The 6 Best Winter Sleeping Pads (2025)

“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>

With the appropriate sleeping bag and pad combo, winter camping can be one of the most sublime experiences on earth. With the wrong equipment, it can mean a very long night with the potential to become dangerous. Even the warmest sleeping bag is little help without an appropriate pad—especially when temps drop below freezing. We tested dozens of pads in an effort to find the very best on the market, ideal for everything from mild winters to the world’s most extreme climates.

At a Glance

If you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. This supports our mission to get more people active and outside. Learn more.

Warmest

Nemo Tensor Extreme Conditions Ultralight Insulated

$250 at REI $250 at Nemo

Weight: 1.3 lbs (Regular)
Thickness: 3.5 inches
R-Value: 8.5
Available Sizes: Regular Mummy, Regular, Regular Wide, Long Wide

Pros and Cons
⊕ Very lightweight
⊕ Very compact
⊕ Very warm
⊗ Easy to slide off

In 2023, when NEMO debuted an 8.5 R-value pad that weighed in at just over a pound, we were duly impressed. With the exception of its main competitor, the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm NXT, pads that will keep you warm in double-digit negative temps are typically chunky, heavy affairs. But the regular-rectangular Tensor Extreme stuffs into a sack slightly larger than a Nalgene bottle.

NEMO achieves this wild warmth-to-weight ratio using a new design with four sheets of thermal, aluminized film suspended between trapezoidal trusses. Each thermal layer does double-duty, reflecting body heat and blocking radiant heat loss. The brand also uses a thicker 40-denier Bluesign-approved recycled nylon on the bottom of the pad (20-denier on top), which came in handy when one of our testers bivvied with it deep into a winter season that had fewer than three inches of snow to pad roots and rocks.

Tester Pat Greehan took out the regular-wide, 25-inch version (testers tended to slip off the 20-inch version of the pad) of the Tensor Extreme on three bikepacking trips in northern Minnesota. He bivvied on snow in temperatures varying between six and 30 degrees and reported that those three nights “were the most comfortable I’ve had while winter camping.”

That’s thanks in part to the heat-reflecting layers (normally, he says, it’s typical for him to feel a chill through the pad a few hours before sunrise), but also to the trusses, which distribute weight better than most horizontally-baffled pads on the market. Most importantly, owing to those free-floating layers of aluminum, Greehan reported that it’s substantially quieter than most other winter sleeping pads in test, especially when it comes to the dreaded potato chip bag crinkle.

Best Warmth-to-Weight Ratio

Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm NXT

$240 at REI $240 at Backcountry

Weight: 1 lb (Regular)
Thickness: 3 inches
Available Sizes: Regular, Regular Wide, Large
R-Value: 7.3

Pros and Cons
⊕ Exceptional warmth-to-weight ratio
⊕ Very packable
⊗ Easy to slide off
⊗ A bit crinkly
⊗ Horizontal baffles

Therm-a-Rest’s NeoAir XTherm boasts the best warmth-to-weight ratio in its category with an R-value of 7.3 at just one pound. Let that sink in: It’s lighter than most fairweather sleeping pads but warm enough for winter mountaineering. (It’s main competitor, the NEMO Tensor Extreme Ultralight Insulated is just shy of the XTherm’s ratio, slightly heavier, but warmer overall.)

At the crux of this extreme warmth-to-weight ratio are five layers of Therm-a-Rest’s proprietary coating, a thin metalized film woven into the pad’s interior that minimizes heat loss and reflects it back at your body. Surprising bonus: the fifth layer also muffles (but doesn’t eliminate) the notorious crinkly “potato chip” noise this pad’s predecessor was known for. Therm-a-Rest uses two triangular baffles stacked on top of each other to create a stable surface and fill out the plush, three-inch-thick pad. The bottom is wrapped in tough, 70-denier nylon, which is more than twice as durable as the standard 20-30-denier nylon seen in comparable pads.

