Camping should be a joy, not a chore. You don’t want to spend too much time setting up your sleep system when you could be enjoying the great outdoors. But to stay warm year-round, you’ll want a mat with adequate insulation from the cold ground. So, for four-season trips, pack one of Exped’s Versa 5R sleeping mats. It features an internal layer of synthetic insulation for vital warmth. Comfortable and supportive, with 9cm thick air-cushioned chambers that run from head to toe, it offers a great night’s sleep. It comes in different sizes to suit your needs and features an integrated pump for easy, fuss-free inflation. It’s sustainably built yet durable too, being made from recycled fabric and certified carbon neutral.
| Dimensions | Packed Dimensions | Weight | |
| M | 183 × 52 × 9 cm | 23 × 17.0 cm | 840 g |
| LW | 197 × 65 × 9 cm | 27 × 17.0 cm | 1090 g |
The Exped story started in the early 1980s, in a basic log cabin deep in the Canadian wilderness. That might seem strange for a brand that is Swiss through and through. But it starts to make sense when you hear founders Heidi and Andi Brun talk about their wanderlust as young, twenty-something dreamers.
They built the cabin with their own hands and survived through the harsh winter by learning essential outdoor skills. Day-to-day existence relied on what nature provided – teaching them to live sustainably and with minimal impact. It also demonstrated clearly and simply that the most valuable thing to take into the great outdoors is knowledge, not equipment.
Their fledgling company started out as a distributor, bringing iconic outdoor brands to Switzerland. But soon, they became dissatisfied with other companies’ products. They felt they could do things better. So, they did, transitioning from distributor to manufacturer in 1997. What followed was a slew of pioneering products, from robust backpacking tents to down-filled sleeping mats. Generations on, many of those products are still part of the current Exped range – more refined, yet still built to work in the wild.
