I was so excited to hear that Snap, the French crash pad manufacturer, was finally going to be given proper representation in the UK - via the County Climbing Company - that it gave me a warm glow inside. For too long had I seen swarve French types foisting about these sexy slices of foam.

Snap Calzone
The Calzone is Snap's workhorse offering, and is the most readily available mat in their range. It measures in at around one metre square, which may seem a tad small - I would like to have seen them match the surface area of the Moon Warrior pad - however take a look inside the pad and there is one obvious difference.

Snap, in their eternal wisdom, have given you a full inch of astoundingly good quality closed-cell (hard) foam as your landing surface. This gives the mat a much firmer feel and means it is capable of absorbing more/higher impacts by spreading out the force over a large area. Take a big fall on to one of these baby's and you'll appreciate the way it nullifies the blow far more than softer feeling mats. This is due to a unique treatment which Snap gives to their closed-cell foam - it is heat treated in a special atmosphere, which reduces the size of the cells, whilst at the same time thickening the cell walls. This gives the whole top sheet of foam a more elastic consistency. The end result of this treatment is a foam which absorbs more impact and lasts longer, so you won't be needing to replace your pad after a few months of heavy use. Brilliant.

The Calzone utilizes a taco-style design and folds with the ground side inwards, to prevent the Woodstock look. However due to the mat being a little smaller and the foam being a little tougher it is a more difficult to fold away initially, this does ease with use. Snap have used a simple bombproof D ring closure, which makes the mat quick and easy to stow away whilst providing some adjustability in the tension, so you can snugly secure your bouldering essentials inside it.

For me Snap have also used one of the best designs when it comes to removing the shoulder straps. It's a non fussy affair with two hoops to thread the strap through and specially designed buckles that easily clip on and off at the bottom of the mat. This means that the straps don't depend on the strength of the Velcro closure to hold them in place and hence they won't be affected with wear.

Tom Dixon trialling a number of pads, including the Snap Calzone, Earl Crag, Yorkshire.


Finally, all of the Snap mats are constructed as though they are about to enter a war zone; the bases are made of a hard-wearing ballistic PVC-like fabric which is anti-slip, and easy to clean. The corners of the covers are stitched with a tough mesh to facilitate escaping air from the open-cell soft foam on the bottom, meaning the mat deflates under impact rather than acting as a bouncy castle. These thoughtful chaps from across the channel have also included a small carpet on the landing surface, as part of the logo, to wipe your feet before you set off.


The Calzone is unique, in that it has enough shock absorption to act as your main pad, but is small enough to be carried around as a secondary pad. A truly great contender to buy as your first mat due to its versatility.


Specification
* Taco style model without folding for a homogeneous landing surface.
* Can be rolled in 2 for transport
* Backpack-style or shoulder carrying
* 2 handles
* Mat for cleaning shoes
* Secret pocket
* Open size : 100x100cmx9cm
* Folded size : 100x45x25cm
* Weight : 5 kg
* Assorted colours





Snap Burrito
For anyone looking for a bigger pad, Snap do this double-folding version which is essentially the same as the Calzone but with an extra fold; the advantage being twice the landing surface.

This king-size bouldering pad is great for covering large surfaces and highballs. Despite its large coverage zone this pad rolls up very neatly and doesn't feel much more cumbersome than such pads as the Snap Whopper and Moon Warrior, although it's obviously a bit heavier.

Specification
* Taco style model without folding for a homogeneous landing surface
* Can be rolled in 3 for transport
* Backpack-style carrying
* 2 handles
* Open size : 200x100x9cm
* Closed size : 100x60x40cm
* Weight : 9 kg
* Assorted colours




Snap Whopper
The Whopper is a more traditional hinged pad with a twist: it folds with the ground side inward like the Calzone, however this does create a problem. When laying flat the Whopper has a very obvious split down the middle, which can look a bit ominous from above. On the upside the hinge is sealed with Velcro, allowing you to split the mat in two and use it as two smaller pads; thus offering more versatility than your average pad, especially on traverses or roof problems.

As with all Snap pads the Whopper features their superb foam set-up, which is amongst the best I have used. The straps are removable in the same way as the Calzone, and the Whopper is also slightly larger - closer in size to the Moon Warrior pad when fully opened out.

Specification
* Can be separated in two and used independently for traverses.
* Backpack-style carrying
* Open size : 130x100cmx9cm
* Folded size : 100x65x18cm
* Weight : 6.5 kg
* Assorted colours





Snap Quarter Pounder
This is a really well thought out mat which folds up a bit like a cluedo board and gives a landing surface far bigger than the Whopper, but easily folds up to fit in the tiniest of car boots.

Unfortunately, due to its unique design, this pad does suffer from the same "gaps" problem as the Whopper. When lying flat there are some ugly looking crevices in the pad, however, in practice this turns out to be far less of a problem, but it does take some getting used to.

The Quarter Pounder also fills Snap's niche as a perfect little traveling pad as it folds up small enough for hire cars along with all your baggage, making it ideal for running around circuits in Font (it would appear someone told Snap about the boulder bus). Like the Whopper it can also be split into smaller pads, so again, it is excellent for traverses, roof problems and longer links.

Specification
* Can be used as a classic pad folded in 2 or folded in 4 for transport
* Big new landing surface of 1.5 square metres
* Backpack-style carrying
* Minimum volume for carrying
* Open size : 150x100cmx9cm
* Folded size : 75x50x36cm
* Weight : 7.5 kg
* Assorted colours

Browse Snap Crash Pads here.