Hunersdorff Water Bottles, the pick for Cold Temps and Higher Altitudes

After you read this post,  you will become a Hunersdorff water bottle fan just like many Guide Services, hundreds of Mountain Guides, and thousands of informed skiers and climbers.  But first,  lets go over some detail on hydration system issues that we have all experienced.

You gotta love hydration bladders,  but if you have your pen in hand and looking to check off that box on just about any recommended gear list for higher and colder destinations such as Denali,  even Rainier and the like,  you won't find this line item.   We have all used them,  swore to manage them,  but in the end,  the hose is a radiator no matter how well you insulate it,  and the opening is so small,  its just begging to be problematic.  I know,  ya your pack has a great sleeve for one of these,  and it should insulate your water bladder from the cold,  but think about that just a little longer before you launch out on your outing with one of these hydration systems.   Is convective body heat coming off your back enough to penetrate both your clothing all that padding on your backpack...to keep the bladder from freezing?   Sure,  you can convince yourself that you will manage the hose coming from the bladder,  insulate it and run into your clothing to keep warm.  Great,  what about around camp when you are not wearing your pack.  

If you are really sold on the water bladder concept,  which is an effective concept sans extreme cold,  then you should really consider a system I first learned about from Brent Bishop.   Brent took a slim profiled bladder harness and had the harness altered to wear on the front of your body, over your first layer of clothing.   This works.  Brent tested its success on Everest back in 1998 or 1999,  and I gave it a go on Denali in 2000.   It works.   I named this apparatus the Hydro-Brassier,  you can call it what you like.  For more info on how this works, and how to make one...follow this link: http://www.bradleyalpinist.com/goodbeta.html#bra

Its interesting to see what has evolved in the way of vessels for water in the outdoor industry.  Look at how much shelf space is dedicated to water bottles these days.   Stainless steel and aluminum designer bottles, and a vast assortment of plastic bottles.  Nalge,  a company that primarily is a industrial/medical manufacturer of a vast variety of scientific laboratory grade plastic bottles and containers,  has an incredibly successful "outdoor" division,  branded Nalgene, which basically rules the water bottle world with all kids of colors, sizes, and graphics.  The Nalgene brand name is almost a household generic,  like Coke,  Kleenix, and Xerox.

Like the bladder,  Nalgene or simular bottles are usually don't get the thumbs up for trips out in the extreme cold or up tall peaks.   While Nalgene, and other brands in that general category of water bottles that you find at just about any outdoor store,  including the sporting goods department at Target and Walmart,  are good enough gear for most outdoor activities,  there is one main reason why they don't belong on your gear list.   The caps on these bottles have very fine and tight patterned threads,  which when iced up,  make it very tough to open and clear.   The caps are narrow in height,  thus harder to grip and open with a thicker glove or mitt on your hand.  In addition,  the caps are made from a different material than the rest of the bottle,  and can crack easier than the main body of the bottle if your water happens to freeze.     There are many precautions and care you can take to prevent your water from freezing in the bottle,  and the preventing the cap from icing up,  but generally speaking,  you need a better bottle to meet these conditions.

Any bottle you take MUST be of the "wide mouth" variety.   Why?   Wide Mouth bottles don't experience the opening of the bottle freezing across,  as much as a narrow mouth bottle will.   In fact,  with a narrow mouth bottle,  its almost a guarantee.    Also,  wide mouth bottles are much easier to pour water and other liquids into,  including adding snow to mix and melt with an already partially filled bottle.

Hunersdorff,  a German company,  is simular to Nalgene in thier focus on manufacturing PE bottles for  scientific/medical/industrial applications.   But,  fortunately for outdoor enthusiasts in colder and high altitude environments,  these guys put out a bottle that is on many recommended gear lists for these types of outings.  In fact,  as a guided client, many guide services recommend or require that you bring the Hunersdorf water bottles.   Before you take your pen and check off the Water Bottle line on your gear list...pick up a couple of the Hunersdorff bottles,  they are hard to find,  but Bradley Alpinist has them in two sizes,  the 1 Liter, and 1.5 Liter, as well as many choices of insulators. 

