# Camel Back Question



## montvm (Dec 29, 2006)

Anyone hike with the camel back water hydration systems in the winter?  How prone are the tubes to freezing.  Does the hose insulation that they sell work?  

Thanks
Mike


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## SKIQUATTRO (Dec 29, 2006)

i ski and snowshoe with my Camelbak (SNODAWG) ...the water in the bladder will not freeze, the trick to not having the water in the tube freeze is to blow the water back into the bladder when you are done taking a swig....


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## montvm (Dec 29, 2006)

Snodawg,

Cool, that makes sense.  Question though.  Are you using the tube insulation, or not?


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## Mike P. (Jan 1, 2007)

The few hikers I see in winter using it also carry a bottle in an insulated water holder, just in case the hose does freeze.

Pewrsonally I use bottles, I did use a camelback on a long Catskill hike in Spring 2006 with a couple of bottle to since there was no reliable water for much of the hike except at the very beginning & end.


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## montvm (Jan 1, 2007)

Mike P. said:


> The few hikers I see in winter using it also carry a bottle in an insulated water holder, just in case the hose does freeze.




Good idea, i think that i will fill the Camel bak half -way ,and bring one water bottle too.   That just makes too much sense.


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## David Metsky (Jan 2, 2007)

I've never seen any insulated rig that hasn't frozen up at least once.  All it takes is forgetting to blow the water back into the bladder once and you can be unable to get access to your water for the rest of the trip.  On warmer days they can be great; on colder days I'd stick with nalgene bottles in jackets or at minimum carry one as a backup.

 -dave-


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## montvm (Jan 2, 2007)

David Metsky said:


> I've never seen any insulated rig that hasn't frozen up at least once.  All it takes is forgetting to blow the water back into the bladder once and you can be unable to get access to your water for the rest of the trip.  On warmer days they can be great; on colder days I'd stick with nalgene bottles in jackets or at minimum carry one as a backup.
> 
> -dave-




Thanks Dave,
Going to bring a back up.  Going Thursday and the weather is for Waterville Valley currently is high of 40's.  Low's in the 30's.  So we shall see what happens.  I'm wondering if GatorAid will freeze slower than water........

Mike


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## Mike P. (Jan 2, 2007)

Not that it will help a Camel back but I put my heavy mittens over my wate rbottles in my pack to keep them insulated on winter day hikes.  Maybe not as good as the OR (or other mfg.) insulated container, but I have not had a problem yet.... (knock, knock)


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## montvm (Jan 2, 2007)

Mike P. said:


> Not that it will help a Camel back but I put my heavy mittens over my wate rbottles in my pack to keep them insulated on winter day hikes.  Maybe not as good as the OR (or other mfg.) insulated container, but I have not had a problem yet.... (knock, knock)




Good advise, i will try this, i have some heavy wool mittens that would work just fine!

By the way, i have seen some pretty good pictures of the Chimney online, and it does look tricky, but i think i can handle it.....

I will upload trip report when we are done~
Thanks for the advise...

Mike


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## czimborbryan (Feb 19, 2007)

I too use the camelback in winter.  Blowing the ice from the tube works fairly well as described earlier, but when the tempts are below 20, the tube may freeze too fast.  

Here is an alternative.  Run the tube through the pit-zip of your jacket (hopefully you have a pit-zip).  And then attach it to the collar of your jacket.  The inside route will keep it from freezing.

For brutal cold, throw a small handwarmer directly under the bladder.  Use the pouch kind made by Heatmax that uses iron powder and charcoal as a chemical reaction to make heat (Walmart).  It'll generate warmth, but will not damage the bladder.  You may also put the camelback on under your jacket.


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## SKIQUATTRO (Feb 19, 2007)

the only issue with it inside your jacket is if it happens to spring a leak like mine did (the hose disconnected from the bladder) and all the water ran down my back and into my pants.....no good....


