Cold weather water bottle tips

For winter travel . . .

• In super cold weather, store your water bottle upside down so any ice, when it starts to form, will do so on the bottom, not the lid.
• Also, you can bury your bottles (upside down as well) 2-3 feet deep in snow at night so they won’t freeze - snow is a great insulator.
• To keep the cap from freezing to the bottle you can coat the threads of your bottle with vaseline or lip balm.
• Don’t bother carrying the large full insulation covers for Nalgene bottles.  They are heavy, expensive, and designed for ultra cold - Denali/Himalaya conditions.  If it’s ever cold enough so your entire water bottle freezes during a Pacific NW climb, you probably don’t want to be there anyway!
• If you have a platypus-type bottle, you can wrap the tube in foam insulation, and be sure to blow water back into the bladder after you take a sip so it won’t freeze in the tube.
• If the water bladder water line freezes, just put the line under your jacket next to your skin (not as bad as it sounds, really!)  Your body heat will melt the ice in a few minutes.
Thanks to Mazama Robert Lee for helping us update this tip