What do you use for your winter water holder/bottle?

BPL sells wide-mouth Nalgene bladders of various sizes.

Here's the link for the 1L version:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/nalgene_cantene_water_bottle_1L.html

Cheers,

-Mike

This is going to sound antithetical to lightweight backpacking but in winter, I always bring one Nalgene bottle (hard sided). The reason is because I like to fill it w/ hot water at night and put it in the bottom of my sleeping bag. I do have some wide-mouth bladders but don't trust them as much as the standard Nalgene to be leak proof. To me, it's worth the extra weight in winter.

I use the soft-sided Nalgene canteens with the wide mouth.

I have a 1 liter (32oz) capacity and a 3 liter (96oz) capacity.

The 1 liter weighs 2.0 oz. and the 3 liter weighs 2.7 oz. on my postal scales.

I may be mistaken (and I may find out in a horrible manner) but I believe these to be sturdy and fit for the job. I haven't personally heard of anyone else having a problem with them and I know several people who use them as well.

Just don't wear your spurs to bed! Say, I wonder if anyone makes UL spurs? … titanium maybe … never mind!

Platy bottles still, just keep them close to you. I'd make a parka for it if I was going to Denali.

One time on a spring snowshoe trip it was nice to have a hard nalgene, because we tied it on a string to throw down into the water.

We brought thermos's today. 1 with hot water and 1 with hot chocolate. That was totally worth the weight. :)

I did have a 2L platy stuffed in my pack below my synth parka and next to my back and it never froze.

I carry my "travelling water" in a high quality wine bota slung under my GTX mountain parka. Works!

Eric

I usually bring a combo of 2 .5L lexan nalgenes, and a .7 or 1L stainless thermos (yup it's heavy). This gives me a 2L capacity during the day and hot water all day long. I find cold water in the winter demoralizing. Plus I can use the small bottles to warm my boots, gloves or torso. And they work great for turkish coffee!

Just saw this Platy Holster. Looks pretty nifty, kinda open at the top though, not a 360 seal around the top like the zippered OR water bottle parkas.

I use a 2 liter Military canteen and case slung across my shoulder under my jacket. The case helps keep the water from freezing as does your body heat. You can also push the air out and carry less water when you don't need a full two liters.

I have also used a camelback under my jacket and have even slung the sleeve the same way as the military canteen. Though I found length to be a little bit of an issue with the two liter bladder.

In winter a few more backup options may be worth a LITTLE more weight. I'm considering more flexibility by carrying multiple smaller Plattys (they weigh very little empty. a small cost if I don't need them vs. a heavy Nalgene/other)

On a recent 2 day/2 niter on Camel's Hump (VT) in the teens I froze a full 3 L Platty & a 1 L water bottle like a block of ice overnite. Had to melt snow for water to "parboil" the 1L bottle in my pot of water to melt the ice block. It barely fit in my pot. And the 3L wasn't even close. Luckily I only had 3 snowy miles to hike out or it would have been frustrating carrying a block of ice I couldnt even use! Was afraid I'd crack the bladder if I tried to break the ice up to speed thawing process. Felt like I might have been royally screwed on a multi-day hike. Any other ideas how to melt a block of ice with just a small mug/pot?

A lesson learned here for me was it may be worth carrying an "extra" empty 1L platty as a backup container. I had two frozen ice blocks and nothing but my pot to put water in even if I found a nice stream!

I too am paranoid about my platty leaking inside my sleeping bag overnite-especially on multiday hikes once I'm committed to the next section (with no mid-way escape route; so I'm reluctant to sleep with my platty, plus it draws body heat once the hot water cools, even more if I don't boil my typical 2-3L of water (lots of fuel cost too);

On the other hand its a calculated risk to empty the Platy for nite time hoping the water source doesnt freeze overnite and I can still refill in the COLD morning.

Thought of filling plattys only half way at nite, so at least I can boil snow/water and pour it into the only half filled bladder of ice block rather than figure out how to thaw a whole ice block that's too big to fit inside my pot.

Other strategies?? Ideas??

oh yea, I generally prefer wide mouth zip top plattys, at least for my big one, but especially in winter. A few more ounces than standard neck fill, but offers more options for getting ice chunks out. unfortunately I did NOT have such a platy on this trip. The small neck standard fill opening itself was another challenge as it freezes even quicker than the whole bladder. For this reason, overnite I inverted the bag & emptied the hose by blowing air back into the bladder at nite to at least keep this part free of ice. (Which worked well the first nite-at least the neck/hose werent obstructed.)

For many years I've carried a high quality, plastic lined leather wine bota under my Gore-Tex parka. I put a nylon strap on it w/Fastex quick release buckle. Works great but I carry a small funnel for filling it's 3/4" wide mouth.

Do NOT buy cheap botas with latex liners. The liners quickly wear out by becoming stuck to itself & tearing.

Eric

I am wondering if anyone has ever tried a sigg aluminum bottle in winter. My thought is that if it does freeze, it could be heated right in the bottle (cap off.) The fact that no one has mentioned it means I'm a pioneer or a complete loon. I fear the latter. I know that storing what you can in your cooking pot overnight would give easy access to reheated water, but I have no idea if the Sigg can stand up to the heat.

Anyone?

It's okay, you won't need to take the lid off, as the freezing water will split straight through the thin aluminium wall. This happened to a friend's 3/4 filled bottle, when he stuck it in the freezer (-10C)

I wouldn't expose a Sigg to a lot of direct flame, more because of the interior coating. Stainless steel bottles would be best for direct thawing.

Keeping a Nalgene in your sleeping bag is probably the best way to go. If you fill it with hot water at bedtime, it will keep you warm for a while too. MSR and other make insulated covers for them too. I'm getting inspired to make a cozy for one now. I wonder how bubble wrap would work?

If you're camping in snow, you can always melt some for breakfast.

Or avoid the whole issue and go to Hawaii or other warm places for your Winter camping– it's the only civilized solution :)

The Sigg bottle will stand up great to the heat. Since the wall is thin and a great heat conductor, the wall temperature will be just a few degrees hotter than the water inside. There is an old Boy Scout trick of boiling water in a paper cup without the cup catching fire.