- Parachutes
- Base jumping mats
- Solar panels
- Mountain wrestling pads
- Lightening deflectors
- Marmot traps
- Adult film setups
- Bear dentistry kits
- “For ninja warrior training…”