Freezing freaking water bottles

[Tuck]

I am still in search of good solution to keeping water from freezing over a long hike. I use Nalgene bottles and keep one in an EMS sleeve on the outside of my pack and keep one in my pack. I have tried adding Gatorade and Vitamin Water to slow the freezing process, but I always end up with slush and ice very quickly. What works for you?

Tuck

 

[IQuest]

A koozie hanging from the hip belt seems to be the most common. I keep a spare water bottle inside the pack where a hydration bladder goes. Since it's near my back it stays warm enough to keep from freezing. I have also stuck one inside my shell before. The hip belt from my pack keeps it from sliding down and falling off.

 

[MadRiver]

Put a hand warming in the koozie and place the Nalgene upside down.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Putting the bottle upside down doesn't change the rate of freezing. It only makes it easier to open and drink when it does start to freeze. I always start with: 1) luke-warm Nalgene in a koozie on my hip - drink this first, 2) a second, boiling hot Nalgene in a koozie on my other hip - drink second, 3) [optional, on really long trips] a third, boiling Nalgene in a koozie in the pack. I often bring a hot bottle of water spiked with chicken stock or leftover soup (what did not fit in my Thermos) for Gryffin. He tends to refuse plain water in winter and prefers to eat snow. I have never needed to put a handwarmer in the koozie to keep things from freezing.

Tim

 

[Brambor]

I carry at least one large thermoss with hot drink and use insulated bottles for water.

Alternatively you can try wearing camelback between layers but that's just an idea. I don't really use camelback.

Put a hand warming in the koozie and place the Nalgene upside down.

 

[SteveR]

IMO, you won't do better than the EMS insulated bottle carriers despite all the methods you're going to hear about now involving wool socks and the like...

I carry two of them to get through virtually any day hike. In one I keep a Hydroflask vacuum bottle that provides a hot drink for 6-8 hrs. I imagine it would prevent freezing for 12-14 hrs? I've consumed it before that time.

In the second pouch I carry a Nalgene or more likely a refilled Gatorade bottle that was room temp when I left home. This bottle will form some ice, but it's still drinkable 8 or 9 hrs into the trip with temps in the teens or twenties. I really should have consumed it by this point of the hike, though.

So the secret to liquid longevity is this. The backup bottle(s) inside my pack are wrapped in spare clothing/jacket and exhibit no signs of freezing at this juncture. They have been way better insulated than those in the external carriers. To that point you could carry all of your water inside the pack all of the time, but you wouldn't drink enough...
If I replace a freezing or empty bottle in the pouch with a fresh one from the pack, I'm ready again for more hours on the trail than I probably care to do in the winter.

Your mileage may vary.
Steve

 

[sierra]

I carry one nalagene in a thermal container with warm water in it, ready to drink. I replace that water with hot water from large Thermos. My thermos used to hold boiling water for hot beverarges, but its of no use to my dog, so now its just hot and will cool down when i transfer it to my nalagene as needed.

 

[Mike P.]

The insulated carriers should work best. (EMS, OR, I imagine REI and LL Bean back one too) That said, I'm using a wool sock for the one I am drinking upside down in an EMS open sleeve on my hip belt. At times they've been a little slushy but I also get by eating some snow as I usually run hot & am not typically worried about hyperthermia.

The two other bottle are in a pocket attached to my pack (used to have insulated pockets but I think I've gone through those) upside down in double 300 fleece mitts (the mitts that are so thick you can't use your hands for anything) I then carry a small thermos with hot water, easiest to run through the keurig in the AM at 192 degrees.

For those putting boiling water in Nalgene, assuming you are using BPA free bottles. However, what they replaced BPA with was a very similar compound, BPS. We may find out that it's no better and hot liquids in BPA or BPS bottles should be frowned upon. See the following for more info. http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2013/bpa-alternative-alters-hormones

 

[DayTrip]

I've always filled my Nalgene's with boiling water and carried them in my pack in OR insulated bottle coozies. Has never frozen but it can get pretty cold by the end of the day. Being careful to wipe down threads on the Nalgene cap area is important to prevent freezing shut, even if the water inside is still OK. Made that mistake on my first winter hike. It might as well have been welded shut. I couldn't get it open.

 

[Remix]

Nalgene water bottles, loaded with hot water, in EMS insulators, positioned upside down.

At night bring them into your sleeping bag; Be careful with your urine bottle tho

The insulated camelbacks dont work well imho
1) Filling them with hot water loosens the hose connection to the bag, and they will leak
2) The hose can freeze up easily unless you blow the water back into the bag, which also tends to make the hose become disconnected from the bag.
3) But that being said, room temperature water stayed liquid in a 10F hike from the notch up to Mt Kinsman-- the sloshing helped.

If water is critical, you could bring a stove and small fuel bottle to melt some snow just in case.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

2) The hose can freeze up easily unless you blow the water back into the bag, which also tends to make the hose become disconnected from the bag.

