On Mountain Hydration
Nov 20, 2008 · 12:10 AM · permalink
For the last few seasons, I've been skiing with a Dakine Heli-Pro pack to carry my skis on hikes, extra gear (heavy gloves, extra hat, etc), food, and a CamelBak for hypdration. But in keeping with my light, fast, and efficient philosophy, this season I'll be shedding the pack except on days when I know I'll be hiking.
But, it's still essential to stay hydrated on mountain, especially on long days, and switching from water to a sports drink last season yielded noticeable gains in my endurance and performance.
So, here's the question: how to carry hydration without the bulk of a full-size pack?
Here are some of my ideas so far:
- Bagged drinks (e.g., Capri Sun) carried in pockets. They're compact, light, durable, and easy to use.
- Get some collapsible water bottles
to fill myself and carry in pockets.
- Switch to a compact, hydration-only pack
that can be worn close to the body.
Anyone have and clever solutions to this problem? How do you stay hydrated on the mountain without adding unnecessary bulk?
Comments
Your Shuksan jacket has large inner pockets that would be perfect for a small water bottle. I’ve never skied with something like that in my pocket, and I wonder about all the jostling around and the uneven weight tugging on my coat all day. I would go with the .5L Platy Sport to keep the weight down and the comfort up. My wife will frequently ski with a 16 oz Nalgene in an inner pocket and that works well for her.
One nice thing about using a water bottle instead of a bladder: no frozen drinking tubes.
Yeah, I have the same concern regarding jostling, and in hunting around last night I ran across this:
TheCamelBak RaceBak which could potentially work under a jacket (and make you look like Richard III).
I have a buddy who uses a small camelbak pack and wears it under all his jacket layers. Basically putting it on first and than putting on all your layers. He says it helps to keep it from freezing and jostling.
I got one of the compact, hydration only packs a couple seasons ago and it works well. The one I have is a CamelBak and it’s made for snow sports (the drink tube is insulated to help keep it from freezing up) - I wear it on the outside of my jacket for easy access and haven’t had any freeze-up issues.
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