Alpkit Waffa Pad
27th Jan 2022
I was after a small, thin, versatile pad to take out alongside my regular bouldering mat. Something to use as another place to stand in my rock shoes on muddy ground, to span gaps between pads, to cover peripheral rocks and to use when there's no room between a move and the floor for a conventional pad. The Waffa kind of hits the mark on all of these goals, but is let down by one massive issue. It's compact enough to slip inside my regular pad so getting it to the crag is easy enough. It weighs very little so it's hardly a chore to carry it. It's very well made of a durable material. It has a basic carry handle and the colours are fine. The issue is the foam inside the mat. Described as open cell foam, think of it more like a sponge. It absolutely needs to be replaced with some high density foam to be of any use in cushioning a fall. I'm on the lookout for some to replace it with. If replaced I'd give it 5/5, but without I'd say it's a 1. Sorry Alpkit, but for now it's more use as a foot mat than an actual safety device. It does have a zip down one of the long edges so should be easy to replace once I find the foam. Retails at £27.99 on the Alpkit website.
Construction
Outer: 1100d Cordura, DWR coated
Foam: 40mm HLB22 polyether open cell foam; density: 19 – 23 kg/m3; hardness: 250 – 300 newtons
Hardware: YKK zip
Dimensions
Weight: 1 kg
Size: 50 x 80 x 4cm