The Saturn crashpad from Moon Climbing

In my last post, I gathered points on what to look for when you’re choosing a crashpad. With all of them in my mind, I noted down what was really important for me:

I’m (still) terrified of heights. I need to know I can land softly on a ball of cotton. I need to be able to carry the pad myself. I want to have the biggest pad possible without having to worry about slugging 3 other pads with me. It has to fit in the rear of our car, on top of our mattresses. It has to be durable, the foam shouldn’t be too soft, and not too hard (I weigh less than 50 kg). As a “newbie” I like to have a big landing area and feel safe even on terrains that has protruding, jugged rocks.

It was time to start the hunt.

I came across the biggest crashpad from the Moon Climbing family – the Saturn Crashpad. I thought it would be the perfect crashpad that would work for me. A few days later, the postman turned up with the huge bulge in front of my doorstep, looking quite tired after 3 flights of stairs. Poor him!

The Saturn crashpad from Moon Climbing

Moon Climbing is a company originating from the UK.  They cover products for climbing and bouldering, some wearable garments, climbing holds and their impeccable Moon Boards. As the founder of Moon Climbing, a professional english climber who brought the climbing grades in the 80-ties and 90-ties in the UK to a soaring new level, Ben Moon today sorts to have a say in the climbing gear world with his own label.

The Saturn crashpad is a burly fella with 1,8 m x 1,2 m when it’s opened.  It comes with 3 handles  on each side, integrated and cushioned shoulder straps for comfortable transportation, a foot mat that doubles up as a flap that secures the shoulder straps together when you don’t need them. The Saturn is a taco form, which is a one piece foam folded without any hinges in half during transportation. It has 3 layers of foam, a combination of a hard and soft Foam and a thickness of 13 cm! The outer Polyester material is robust, and has 2 rubber linings to prevent the mat from slipping away on uneven surfaces.

Catch me when I fall

After a few times bouldering, I started to focus more on the problems of the boulder instead of  all other problems I had with frightful falling, heights, and hurting myself.  Falling into the crashpad turned out to be more pleasant than I had expected. The crashpad was good to jump on and I felt immaculately safe if I landed well on the point. (for once, a logo had found a function in the product. Aim for the logo!)

I didn’t have to worry much about tree roots or sharp jutting stones off the grounds as long I don’t miss my jump on the crashpad. With a one piece foam, there were no weak points in the pad. Land on it, not beside it.

With 13 cm, this crashpad belongs to the category for high balls. Since high balls are still not what I would like to do, my jumps were not higher than 2 meters.

I didn’t think the crashpad was too stiff for this thickness. It came in just right for me. I wouldn’t want my crashpad to be any softer.

Weight and size

Although I knew that the Saturn crashpad was not going to fit into the car horizontally, it was the crashpad I was looking for. I wasn’t going to bring it along for multiple day trips, which meant for me that I didn’t have to look for a solution for storage when I was ready to go to bed on my road trips.

The 8 kg was light (comparing to my usual climbing back pack with all the gear) However, I had some problems on windy days – my light weight and the huge pad. It took some getting used to. Plenty of points for the camouflage green look. if you feel the need to hide in the jungle, just fall on your face. Flat.

Quality, Materials, handling

3 handles on each side the crashpad made it easy for a spotter to move the crashpad around while the boulderer was climbing. The 4th side without the handle should be placed facing the wall. However, it always happen that after a few turns and changes that side ended up on the wrong side and then the spotter had no handle to adjust the crashpad.

The foot mats where great to clean off the dirt on the climbing shoes before you start bouldering. This saves the trouble of bringing an extra towel to wipe your shoes clean before you start. The pad has rubber pads on one side to prevent the crashpad from slipping off a slanting surface.

The padded shoulder straps were great to use even in the greatest heat. They added comfort to carrying the crashpad on longer access’ and took off the fear of a cutting strap on a sweaty shoulder. The waist belts gave the crashpad some stability while transporting it. When not in use, you can cover it with the velcro flap to make it disappear. Great if you don’t want to be tripping all over the straps while running around.

Overall, the 600 D  Polyester outer material was tougher than I thought, it felt really thin.  The seams were ok, although the buckles attached started to show signs of stretch after many times folding and unfolding.

Yes, I would recommend this crashpad for anyone who’s looking for a no fail crashpad to bring along to the boulders. Of course, if I knew that purple colour was coming out in the next batch, I would’ve waited just this much until it was available. Prices are at 299,95 € in the online stores.

More articles on bouldering:

• Stepping into a bouldering world
• Choosing the right crashpad for bouldering 
• → The Saturn crash pad from Moon Climbing
• Climbing vs bouldering – Same same but different
• Bouldering outdoors  –  do it right