diff --git a/pageserver/src/layered_repository/delta_layer.rs b/pageserver/src/layered_repository/delta_layer.rs
index b834daae10..cf1abf741f 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/layered_repository/delta_layer.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/layered_repository/delta_layer.rs
@@ -381,14 +381,15 @@ impl DeltaLayer {
         }
     }
 
-    /// Create a new delta file, using the given btreemaps containing the page versions and
-    /// relsizes.
+    /// Create a new delta file, using the given page versions and relsizes.
+    /// The page versions are passed by an iterator; the iterator must return
+    /// page versions in blknum+lsn order.
     ///
     /// This is used to write the in-memory layer to disk. The in-memory layer uses the same
     /// data structure with two btreemaps as we do, so passing the btreemaps is currently
     /// expedient.
     #[allow(clippy::too_many_arguments)]
-    pub fn create(
+    pub fn create<'a>(
         conf: &'static PageServerConf,
         timelineid: ZTimelineId,
         tenantid: ZTenantId,
@@ -397,7 +398,7 @@ impl DeltaLayer {
         end_lsn: Lsn,
         dropped: bool,
         predecessor: Option<Arc<dyn Layer>>,
-        page_versions: BTreeMap<(u32, Lsn), PageVersion>,
+        page_versions: impl Iterator<Item = (&'a (u32, Lsn), &'a PageVersion)>,
         relsizes: BTreeMap<Lsn, u32>,
     ) -> Result<DeltaLayer> {
         let delta_layer = DeltaLayer {
@@ -433,19 +434,21 @@ impl DeltaLayer {
         for (key, page_version) in page_versions {
             let page_image_range = page_version
                 .page_image
-                .map(|page_image| page_version_writer.write_blob(page_image.as_ref()))
+                .as_ref()
+                .map(|page_image| page_version_writer.write_blob(page_image))
                 .transpose()?;
 
             let record_range = page_version
                 .record
+                .as_ref()
                 .map(|record| {
-                    let buf = WALRecord::ser(&record)?;
+                    let buf = WALRecord::ser(record)?;
                     page_version_writer.write_blob(&buf)
                 })
                 .transpose()?;
 
             let old = inner.page_version_metas.insert(
-                key,
+                *key,
                 PageVersionMeta {
                     page_image_range,
                     record_range,
diff --git a/pageserver/src/layered_repository/inmemory_layer.rs b/pageserver/src/layered_repository/inmemory_layer.rs
index 2499c9619b..c0fbad7969 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/layered_repository/inmemory_layer.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/layered_repository/inmemory_layer.rs
@@ -667,6 +667,15 @@ impl InMemoryLayer {
             self.get_end_lsn()
         );
 
+        // Grab the lock in read-mode. We hold it over the I/O, but because this
+        // layer is not writeable anymore, no one should be trying to aquire the
+        // write lock on it, so we shouldn't block anyone. There's one exception
+        // though: another thread might have grabbed a reference to this layer
+        // in `get_layer_for_write' just before the checkpointer called
+        // `freeze`, and then `write_to_disk` on it. When the thread gets the
+        // lock, it will see that it's not writeable anymore and retry, but it
+        // would have to wait until we release it. That race condition is very
+        // rare though, so we just accept the potential latency hit for now.
         let inner = self.inner.read().unwrap();
         assert!(!inner.writeable);
 
@@ -682,7 +691,7 @@ impl InMemoryLayer {
                 drop_lsn,
                 true,
                 predecessor,
-                inner.page_versions.clone(),
+                inner.page_versions.iter(),
                 inner.segsizes.clone(),
             )?;
             trace!(
@@ -702,15 +711,11 @@ impl InMemoryLayer {
                 before_segsizes.insert(*lsn, *size);
             }
         }
+        let mut before_page_versions = inner.page_versions.iter().filter(|tup| {
+            let ((_blknum, lsn), _pv) = tup;
 
-        let mut before_page_versions = BTreeMap::new();
-        for ((blknum, lsn), pv) in inner.page_versions.iter() {
-            if *lsn < end_lsn {
-                before_page_versions.insert((*blknum, *lsn), pv.clone());
-            }
-        }
-
-        drop(inner);
+            *lsn < end_lsn
+        });
 
         let mut frozen_layers: Vec<Arc<dyn Layer>> = Vec::new();
 
@@ -736,9 +741,11 @@ impl InMemoryLayer {
                 end_lsn
             );
         } else {
-            assert!(before_page_versions.is_empty());
+            assert!(before_page_versions.next().is_none());
         }
 
+        drop(inner);
+
         // Write a new base image layer at the cutoff point
         let image_layer = ImageLayer::create_from_src(self.conf, timeline, self, end_lsn)?;
         frozen_layers.push(Arc::new(image_layer));