Attaching sleeping pad to pack

This seems like a sorta silly question, but here goes. My new pack has a pair of loops sticking out of the bottom to attach a pad to. The thing is, they are just a pair of loops. If the pad is attached just by hooking straps to it, it allows the pad to swing around alot. Generally speaking I know that something flopping around is not a good thing. I have came up with a way that runs part of a strap through the loop holding the waist strap on the pack. The problem is that makes the pad rub against the seat of my pants, which I also assume could be a problem. What is the best way of attaching a pad to a pack like this?

If my pad isn't inside my pack, I attach it either vertically or shove it under the top straps behind my head.

If this is the Elate pack in your other thread, those are tool loops for attaching an ice axe (the little velcro loop near the top of the pack holds the handle.) You wouldn't normally use the tool loops to attach a pad.

Also, what kind of pad are you using? If it's an inflatable pad, and you've got room, most people (including me) store the pad inside the pack, to protect it a bit from punctures. If it's a closed-cell pad, you might try laying it across the top of the pack, between the bag and the lid, then cinching the lid down to secure it in place.

The elate doesn't have the ice axe straps I dont think. The pack with the ice axe straps mentioned on it was another bag I was mentioning because I thought it was the one billstephenson was talking about. The loops I'm refering to may still have something to do with that though, I dont know. This pack does have two elastic cord loops with keepers on them that I dont really see much of a purpose for. I saw the red pack in the store, and it mentioned the ice axe loops, this pack does not.

The loops I'm talking about are at the bottom of the bag and are make of the same material as the straps.

my pack is the grey and black pack pictured, not the redish one that is linked to.

It is a closed cell pad, just one of the cheap blue ones.

The under the lid idea sounds good, I was just thinking I've typically saw them suspended under the bag like by those straps.

thecook, to attach it vertically how do you do that? with the compression straps?

Those are tool loops.

Those are tool loops. basically they are used to hold the bottom end of an ice axe or trekking pole onto the back of your pack.

Here's an example of how they are used, with the head of an ice axe




Now to answer your question, my sleeping pad is usually either inside my pack, (rolled up in a big tube with everything stuffed inside, or folded up against the back of my pack inside, or, strapped vertically to the outside, when I'm carrying a smaller pack and don't have room in it...

For example (with the smaller pack)





but most of the time I keep it inside the pack. especially if it is an inflatable (in the picture above I'm hammocking so I just have a wide blue closed cell pad..)

The elastic cord loops (keepers) are probably the other part of the ice ax attachment; they looked like velcro to me in the other pictures you posted.

It didn't really look like you had any places on the pack to strap the pad on vertically, though that would be a good option with closed-cell pads. Under the lid should work, especially if the lid "floats" and can be adjusted to leave some room there if the main bag is really full.

Learn something new every day. I guess thats what I get for expecting every feature to be mentioned on the tags. Like I said, the red pack in the link I posted in the other thread mentioned that being what the velcro straps were, and had little pictures of an ice axe on the velcro straps. I didnt realize the loops at the bottom had anything to do with them. I was thinking the handle probably just slid down into them more along the lines of a hammer holder on a belt (been involved in our family cabinet shop and construction basically since I could walk). I never put the velcro straps on the red pack and the elastic straps on the elate together, since the elate didnt mention that feature. Seeing how that works it makes alot more sense and also know what those elastic loops that I didnt see a point for are :P.

I know that having loose motion and things flopping around isn't a good thing with a pack. The axes going in the way I thought those velcro loops work and the pad attaching to those bottom loops both would have lead to stuff flopping around, which I didnt think would be right, but first impressions are hard to forget.

Thanks to everyone that has posted here for clearing that up for me. The pictures really were worth a thousand words in this case Phat. The straps for the top of this bag are so long that I dont think you could fill the bag full enough to not still have room between the top of the bag and the bottom of the top part for it. It floats so much I thought it was total over kill, but that may be exactly what the pack designers had in mind. That will probably where the pad goes as long as I'm using a close cell pad. The more I think about it I guess the times I've saw them on the bottom like that, they were probably on external framed packs.

Pretty much every backpack I've ever seen still has those ice axe loops. Kind of funny considering I can count the ice axe carriers I've seen on one hand. The one exception would be the Aarn packs - they have a grosgrain strip with a ring in it and two fasteners midway up the pack, which makes more sense for people who fasten trekking poles on the sides of the pack.

Phat's picture shows how I strap a pad vertically. Even if you don't have the straps, you probably have attachment points you could thread straps or bungie (sp?) cord through to hold the pad on.

Sometimes I do what phat does. Sometimes I do what Glenn does. The easiest is to put it under the top cover. Sometimes I put it horizontal under the two straps that come up from the bottom to hold down the top cover.