Frozen Water Supply

[SeriousStudent]

Many of your better parkas (Mountain Hardwear, Lowe Alpine, TNF) have pockets on the inside of the garment. They are sized to hold a quart Nalgene bottle. They can hold a smaller Camelbak bladder in each pocket.

[Low Drag]

Wide mouth Nalgene water bottle in an insulated carrier.

I used one while in the Corps in Norway, Canada, NY, MN etc for cold weather ops - in a ski mobile rifle company. It's the only water carrier I could rely upon. The mouth is wide enough to get a knife into to break up any ice that forms on top.

Not as handy as a Camel bak but reliable.

[M4Fundi]

I've given up on Camelbaks for now in really cold weather until I figure out a better way. It only takes forgetting to clear the line once and you're screwed. If I'm not wearing a pack then a camelbak under the outer layer is usuall Ok, but for now its widemouth Nalgenes.

I will take a sip & add some snow and shake, but once you are down to 2/3 liquid adding too much snow is a possible slushy disaster. I recently snowshoed for 4 hours (big heavy pack) with a Nalgene slushy inside my shell trying to thaw it out and it sucked. The Nalgene kept me from being able to really straiten up and fully expand my chest. Made moving with the big pack much more tiring.

[geminidglocker]

And lets not forget about those battery powered socks. Personally I've used the handwarmers.

[Solo1st]

+1 to the wide mouth nalgene to be able to scoop snow and break up ice. put it in an insulated carrier and it does a nice job keeping coffee/tea/soup warm while you start boiling water for the next round of food.

Starting the day with hot water in both the nalgene and insulated camelbak, with insulated hose goes a long way to staying ice free. Stopping to brew up some hot water is good, I boil extra to top off the nalgene and add hot water to the camelbak. Most of the time I did this was at hi altitude so I wasnt pouring 212 deg water in the camelbak though, I'd be cautious about thatat lower altitudes.

I've used that combo numerous times on up to 20,000 ft peaks and only had one failure when I forgot to blow the tube clear.

I've used the inner pocket of the parka for the water bottle, but didn't like it much, esp with a pack like M4Fundi noted.

[Jakus]

I've had the same issue. It looks like all of the new camelbak snow models for 2010 have the ability to stow the hose in a zip up compartment in the inside of the shoulder strap. Anyone try one of the new ones yet? I wonder if this new compartment + the insulated tube would eliminate the need for anything else.

[Combat_Diver]

Another tech with the Nagene bottle is after you ensure the cap was tight is to rotate 180* and put back in pocket. Water freezes at the highest point, have the cap at the bottom ensures that 1) cap doesn't freeze and you can unscrew it 2) you have liquid and not ice. (used to do this with the old NBC cap canteens, which would rip the innards out if frozen)

CD

[Gutshot John]

Another tech with the Nagene bottle is after you ensure the cap was tight is to rotate 180* and put back in pocket. Water freezes at the highest point, have the cap at the bottom ensures that 1) cap doesn't freeze and you can unscrew it 2) you have liquid and not ice. (used to do this with the old NBC cap canteens, which would rip the innards out if frozen)

CD

Good call. Thanks for the tip. That's slick.

[6933]

I would disagree. Cold water is denser than warmer water; it falls to the bottom. The bottom and sides of a container filled with water freeze first due to convection. I have seen this many times on serious hikes in cold weather.

I respect Combat and if he has seen otherwise I would consider his opinion but it doesn't fit with physics or what I have observed numerous times. Maybe there is something I'm missing.

A little research will illustrate my point.

[Gutshot John]

I would disagree. Cold water is denser than warmer water; it falls to the bottom. The bottom and sides of a container filled with water freeze first due to convection. I have seen this many times on serious hikes in cold weather.

I respect Combat and if he has seen otherwise I would consider his opinion but it doesn't fit with physics or what I have observed numerous times. Maybe there is something I'm missing.

A little research will illustrate my point.

Actually in any kind of carrier the bottom part would insulate more and be less subject to convection than the top where there is less cover to the elements and there is bound to be an air pocket which will always be on top. So long as there is no conduction it should stay liquid for a good while.

I think your physics is mostly sound if you think about it a bit more. I've spent a lot of time outdoors in really cold weather and ice seems to always form at the top of a container first.

Honestly I wish I had heard of that sooner.