Fast & Light: Bivouac Tips for Water Storage
We all want to go fast and light on long routes! When you’ll be spending a night or two at the base or on the climb, the backpack starts to get heavy quick and you have to make choices about even the smallest items, like water bottles. I use only the lightest everything, but it all adds up. (So for example, a 12″ piece of dental floss instead of a toothbrush. Yes, I’m that obsessive about weight.)
I normally carry a 1 liter Platypus soft bottle, and I also hike with a 1.8 liter Platypus hoser. I use iodine tablets and the neutralization tablets for water treatment, rather than carrying a filter. But your bivy cave is not always conveniently located a few steps away from a water source. You generally need to do a short water carry, and you’ll want water for the evening and water for the alpine start tea/oatmeal, and you’ll also want water to take with you. It’s also really nice to have some water waiting when you come down from the climb and stumble back into your bivy spot all thirsty, hungry and tired.
Since this adds up to more than 3 liters, you will need some additional water storage, but who wants to carry a whole other large water container up? No! My favorite trick for this is to bring up 2 or 3 gallon size, freezer (i.e. tough) ziplock bags. It adds almost no weight to your pack and allows you to have plenty of extra water in your bivy spot–the bags can also be used for other things, for example hiking out any food scraps you might have.
