montvm
New member
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
Thanks
Mike
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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.
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-
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)
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.
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,
Again, using a pouch-style hand warmer
As far as I know, there are no freeze-resistant bottles except for heavy thermoses and even they freeze eventually.
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....