So whats it all about with the Hunersdorff bottles?   Its got a wide mouth....check.   Its got a taller lid with large and significant ribs, so you can grip and twist when wearing super thick mitts or gloves...check, you don't get that with other bottles.    Hunersdorff uses a soft PE material,  so you can sqeeze the bottle to break up partially formed ice in the bottle...big check mark, you don't get that with other bottles.   These bottles have large and widely spaced threats for securing the cap.  This makes it easier to open when partially frozen, and the ice breaks and clears, and you can wipe it clear...completely.   Check!  You don't get that with they other guys!   The cap is made of the same material as the body,  and is not a grade that will crack when the bottle is frozen...like the Nalgene bottles and simular types.   Big Check mark!    You can get em in a 1.5 L size if you prefer a larger size....check.  Yes, they are BPA free and always have been...check.   Yes,  you can add hot liquids...check.   No clever colors, graphics!  Check?  Okay,  they are much less individualized than the other guys,  but you can mark yours up with stickers and designer colored duct tape to keep them identified as yours, and to show off your flare!

You don't give up any more money for these,   nicely priced around $9 for the 1 Liter size.   The only thing with these bottles that could be a drawback is the lid is not secured to the bottle when opened.   However,  the manufacturer has placed a hole for a keeper string for those who want to custom rig it.   I figured out that you can find some 11" plastic ties that have a eye hole design.   You can loosely attach this around an indention in the bottle, below the lid, trim the excess,  tie some thin cord through the eyelet and up through the hole in the lid,  and you have yourself a keeper.   The plastic tie should spin with the action of twisting the cap open.

So,  now that you are a Hunersdorff believer,  you still need to insulate them to help prevent your water from freezing solid.   For the 1 Liter size,  there are many smart choices.  Click here to check em.  For the 1.5 L,  there is only choice in brands,  but its a good one...40 Below LTD.

The Big Deal about Dachstein Wool (boiled wool)

What is the Dachstein Wool Story?

Dachstein Wool has become a relatively generic term that implies that the sweater, hat, or socks were made by the ancient methods of felting and fulling (sometimes referred to as boiled wool) wool, and still used today, almost exclusively carried on from ancient times as a heritage and traditional method in the Dachstein region of Austria. The Dachstein region encompasses a tri-state area of Austria, with the central theme being the Hoher Dachstein Massif, located in the Northern Limestone Alps Range running across the alpine states of Austria and Germany. The alpine states in this range are Bavaria, Germany, and the Austrian states of Tirol, Salzburg, and Steiermark. Dachstein means “roof stone”, and refers to the Limestone rock found in the Northern Alps. Hoher Dachstein towers at 9826ft (2995 meters), and is the highest peak in two of the nine Austrian states, Upper Austria (Niederösterreich) and Styria (Steiermark), and is the second tallest in the Northern Limestone Alps.
Wool is a high performance material, giving the Alpinist many advantages. Not only is a Dachstein Wool boiled wool sweater made from a sustainable, all natural material (sheep wool) that has been produced by methods without added chemicals, but it is also completely recyclable. Naturally, wool offers at least 10% more breathability to the wearer compared to other performance designed materials derived from synthetics. Wool is naturally water resistant, and next to waterproof and windproof when made in the “boiled wool or fulled” methods. When wet, wool still insulates, unlike down filled insulative layers. Wool is extremely durable, naturally rugged in tough mountain environments.

Sheep are cool in the Summer and warm in the Winter. This is possible by three layers of fleece, each operating in synergy to protect the sheep’s skin from heat and cold, but also from skin disease. In winter the wool fibers intertwine, making a matted layer to block cold by trapping air, and increasing the resistance to water, and moisture. At the same time, the skin can breathe. This creates a natural fiber, perfect for clothing/protecting human skin.
Wool can be itchy, but contrary to this common notion, wool sweaters, mitts, and socks made with these methods are not itchy at all, but soft and non-irritating to the skin. The fulling process not only makes a thick, matted wool material that is extremely durable, breathable, highly wind and water resistant, but it is soft, unlike other products made from worsted or felted loden wool.
Wool is a natural, renewable, sustainable material. See below.

