Whereas there’ll all the time be a heated debate about what one of the best hydration system or water bottles for winter climbing are, I believe we’d all agree that the minimal necessities for winter hydration are:
- The water you deliver on a winter hike can’t freeze
- The hotter the water stays, the higher, as a result of consuming chilly water in chilly climate can chill you
- The bottle cap, hose, or mouthpiece can’t freeze and stop you from consuming your water
- Your water container ought to be capable to face up to scorching liquids
Whereas there are a number of hydration methods that fulfill these necessities, every of them has professionals and cons in numerous climates.
Hydration Reservoirs and Consuming Tubes
I do know many individuals who use hose-based hydration methods for 3 season climbing and like to make use of them in winter as a result of they decrease the barrier to staying hydrated within the drier winter air. If you happen to intend to make use of a system like this, it’s finest to buy one with an built-in insulation sleeve just like the Camelbak Insulated Unbottle.
Along with reservoir insulation, you’ll wish to add consuming tube insulation to your hydration system to maintain the hose and mouthpiece from freezing. Whereas this insulation is usually a bit tough to slip onto a consuming tube, it tends to be interchangeable between hydration system manufacturers.
In principle, the physique warmth that radiates out of your again will hold your hydration reservoir from freezing in winter. You may increase this by filling your reservoir with boiling scorching water, surrounding it with insulating clothes inside your backpack, and even stuffing a Grabber handwarmer into your pack’s hydration pocket to warmth it if you are climbing.
As well as, there’s a approach generally used to maintain your consuming hose and mouthpiece from freezing. After taking a sip of water, blow into your consuming hose to push any remaining water within the hose again into the hydration reservoir so it doesn’t freeze in place. This takes some apply to turn out to be computerized, however it does assist to maintain the hose clear, particularly whether it is wrapped utilizing consuming tube insulation.
If there’s a draw back to utilizing a hydration reservoir, it’s that they’re tough to refill with boiling snowmelt on in a single day journeys with out burning your fingers or getting your gloves soaked. However offered you aren’t climbing in very chilly temperatures or taking extraordinarily lengthy day hikes, a hydration system could be tailored efficiently for chilly climate use.
Nalgene Bottles
Large-mouth Nalgene Bottles (32-ounce) are additionally a highly regarded alternative for carrying water in winter as a result of they’ll safely maintain scorching liquids, they’re straightforward to refill and clear, straightforward to drink from, and most hikers have just a few sitting round the home already. I favor utilizing the milky white 32 oz. Ultralite Nalgene bottles as a result of they’re lighter weight than clear ones.
It’s finest to insulate a Nalgene bottle with a neoprene or insulated sleeve should you carry it on the skin of your backpack, in a pocket, or clipped to a strap. If you happen to fill the bottle with boiling water, it would stay heat for just a few hours. With all water bottles, it’s finest to make use of wide-mouth ones in winter in order that ice doesn’t kind of their neck and to retailer them the wrong way up to stop the threads from freezing.
Alternatively, you possibly can carry your entire water bottles inside your pack and insulate them together with your further clothes. Doing so will hold them a lot hotter and for for much longer, however it takes extra self-discipline to cease, open your pack, and have a drink periodically. Prehydrating earlier than a winter hike is an effective strategy to get a head begin on this and may scale back the quantity of water it’s good to carry.
I carried a Nalgene bottle in an insulation sleeve on the skin of my backpack for a few years and saved the remainder of my bottles in my pack, swapping them out throughout the day. It’s a useful method to winter hydration when you’ve got a backpack with pockets which might be reachable and huge sufficient to carry a one-liter Nalgene bottle in an insulated sleeve.
Nevertheless nowadays, I hold all my water bottles inside my backpack as a result of they keep hotter longer. I’ve a drink every time I do a layer change, eat a snack, admire a view, seek the advice of my map, or take a brief break. After I do drink, I attempt to eat a half-liter at a time, which makes it straightforward to maintain monitor of how a lot water I’ve left.
If there’s a draw back to Nalgene bottles it’s that you just usually must take your gloves or mittens off to open them which could be clumsy as a result of lid-keeper strap until you chop it off. It is usually doable to crack Nalgenes made out of onerous plastic, so you need to use the white Nalgene bottles made out of high-density polyethylene, if doable. They’re rather a lot cheaper too.
Steel Bottles
I’m not a fan of insulated metallic bottles for winter climbing and assume they’re a nasty alternative as a result of they’re too heavy to hold. This issues much less on a brief winter hike, but when you must carry three liters of scorching water on an all-day hike, the added weight could make a distinction. For instance, a 32 ouncesinsulted Hydroflask bottle weighs 19.2 ounces empty. Evaluate that to a 32 ouncesUltralite Nalgene Bottle that weighs 3.5 oz. That distinction provides up when you must carry three liters of water for a hike that lasts eight hours or extra.
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