“The first thing I noticed was how much less bulky it was than my older version,” says Patrick Greehan, a longtime user of the original NeoAir XTherm for ultra bikepacking races like the Arrowhead 135, a frigid late January event in northern Minnesota. When packed, the new XTherm is a scant 4.5-by-9 inches—roughly the size of an overstuffed business envelope.

Blowing up the pad is a cinch with the accompanying pump sack, which inserts into an easy-to-grasp “winglock” valve that keeps the air in all night. Greehan reported that the pad held air remarkably well, even over a 48-hour stretch.

Our only complaint? Some backpackers find that TAR’s horizontal baffles don’t cradle the sleeper as well as vertical or quilted baffles owing to the common “pool toy effect”: a sensation of instability from the air shifting under you. But that didn’t dissuade Greehan, though, who intends to use the XTherm NXT as his go-to pad for all ultralight pursuits, summer through winter.

Best for Extreme Expeditions

Exped Dura 8R

$230 at Amazon $186 at Campsaver (Sale)

Weight: 2.1 lbs (Medium)
Thickness: 3.5 inches
Available Sizes: Medium, Medium Wide, Long Wide
R-Value: 7.8

Pro and Cons
⊕ Extremely warm
⊗ Finicky pump sack
⊗ Heavy
⊗ Bulky

The first time I used a down-insulated Exped pad was on an expedition to Mount Everest base camp in 2010, when I slept warmly and soundly on Khumbu glacier for almost a month. So when temperatures dipped below zero in northern Minnesota, I made a beeline for the Dura 8R, Exped’s warmest down-insulated pad, to cowboy camp on a windy, starry, frigid night in northern Minnesota.

The 8R gets its insulating properties from 700-fill goose down interspersed throughout head-to-toe vertical chambers. Despite the mat’s relative thickness (3.5 inches) and narrowness (20.5 inches), we felt centered thanks to slightly larger outer chambers that create a cradling effect. One of the pad’s most impressive specs is its Bluesign-approved, 75-denier polyester fabric. With material that thick, I never had to worry about punctures or pinholes.

The main downsides to this cozy, warm pad? For one, the long-necked pump sack is finicky to attach to the inflation valve, especially in a stiff wind—not ideal when trying to set up camp in negative five degrees. It’s bulky, too. Packed in its stuff sack, it’s about the size of half-gallon growler. And at 34 ounces, it’s not the lightest option, either. But on long expeditions that are guaranteed to throw down sub-zero temperatures, that heft adds a major psychological boost.

Best for Mild Winters

Rab Ionosphere 5.5

$230 at Amazon $153 at Campsaver (Regular, Sale)

Weight: 1.5 lbs. (Regular)
Thickness: 3.1 inches
Available Sizes: Regular, Long Wide
R-Value: 5.5

Pros and Cons
⊕ Extremely compact
⊕ Grippy
⊕ Stable
⊗ Too cold below 20 degrees

When wrangling bulky gear for her first winter weekend camping trip in northern Minnesota, tester Samantha Armacost was stoked to see that this pad, when packed, is the size of a hefty burrito—one of the most compact we’ve ever tested.

Designed for alpinists looking to shave weight on light-and-fast missions, the lightweight pad tops the scales at just over a pound. It’s filled with 18.5 grams-per-square foot of post-consumer recycled synthetic insulation that keeps insulating when wet and dries quickly. An additional interior layer works like an emergency blanket that reflects heat back at the body.

During the night, Armacost experienced a few cold spots at pressure points; the pad kept her warm down to about 20 degrees, but she warns against using it in temps much below that.

Despite the diminutive size, the pad is still comfortable, with its vertically-baffled chambers and 3.1-inch thickness providing “a good amount of plushness,” according to one tester. To keep sleepers from flopping off the pad, its outer chambers are oversized like crib bunkers. To further reduce bag slippage, the 20-denier polyester face fabric is printed with a grippy finish.

