Ski pole basket water cup

[Elliott Wolin]

I wonder if anyone else did what we did way back in the 1970s while X-C skiing, showshoeing, hiking, or mountaineering in the Adirondacks.

When we were near a stream and wanted a quick drink (no one treated water back then) we’d push a ski pole into the snow, then carefully lift it up vertically so that the basket brought up a bunch of snow.  Then we’d carefully lower the basket into the stream so that the snow became saturated with water.  Finally, we’d lift the basket vertically and suck the water out of the snow above the basket.

Those were the good old days, when you could just drink from any stream whenever you wanted!

 

 

[David Thomas]

Nice trick.  I didn’t know that.
Guess I have a few tricks yet to learn to qualify for my Old-Fart Merit Badge.

[John Vance]

I never tried that.  Thanks for the tip.  I hooked my Sierra cup onto the basket to accomplish something similar. I don’t carry a Sierra cup any more but still frequently take my water straight.   I feel I am just two stomach bugs away from my ideal weight.  😄. So far no problems but I am selective of the source when not treating.

[Elliott Wolin]

“I feel I am just two stomach bugs away from my ideal weight.”

Gee, never thought about that, interesting idea John!

Maybe I should give up on treating water.  But my wife wouldn’t go along with it.  I suppose I could just lap water out of streams and skip using water bottles…

[David Thomas]

An archeologist friend made two mistakes in Egypt. 1) eating with the locals and he didn’t want to insult anyone by going all super sanitary and 2) thinking he could get over giardia through positive thinking and herbal tea. He lost 30 pounds before seeing a physician.

[Gary Dunckel]

I hear ya, David. In all my travels, the consistently troubling countries for me were Egypt, India, and Mexico. I got ‘tourista’ when I went to those 3 countries- every single time. The worst experience was when I was on an elephant ‘safari’ in India’s northern terai forest, when I had to halt the group to get off the elephant every hour for a diarrhea break, taking my machete to clear a path to privacy and to ward off any cobras that might be around.

I stopped drinking water in those countries and just stuck with bottled beer.

[Roger Caffin]

Also watch out for the ice – freezing does not kill the bugs.

Cans are safer than bottles – the plastic caps can be replaced with new ones so they look original.

Cheers

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