[Mike Collins]

Diagnostic tools to find the bubbles? Whatever. Do these guys work for the defense department or for Boeing?

[ajgoodkids]

No, no, no. You blow heavy air into your inflatable pad. You brought it up from sea level in your lungs and bloodstream. That's why if falls out at altitude. If you breathe in a bunch of helium right before your backpacking trip, you might have a chance of things going okay if you don't squeak it all out on the way up the trail. You can breathe the helium to lighten your backpacking load, but, if you use a foam pad, you can squeak it out with impunity when you get to your destination. Here are pad weights, including typical usage grit and grime: Cascades Designs Therm-a-Rest ........ 3.80 oz. per sf 7/16" blue ensolite closed cell foam ... 1.51 oz. per sf Cascade Designs Z-Rest .................... 1.36 oz. per sf We've slept on snow with Z-Rest pads and no one was cold.

[polarbear]

Maybe it's time to revisit the urban legend http://pangloss.ucsfmedicalcenter.org/~terrazas/jokes/oldjokes/Darwin_Award_1997.html It seems like weather balloons could have lots of backcountry applications. Who needs light boots when one can soar 5 feet with each step up the trail? Who needs a foam pad when you can hover three feet above the ground in your sleeping bag? You could drift out over the lake in your sleeping bag and catch a fish for breakfast in the morning. Ahhhh yes. I wonder if you could market some helium filled garmets that really would make you step lightly. They could call it Soar-tex.

[Allison]

Does anyone know if the new Z-Rest with the dual-density foam is on the market yet? I went to see my local independant outdoor retailer and he had no ideer what I was talking about....hate to sound like a know it all, just never know if what I hear about is the new thing or the thing they are releasing in 2009...anyone seen the new SimmerLight yet, case in point! Anyhow I need one of these things, the CD Labs 'reverse vulcanization' machine is tired of seeing my pad, which this time was apparently the victim of a burn, inneresting considering we were in a no campfire area, hey, who was smoking cigarettes near my pad...

[Alpine Sam]

Ya I made to the top of Rainier. Took me a whole two minutes from base camp to the summit. I thought the Z-Rest pads were all dual density for 2002. Was there a production delay or is everyone selling the old ones?!?