Gear Water - EverywhereWater,Water comes in all shapes and sizes

these days; Andy Callan tries three of the best

I think everyone at this stage is converted to the concept of keeping enough fluid in your system, judging by the sales of bottled water. The whole idea of having water on tap when out in the hills is obviously what’s needed. No more having to stop, take off your sack, pull out the bottle, take as much water as you think your system needs and then reverse the whole process before continuing on your merry way. Small wonder that I used to regularly come home after a day out walking feeling lethargic and with a thumping headache. These are classic signs of dehydration (others include nausea, light-headedness and very yellow pee!), usually brought on by leaving it too late to take a drink. A little, often, is the best way to do it. Here’s a few more tips:

● Drink before you feel thirsty; at that point you’re already 10% dehydrated. ● Drink about half a litre of water before you start out. ● As a general guide, aim to drink about 2 litres of water each day, more if you’re working harder or for longer. ● Caffeine: tea, coffee and cola don’t count. These are diuretics so you’ll lose more fluid than you started with!

Water is the best fluid for keeping you hydrated, especially if your exercise is only moderately intensive, i.e. walking on the flat. If you’re doing something more strenuous - a long mountain day with lots of ascent for example - then an energy drink with carbohydrate content may be a benefit.

Keep It Clean!

You know it makes sense; I know it too. But it’s been a long day and I deserve a change of clothes, a sit down on something soft instead of something hard/prickly/damp and a cup of tea with a couple of chocolate biccies. I’ll sort out the rucksack etc later once I’ve had a shower, sure I’ll just put it out of the way in this cupboard…..

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Three weeks later and you grab the rucksack to sort it out for tomorrow’s walk. God, it stinks! There’s mildew forming on the outside and when you reach inside the liner you suddenly realise where that lovely juicy orange ended up all those weeks back – only now it’s squishy, furry and bluish-grey. All this is minor compared to what’s happened to your hydration bladder, now a testing ground for microbiological warfare. All is not lost however; you can save the world with some simple household supplies.

Rescue Recipe

Fill the bladder and drinking tube with warm water and just 1 teaspoon of chlorine bleach. Leave overnight and rinse thoroughly with warm water. You can achieve the same results with Milton or Steradent tablets, a handier solution if you’re away from home. For odours or carried-over tastes, mix ? cup of baking soda with 1 ? cups of water, pour into the bladder and shake well. Hold the bag over the sink and add ? cup of lemon or lime juice. Be Careful!! This will cause gas to build up in the bladder so make sure to vent it well. This will die down after about 10 mins or so, expel as much air as possible, recap and let it soak for about 30 mins, then rinse out several times with hot water.

Bladder Tests

Osprey Manta 20 100 / £90Not just a bladder, it’s a rucksack complete with its own “Hydraform Reservoir” – a bladder with a rigid back panel to us mere laymen. The Manta series (20, 25, and 30) is the first part of a new Hydraulics range of packs, designed to work with these bladders. It’s best to look at the 2 pieces separately, seeing as the bladders can be bought individually and fitted to any pack with a bladder sleeve.As I mentioned what makes the Hydraform different is its rigid back panel. This makes it really easy to slide it in or out of a full pack, rather than having to empty the pack and fitting your gear in and around the reservoir. It also stops the filled bladder from “barrelling” causing pressure between your shoulders blades. The solid shape maintains pressure right down to the last few drops, especially if used with one of Ospreys dedicated packs with a “Hydralock” compartment. Even when running with the Hydraform less than half full I could certainly hear the liquid inside but there was little or none of the unnerving feeling of its weight shifting from side to side. Filling is easy because of the wide screw cap and big handle. The only gripe is the magnetic clip that attaches the bite valve to the packs sternum strap - way too fiddly if you’re on the move and the stiffish hose makes it pop off if you don’t get it just right. Apart from that though, this is a great bladder system, ideal for those packs with curved back systems common to those with mesh-panelled “air” backs.Moving on to the Manta 20 which came with the Hydraform reservoir, as the name suggests it’s a 20 litre pack with a curved mesh back system to allow air to circulate between the pack and your back. The reservoir fits into its own “Hydralock” pocket which is designed to keep constant pressure on the bladder. This worked very well but the Plethora of other pockets – 5 if you include the raincover pocket – is complete overkill. Obviously someone at Osprey hasn’t heard of KISS (keep it simple stupid). I wore the Manta on a couple of runs and while the water carrying element worked like a dream, the back system was a real pain. It’s much too rigid and poorly padded at the belt and

Platypus Big Zip SL 2L 30 /£25So synonymous with hydra-tion systems that some peo-ple seem to think the term Platypus is generic to all bladders, the Big Zip SL (side lock) comes in a range of sizes from 1.8 – 3 litre capacity complete with a quick-connect hose and big mouth bite valve which can be turned off by twisting it through 900. The bladder itself has a Slime-Guard anti-microbial treatment to keep it taste free, but the major sell-ing point is the Big Zip clo-sure system. Imagine a heavyweight zip lock closure backed up with a slide-on clamp (the Slidelock) Just for pig iron I’ve tested the Big Zip without the clamp and had no disasters, the Slidelock just copper fastens the whole thing and provides a convenient handle. The whole unit is made so it’s

slightly narrower at the base which funnels liquid towards the drink-ing tube so less “suck” is needed as you get towards the last drop. This bladder is simple to use and very easy to clean and maintain, but I thought the flow rate through the bite valve was a bit slower than others.

Source Widepac 25 / £20A simple design with a sliding clamp to secure the wide opening at the top of the bladder, the Widepac is available in 1.8, 2 or 3 litre sizes. It comes complete with and easily detached hose which makes switching between ruck-sacks much simpler. The bite valve gives a good rate of flow and has its own cover attached via a piece of string. It’s a pity that the valve doesn’t have a shut-off mecha-nism to prevent leaks but once the cap is in place you shouldn’t have any probs. I’ve pointed out previously that the one thing that isn’t idiot-proof is the lack of a piece of string to prevent the loss of the sliding clamp – the military version has it so why not?

Gear

tended to dig in just above my hips. I’m surprised that nobody copped this at the development stage and any hill walker could have told them that 1 main compartment with 1 or 2 other pockets is a much more flexible arrangement. Seeing as it’s only got a 20 litre capacity the Manta is probably best left for commuting, it’ll be interesting to see when the real walker-dedicated Hydraulics pack emerges.

Bramwell International & Source Hydration Systems are supporting WaterAid in 2010 with a gift of £5,000(WaterAid is a registered Charity No. 288701)

www.bramwell-int.comFor more information please visit

or phone 00 44 15395-60214

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