On a miroscopic level, wool is the only natural fiber that has an outer scaly surface. Felting the wool occurs when the wool fibers are “shocked” by soaking woven/knitted strands or the entire constructed garment in hot water. This causes scales to spread open. Sometimes the wool is shocked repeatedly by being plunged into cold water, then hot water again. Then, the wool is agitated by rubbing and pummeling the fibers for lengthily period of time, either by the pressing of fingers into the wool fibers, the feet (like wine), or by special machine, causing the scales of the fibers to tangle and intertwine, forming a “felted” or matted hard fabric. This process is irreversible, and the result is a very thick and dense wool material. A natural earthen clay (fuller’s earth), or natural soap is used during the agitation process, as an agent to further the intertwining and matting by influencing the natural ph balance, thus making the fiber temporarily unstable, increasing the swelling and spreading of the filber’s scales, and to aid removing impurities in the wool. This process of intertwining the scales on the fibers, gives these wool products such incredibly great thickness, strength and durability, and gives the wool its windproof and waterproof characteristics by trapping air into a myriad network of tangled woolen fiber.

This felted wool is then used in many applications, including turning the fabric into yarn for knitting. After a garment is knitted with the felted wool fiber, it is then put through the process of “fulling”, which is very similar felting. Fulling is a combination of hot water shocking, cleaning, alteration of the natural ph balance, extended agitation, further intertwining and matting, but the fibers also shrink in the process, creating an incredibly densely matted finished material that is not only extremely durable, but also traps air. It’s this trapped air effect that makes a fulled wool sweater so extremely warm. This secondary agitation and matting process creates an interesting texture to the knitted pattern and design.
Boiled wool, is really a form of fulled Wool, but rather Boiled Wool is produced solely on a controled mechanical basis, at a set temperature, mechanized and controlled agitation, to produce sheets of ‘fulled wool” ready for the assembly of panels of ready fabric that have been cut to a desired shape. Boiled Wool Sweaters are “put together”, whereas Fulled Wool sweaters are knitted loosely with large needles into a design or pattern from pure wool yarn, then “fulled” to perfection, and shrunk in the process.
Fulled or often referred to as Boiled wool sweaters are used by Alpinists for their warmth in extremely cold temperatures, windproof qualities and high water resistance. Since they are primarily used in Alpine zones where there is likely to be snow, rather than extended rain, these wool sweaters are a perfect combination of water resistance, wind-proofness, and breathability. From a safety aspect, wool’s texture offers significant friction on snow or ice, aiding in self arrest situations. Besides being a natural durable material, this added benefit of safety in the form of friction, is completely unique to wool, and out performs from a friction standpoint, even synthetics such as Schoeller Cloth.
These sweaters are first knitted with the complex Brioche Rib stitch using pure wool. This complexity of the Brioche stitch requires nearly 50% more wool than an average knitted sweater, and creates knitted pattern nearly doubled in thickness. Then, after the sweater is constructed, they are put through the fulling process, thus intertwining and matting the knitted pattern in a never ending network of combined woolen scales within the knitted pattern, tangled forever in an incredible matted network. These sweaters will not unravel, remain incredibly durable, and will not fray or destruct, even if cut.
Boiled wool is produced industrially and is characteristic to Austria and South America. After very large knitted patterns are produced in large sheets, the wool fabric is dyed (or not), and are boiled and shrunk without the use of any chemicals. Because of this and other factors, boiled wool is very warm and usually does not itch.