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## montvm (Feb 19, 2007)

czimborbryan said:


> I too use the camelback in winter.  Blowing the ice from the tube works fairly well as described earlier, but when the tempts are below 20, the tube may freeze too fast.
> 
> Here is an alternative.  Run the tube through the pit-zip of your jacket (hopefully you have a pit-zip).  And then attach it to the collar of your jacket.  The inside route will keep it from freezing.
> 
> For brutal cold, throw a small handwarmer directly under the bladder.  Use the pouch kind made by Heatmax that uses iron powder and charcoal as a chemical reaction to make heat (Walmart).  It'll generate warmth, but will not damage the bladder.  You may also put the camelback on under your jacket.




I went hiking at Mt. Wachusett last week, and my tube freezed.  From now on its Nalgene for me when temps are in the 20's......

Thanks for everyones advice....


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## Skier75 (Feb 19, 2007)

Yeah, we haven't had much luck with the camelback's in the winter, even with the insulation on the tube. Last month on one of our trips when I pulled on the cover(the large plastice piece) over the mouthpiece of the insulation tube, it was so cold that I yanked it right off(ripped it, that is) Now I need to replace that.... We even blow the water back into the bladder, but when it's really cold, guess that doesn't matter much. We're gonna go with the nalgene. I hear that turning the nalgine upsidedown helps(a little) from totally freezing the cover. I usually drink gatorade on these trips, it does freeze, but doesn't freeze as fast as water. Good luck with whatever you go with.


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## Mike P. (Feb 20, 2007)

Turning the bottle upside down just makes the threads on the top (bottom) of the bottle freeze later.  It does work, you also want some type of insulation around the bottle.  The OR holders work real well, I use by doubble 300 Mitts in my pack which have worked so far & an old hiking sock for teh bottle on my waistbelt.  The sock helps enough so that even on cold days  (last Saturday of January this year & first Saturday in February) that it just starts to ice up when I'm almost done,


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## Skier75 (Feb 20, 2007)

Mike P. said:


> Turning the bottle upside down just makes the threads on the top (bottom) of the bottle freeze later.  It does work, you also want some type of insulation around the bottle.  The OR holders work real well, I use by doubble 300 Mitts in my pack which have worked so far & an old hiking sock for teh bottle on my waistbelt.  The sock helps enough so that even on cold days  (last Saturday of January this year & first Saturday in February) that it just starts to ice up when I'm almost done,



Thanks for the info, we'll have to keep that in mind.


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## czimborbryan (Feb 20, 2007)

Again, using a pouch-style hand warmer that uses iron and charcoal will work well for keeping any water bottle from freezing.  They usually last up to 8 hours and weight almost nothing.  The warmth will do little to actually heat the water, but will add enough to keep it from freezing.  

As far as I know, there are no freeze-resistant bottles except for heavy thermoses and even they freeze eventually.


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## MichaelJ (Feb 24, 2007)

czimborbryan said:


> Again, using a pouch-style hand warmer



I was going to ask if anyone had done this and then I saw your post. Excellent.



> As far as I know, there are no freeze-resistant bottles except for heavy thermoses and even they freeze eventually.



True, although I will briefly plug the LL Bean 16oz stainless. Una_dogger and I each have one, and even after a drive to the trailhead and 2 or 3 hours on the trail in below freezing temps, our cocoa or tea is still burn-your-mouth hot, and after 7 or 8 hours back at the trailhead what remained undrunk is still between warm and hot. Of course, it's a totally different topic than just keeping water from freezing...


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## BeanoNYC (Feb 24, 2007)

SKIQUATTRO said:


> i ski and snowshoe with my Camelbak (SNODAWG) ...the water in the bladder will not freeze, the trick to not having the water in the tube freeze is to blow the water back into the bladder when you are done taking a swig....



ooooh that's good.  I gotta try that.  My Camelbak, the snowblast also has a pocket in the shoulder strap (where you can store the tube) for a hand warmer.  Roark suggested this one to me and it's great.  If you can wait for it to come on SAC again it will be a bit over 30 bucks.


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