This happened to me once while cross-country skiing and I lost all my water and soaked my butt and legs. It is highly frowned upon in some circles to use a Camelbak in winter, although I know at least two people personally who do so with success. Not me.

Tim

 

[TJsName]

This happened to me once while cross-country skiing and I lost all my water and soaked my butt and legs. It is highly frowned upon in some circles to use a Camelbak in winter, although I know at least two people personally who do so with success. Not me.

Tim

I had a buddy experience 'nipple failure' as we near the summit of North Twin in early April's a couple seasons ago. He gave out a loud 'ooOOooo that's cold!' once he notice it pouring into his jacket and down his pants. It was in the 20's, so he was able to dry out as we went over the twins and back. That would have been the main memory from the hike if the sled down hadn't been so epic.

 

[sierra]

This happened to me once while cross-country skiing and I lost all my water and soaked my butt and legs. It is highly frowned upon in some circles to use a Camelbak in winter, although I know at least two people personally who do so with success. Not me.

Tim

I only used a camelback for a few months. the last time I used one, I was leading a slab route on Whitehorse Ledge in North Conway. All of a sudden my feet were wet ( Great for slab climbing) my camelback was emptying on my feet at a rapid pace. Only I could suffer a fate such as that.

 

[MylesLI]

The insulated carriers should work best. (EMS, OR, I imagine REI and LL Bean back one too) That said, I'm using a wool sock for the one I am drinking upside down in an EMS open sleeve on my hip belt. At times they've been a little slushy but I also get by eating some snow as I usually run hot & am not typically worried about hyperthermia.

The two other bottle are in a pocket attached to my pack (used to have insulated pockets but I think I've gone through those) upside down in double 300 fleece mitts (the mitts that are so thick you can't use your hands for anything) I then carry a small thermos with hot water, easiest to run through the keurig in the AM at 192 degrees.

For those putting boiling water in Nalgene, assuming you are using BPA free bottles. However, what they replaced BPA with was a very similar compound, BPS. We may find out that it's no better and hot liquids in BPA or BPS bottles should be frowned upon. See the following for more info. http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2013/bpa-alternative-alters-hormones

Great information. Thanks Mike

 

[nartreb]

No messing around, I just carry a couple of Thermoses full of piping-hot water. To drink, pour into cup (a.k.a. the cap of the thermos) and add pinches of snow til temperature is perfect. They sit on the outside of my pack like regular water bottles, no need to dig through my pack or remember to add handwarmers.

I built a rib or collar by wrapping the thermoses tightly with duct tape, to keep them from sliding out of the bottle pockets on my backpack.

 

[marty]

Another vote for a Nalgene with hot water and a koozie. I usually put in water that is not quite at the the boiling point, to ensure that the Nalgene is not disfigured. Never had a freeze-up, even on long and cold hikes.

Marty

 

[Tom Rankin]

I boil if necessary and have seen no ill effects to the bottles.

The one thing I have not seen mentioned yet is to keep the bottles next to each other as long as possible.

BTW, the Gatorade / vitamin water solution only lowers the freezing point a tiny bit, I think less than 1 degree. Paging Doug Paul!

 

[DougPaul]

For those putting boiling water in Nalgene, assuming you are using BPA free bottles. However, what they replaced BPA with was a very similar compound, BPS. We may find out that it's no better and hot liquids in BPA or BPS bottles should be frowned upon. See the following for more info. http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2013/bpa-alternative-alters-hormones

PBA is only an issue for the polycarbonate (Lexan) bottles. The HDPE (high density polyethylene) bottles never had this problem. Nalgene has been making them for many years: http://www.rei.com/search?query=hdpe+bottle

Doug

 

[DougPaul]

BTW, the Gatorade / vitamin water solution only lowers the freezing point a tiny bit, I think less than 1 degree. Paging Doug Paul!

I don't recall any specific numbers, less than 1 degree sounds right.

Sea water has a salinity of ~3.5% (35 grams of salt/L) and freezes at ~28F ie a depression of ~4 degF). Electrolyte drink has about 1/100 this concentration. This suggests a freezing point depression of about .04 deg F.

In any case you don't want to drink a liquid that can cool much below 32F due to the risk of freezing one's throat. (People occasionally die from drinking alcohol that is significantly below 32F which can freeze the larynx.)

Doug

 

[DougPaul]

In response to the OP:
I just put room temp water in one or more 1L wide-mouth HDPE Nalgene insulated by an OR bottle insulator. I generally carry the insulated bottle in my pack which gives it some additional protection. (Carrying the insulated bottle out in the cold is OK on warmer days.)

In the past, I have tried the bottle in a wool sock trick. It works much better if it is placed in a closed stuff sack. (A sealed plastic bag (or anything which will prevent airflow in and out of the sock) should work as well.) And a new sock is better than an old, worn one...

Doug