"Fulling" is the process of producing felt fabric from animal fiber yarn that has already been woven or knitted. Fulling takes the woven or knitted fabric through the process of hot water and agitation in order to facilitate shrinkage and create felted fabric. In the Middle Ages, "fullers" were textile workers who used Fuller's Earth, a highly adsorptive clay that removed grease and oils from the woven cloth. The agitation of the cleansing action would shrink and matt the fibers creating a fabric that would not unravel. The term fulling stems from "fullare", a Medieval Latin word meaning "to walk on or trample". This process emphasizes the agitation that is required in coaxing those fiber scales to intertwine.
"Boiled wool" is another descriptive term for felted cloth. The process is the same as fulling but completed on an industrial level in order to facilitate the handling of larger quantities. Computerized controls finely tune water temperature levels and agitation strength in order to produce a consistent result. The yarn is first dyed, then knit and shrunk without the aid of chemicals. This process produces felt fabric available by the yard, ready for cutting into pattern pieces to be assembled into garments.
Now available in the US again, Bradley Alpinist is one of few, if not the only retailer in the US offering you these classics. These vintage style and functionally timeless Dachstein Wool Pullover Sweaters, Mitts, & Hats will forever be a high valued article of equipment in the Alpinist's kit. Made in the Dachstein Region of Steiermark Austria in the tradional boiled/fulled wool methods, these sweaters are the warmest, most durable and breathable layers you can wear. Preview the DACHSTEIN WOLLE OF AUSTRIA offering. Wear Dachstein Wool to the summit, in the ice park, or on top of a bar stool in a mountain town...its the classic look of mountaineering worldwide, and an extreme cold performance layer.

Stove Bases for Cooking on Snow

I've never spent so much time in the "kitchen", as I do on climbing trips in Winter, or mountaineering endeavors on glacier/alpine ice.  All that snow melting for hydration and cooking.  Its an ongoing task, and it takes time.  Good to have your fuel consumption calculation down,  it takes a good amount of fuel too.  More on that on a future post. 

If you going to set up your stove on snow/ice...you better have figured out your stove base system...and there are few choices that can be actually bought, and only one manufactured base that I know of,  that is any good.  I have seen a lot of homemade stove bases in my time,  and this can be a good option, but takes some experimenting with materials.   I sourced and purchased many types of plastic,  experimenting to find a lightweight plastic that didn't crack in the cold,  and warp with some applied heat and weight.  Found that you are better off with a piece of wood.

Saw a Peruvian Mountain Guide spill nearly an entire pot of the morning's hot water for clients....utilizing a MSR Trillium.   How many times have you had a near miss on this?   Besides the risk of tipping your stove from snow melting underneath,  I think every good pot should have a pouring spout.   No fun pouring water on your hand or gloves,  while just trying to fill a bowl/mug, or transfer water into your H2O bottles. 

If you want to skip the experimentation, the best stove base I have worked with is the RDM Stove Platform designed by Kevin Slotterbeck, a former materials specialist with SMC (climbing gear company in Washington).  If you want to check on of these out,  they are available at, of course, through Bradley Alpinist: http://www.bradleyalpinist.com/cart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=81_82_87.  

I've tried the Trillium Stove Base by MSR,  used it with a Whisperlite and an XGK.  I think this is a good piece of gear,  but really doesn't have any business being utilized when there is snow or ice that you are cooking on top of.  I think it reflects heat well,  provides stability,  but is best used for all the other things other than what you would usually want to use it for.  The metal heats up just enough to cause the base to slowly sink into the snow,  and the holes in the base conveniently grip the snow, and if left for sometime after the stove is shut off, it will freeze into place.  That's pretty nice,  you get a tipped stove,  could spill your pourage, and you get to use your ice axe to pull it up (and could mangle it).  The Trillium is probably better utilized for sand,  or very rocky surfaces...allowing you to create a leveling system by building up the surface under the base for a more level and stable suface. 

The RDM version,  gives you heat reflection,  a grip on the snow/ice surface (and an option to stake down via one point, with a thin rounded tent stake (common aluminum tent stake),  stability,  and an option to add a beefy pot support for larger capacity pots..or just a more solid/stable cooking surface.  These platforms come in two sizes,  a 9" version for a small party (pictured above),  or a 12" style to accomodate large groups/expeditions using bigger pots.