High Sierra Topix

longri wrote:

overheadx2 wrote:One trip to the stream gave us enough water for cooking dinner and breakfast for seven.

Is this in the Sierra? If so I'm curious, why bother to filter water for cooking?

I filter water before putting it on the stove so I don't have to boil - just heat the water to the desired temp for drinking. If heating to rehydrate something, I boil it so don't filter it. The difference may be miniscule in terms of fuel efficiency but sometimes that matters.

To be honest, I always thought that water needed to be boiled for ten min to be safe. Don't know where I got that from, but have always filtered water that wasn't going to go past a light boil. Usually I barely get a boil going for oatmeal, coffee, tea or couscous, so have always filtered. Thanks for the input.

I just looked at the wilderness medicine site, and it stated that effective water treatment with boiling is 1 min for every thousand feet of elevation. That would put the boiling time at 10 min for most trips. That seems very fuel inefficient. Is that time different for cleaner Sierra water? Phil

overheadx2 wrote:I just looked at the wilderness medicine site, and it stated that effective water treatment with boiling is 1 min for every thousand feet of elevation. That would put the boiling time at 10 min for most trips. That seems very fuel inefficient. Is that time different for cleaner Sierra water? Phil

That's an older, conservative recommendation.

Pasteurization at 89°C takes only 1 second. This corresponds to the boiling temperature of water at an alititude of about 11,000 feet. There is a time-temperature curve for killing water-borne pathogens and the time it takes to actually heat the water to boiling should be included in this analysis. The bottom line is that at any Sierra elevation, simply achieving a boil is sufficient.

Wilderness Medical Society Practice Guidelines: For Wilderness Emergency Care
William W. Forgey
2006

Methods of Water Disinfection

Heat

As in pasteurization, temperatures above 160°F (70°C) kill all enteric pathogens within thirty minutes, and 185°F (85°C) is effective within a few minutes. Thus, disinfection occurs during the time required to heat water from 140°F (60°C) to boiling temperature, so any water brought to a boil, even at high altitudes, is safe.

Good to know, thanks.

I decided to grab a sawyer squeeze at rei. Seems like a great sytem. I like how light and versatile it is. Taking it up today for a test drive so we'll see if it replaces my katadyn permanently.

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I've used mine 3 trips this year and like it alot. The big issue is filling the "dirty" bag. The hole is small in the top and does not fill quickly. I use my cup to scoop water and fill it. It does it's job of filtering fast.

I got to use my sawyer this weekend and love it. I think ill do a video review. It is hands down the most useful and versatile system ive ever seen or used. In my opinion it beats any pump, gravity system, uv, straw, filter bottle, etc.

Filling the bags in still water took me a sec to figure out. Blow into it so it opens, slightly squeeze the edges inward so it holds its open shape, submerge. It fills up just like a hard plastic bottle in seconds. Works great.

There are so many ways to use it im never going back! I could ramble for hours about this thing im totally sold.

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This last trip we used a Sawyer with their 4 liter bag. It was a bit of a pain to fill if there wasn't water flowing off a rock. Then I got smart and realized that if used as a scoop the pot I was going to be cooking in anyway, all problems were solved. For one fill up we had to use cheesecloth as a filter, but that really wasn't a big deal.

What I really liked was that with two bags of water, we were done for the evening, for the morning, and for filling Camelbaks. Plus, it was as fast and easy as advertised (no really, I'm not a shill for Sawyer). We got quick releases with valves for the Camelbaks, which turned out to be a boon because for the first time we didn't have the bite valves getting squished and water running into our packs. Also, filling up the Camelbaks was ridiculously easy.

This was waaaaay better than pumping!

what can i say.. from what i saw and your report..