Another bonus feature? The stuff sack, which uses two stretchy elastic bands along the length, rather than the usual top drawstring. “The pad’s packability is such a nice feature,” says Armacost. “It’s one less thing to be wrestling with in the morning while trying to pack up in the cold.”

Most Supportive

Sea to Summit Ether Light XT Extreme Insulated Air

$171 at REI (Sale) $171 at Backcountry (Sale)

Weight: 1.6 lbs.
Thickness: 4 inches
Available Sizes: Regular, Large, Rectangular Reg Wide, Rectangular Large
R-Value: 6.2

Pros and Cons
⊕ Very comfortable
⊕ Soft face fabric
⊗ Bulky integrated pump sack

We were wary of a four-inch-thick, 21.7 inch-wide pad that boasts “air sprung cells” as its secret to warmth and comfort, simply because our testers were afraid they might ricochet right off of it. But that was not the case when tester Pat Greehan used the Etherlight Extreme Insulated on three overnight bikepacking trips in northern Minnesota in nighttime temps that ranged from 16 to 30 degrees.

Those air sprung cells, inspired by the springs on a pocket-sprung mattress, were downright luxurious. Unlike full-length vertical or horizontal baffles, the pad is made up of dozens of interconnected chambers, each one filled with a high-loft mix of synthetic insulations. That insulated quilting cradled our testers’ bodies better than any other pad design on the market and prevented convective heat loss from the ground.

A 30-denier nylon face fabric on the top and heftier 40-denier nylon fabric on the bottom is treated with an antimicrobial TPU lamination, which supposedly helps keep mildew at bay. What we can say for certain is that the nylon fabric was impressively soft against the skin and held up well to everyday backcountry abrasion.

Greehan’s only critique was with the stuff sack-integrated pump, which adds extra bulk to the pad when packed, at roughly the size of a paper towel roll.

Most Comfortable

Zenbivy Flex Air Mattress

$146 at Garage Grown Gear (Sale) $146 at Zenbivy (Sale)

Weight: 1.2 lbs. (20 x 72)
Thickness: 3 inches
Available Sizes: 20 x 72, 25 x 72, 25 x 78
R-Value: 4.8

Pros and Cons
⊕ Soft face fabric
⊕ Very quiet
⊕ Stable
⊗ Difficult-to-use inflation valve
⊗ Low R-value for a winter pad

“By far the best aspects of this pad are the lack of noise and comfortable, soft top layer,” reported Justin La Vigne, an Alaska-based tester who camped along the fringes of Denali National Park and farther north in the remote village of Kaltag where the temperature swung between -38 and 25 degrees.

Equipped with -40- and -20-degree bags, the pad kept him warm enough, but it was the soft, four-way stretch polyester top and quilted offset air cells that sold him. These two combined factors minimized weight transfer, relieved pressure points, and eliminated the bounce found with more tightly woven fabrics. Two layers of free-floating mylar foil keep the pad remarkably quiet while reflecting heat back to the sleeper. The pad was so quiet, in fact, that La Vigne was able to scramble for his headlight in order to watch a moose stroll by his tent without spooking him.

La Vigne was also impressed with the pad’s durability, despite the average 20-denier recycled polyester taffeta bottom, thanks to a laminated polyurethane membrane that increases the strength of the welds. It withstood a true Alaskan test: Camping on top of alders and aspens sticking up through the deep snow without puncturing the pad.

How to Choose a Winter Sleeping Pad

Sleeping Pad R-value

You can have the warmest sleeping bag in the world, but if you have a pad with an underperforming R-value, you’ll still be shivering in your tent. R-value, or a pad’s ability to resist heat loss, generally ranges from 2 to 5 for 3-season pads, but you’ll need an R-value of 5 or above to go winter camping. To make sure your pad has been rated by an objective party, check that it’s been tested using the industry standardized method (ASTM FF3340.)

