Dehydration

[Grizzly]

for the past few weeks this summer I noticed my watter supply diminising quicker than usual. I figured that I personally can go through a gallon plus a day in the heat and drip sweat like its no ones business. It seems that the higher you are when you climbing palms, the hotter it is and when you have a chainssaw by your head and no ventalation to vent out the exaust of the heat, your sort of screwed; especially if you don't have a ground crew that day helping of ropeing up water.
Whan was the last time any one got stuck in that situation?

 

[woodchux]

Get a camelback.

 

[Jumper]

Highly recommended. They are used by our troops in Afghanistan with a high degree of satisfaction. Just make sure you regularly disinfect it with a bit of chlorine bleach on a regular basis, the rinse well, as nasty organisms can get established inside with the moist warm environment.

 

[LightningLoader]

freeze the water packet in the camelback, so it'll keep you cooler and slowly melt so you can drink it. Make sure you're getting enough salt too. Helps you retain water.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Get a camelback.

I love mine, climb with it all the time.

I got the mil.spec. modle out of black cordura from ExtremeOutfitters in JAX NC for ~63 USD

They make a smaller one for that goes for less then $30, 2 liter I think. I called CamelBak and asked a product rep if it would work for me since it "works for smaller frames". they said I would probably be uncomfortable in that modle.

 

[Grizzly]

Just a camel pack? It may be a investment well worth getting.

 

[Tree Machine]

Oh, definitely. Get two bladders. After disinfecting, the taste of bleach can remain for awhile, so to's best to let it air out and the chlorine gas off. Meanwhile, you're using the other one.

As well, sucking down 2 liters is pretty easy to do. By the time you go through the first full camel you're probably pretty well into the heat of the day. That's when you pull the second bladder out of the cooler, ice cold, swap it in the pak and put it on your back. Can you say "Ahhhhhh."

It's a secret weapon on monster climbs. A frequent consistent input of small amounts of water, rather than the cycle of dehydrating and then gulping big quantities really seems to help with the endurance. At the end of the day you're just not as spent.

I like to stick the tube in my mouth and drink a trickle for minutes on end when doing certain repetitive tasks, like bucking up big diameter wood, or feeding the chipper. Keeping it in your mout keeps the sawdust off the mouthpiece. Oh, and buy a second mouthpiece to have on hand. They do wear out, break, or pop off the tube. There are different types of mouthpieces. Bike shops seem to always have a good variety of those. Here's the camelbak website

 

[Husky372]

Use baking soda not bleach