Winter camping in shelters- One or two sleeping pads?

[George P Burdell]

For those who winter camp in shelters, at what temperature do you add a second pad? I typically sleep on the ground/snow on a Prolite 4, and add a z-rest when it gets below 15F. I'm wondering if being up on a wood platform in a shelter makes enough difference that only one pad is needed. What say you?

[Slack-jawed Trog]

I sleep cold, two pads for me: a Z-rest and a WallyMart blue foam cheap-o. The floor in shelters I've used is 1) hard, 2) cold, and 3) often drafty thru cracks. I've also slept in a fire warden's cabin, on the concrete floor (January). No draft but the concrete is hard and a heat sink.
The two pads seems to work for me. YMMV, and invariably will...

[garlic08]

The plank shelter floors generally will reach air temperature during the night. On very cold nights, shelter floors will likely be colder than the ground.

[trainhopper]

I always go one. If you have a winter bag one pad should be plenty. From my experience winter hiking the worst parts are right before bed and waking up. If your bag is meant for the cold you should have no problem with one.

[marty1983]

I have the Neoair air mattress and I am starting Feb 22nd. I am also planning on bringing a blue cheap-o that I got from rei. It was a large pad but I cut it down to about 48" long and 30" As long as my core is insulated, I will sleep comfortably. I was originally planning on sending the pad home but it's nice to have something comfortable that you can sit on or rest on without having to inflate it and then deflate it before moving on.

[joedannajr]

Marty1983's suggestion of the Neoair is a good one. I have slept on a shelter floor at -10°F and was just fine. I understand they also have a winter one, better R rating abut also heavier.

[RWheeler]

I'm still not set on if I should bring just my Z-rest, just my BA Air Core, or both. I'm not leaving until late April, so it's not as much winter as someone leaving this month or next, but there will still be some cooler nights. My bag is a WM SummerLite and I'll have a homemade liner, btw. Only reason I'm considering both is the temp rating of that bag...

[Bati]

One good pad is fine. I like an expedition-weight ridgerest. But be aware that the non-expedition weight ones can freeze solid when it gets cold. Kind of hard to fit in your pack when they're frozen!

[On The Road Again]

The shelter floor will be colder than the ground.

[bigcranky]

I slept in a shelter in the Smokies in November, with lows around 25 or so, and I noticed I was getting cold around 4am. I was using a 5-F bag and a Prolite 4 pad, the combination of which normally keeps me quite warm down into the single digits, so I had a pretty good idea that the cold was coming from underneath. A thin CCF pad would have helped a lot.