A popular option for winter campers is to stack an inflatable sleeping pad over a foam sleeping pad, raising the R-Value. For example, an inflatable pad with an R-Value of 4 on top of an R-2 foam pad will give you a total R-Value of 6. One of our lightweight foam favorites is the quarter-inch option by Mountain Laurel Designs, an excellent insulating base that will make even the best pad warmer and drier.

Winter Sleeping Pad Considerations

Beyond warmth (R-value), here are some things to look for:

• Baffle construction: Horizontal baffles, like those found on Therm-a-Rest-brand sleeping pads offer some of the highest warmth-to-weight ratios on the market. The main downside? Some find them to be unstable to sleep on, similar to laying on an inflatable pool toy. Vertical baffles that run the length of the pad are a good option, often designed with larger baffles on the outside edges for a “cradling” effect. The most comfortable, stable design is a quilted one, popular with brands like Sea to Summit and Zenbivy. The downside? They tend to be heavier and bulkier overall.
• Pad Width: Standard “regular” sleeping pads are usually 20 inches wide. This is fine for folks who sleep on their back, but often uncomfortable for other sleeping positions and folks who toss and turn. Thicker winter sleeping pads that are only 20 inches wide can lead to campers slipping off their pad in the night, particularly those with horizontal baffles. Most brands offer wide versions in 25 inches—a worthy upgrade for finicky sleepers.
• Noise: Many winter sleeping pads have internal insulating layers, often made of Mylar-like material to help reflect body heat back at the sleeper. That often creates a loud, crinkling “potato chip bag” noise for folks who toss and turn. Choosing a pad with heat-reflective layers is something to carefully consider if you often share a tent.
• Durability: Fabric thickness is denoted by “denier” or an individual fiber’s robustness in the woven material. The thicker the denier, the more durable (and heavier) a pad will be. Durability is a major consideration when cowboy camping, especially in alpine environments. (A foam pad underneath your inflatable pad is a great insurance policy.)

How We Tested

• Number of Testers: 6
• Number of Nights Slept Outside: 33
• Coldest Night: -38F near Denali National Park, Alaska
• Warmest Night: 30F on a bikepacking trip in northern Minnesota
• Most Remote Location Tested: The village of Kaltag along the Iditarod Trail
• Highest Latitude: 64.3279° N, Kaltag Alaska

True winter sleeping pads are few and far between. To ensure that we rounded up the best, we distributed our contendors across a wide geography in the coldest states, from Alaska to Minnesota. We also tapped a wide range of explorers and athletes, from backcountry skiers and bikepackers to ice fisherman to first-time winter campers.

Testing over the course of four months, we started in mid-January and ended mid-April. During that 120-day period, testers experienced a wild array of weather, from deep snow in Alaska’s Chugach State Park to freakishly low snow cover and mild temperatures in northern Minnesota. One tester used his pad while volunteering at an Iditarod checkpoint, while another camped out seven times over the month of February while bikepacking in northern Minnesota. All of the pads that made our list are comfortable and adequately warm for the conditions we faced. Some were even life-savers, especially when temps went south of -30 F near Alaska’s Denali National Park.

Meet Our Testers

Stephanie Pearson is the Nordic Skiing, and Winter Sleeping Bag and Pad Category Manager for Outside and is based in northern Minnesota. Her most uncomfortable winter night was in a wet snow cave in freakishly warm 30+ degrees while dogsledding along Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

Pat Greehan is a coach for the Duluth Devo Mountain Bike Program. He races gravel, mountain, and fat bikes with a focus on long distance and ultra events. He is an avid bikepacker who takes trips year-round in Northern Minnesota.

Hansi Johnson is a photographer, advocate of wild spaces through his job with the Minnesota Land Trust, and an old-school fun hawg. “I feel the same wonder and awe of a good ride, a good ski or a good backcountry experience now as I did when I was a kid and I don’t think that is going to change.”

Samantha Armacost is a seasoned canoe guide and long-distance paddler, with over a decade of experience guiding trips into the Canadian wilderness and the Boundary Waters. Her multi-month expeditions have taken her to the Arctic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.