Water on a big wall: How much to bring, and how best to store it?

It's the heaviest thing in your haul bag, so you don’t wanna take too much, but you definitely don’t want to run out either.

Good rule of thumb for quantity: 3-4 liters per person per day. You typically drink more lower down where it's warmer and the loads are heavier and less as you get higher up.

Start with sturdy bottles, with a secure lid, and a flared “collar” on top. The time-tested two liter pop bottle is a good choice for most of your water; plus, the round 2 liter bottles fit your round haul bag better. Bottles designed to hold carbonation are usually built stronger than a standard drinking water bottle. The collar, that’s just below the bottom of the cap, gives a secure place for your keeper cord. Bring some smaller one liter bottles to fill in gaps at the bottom of your bag. One liter bottles from Aquafina, holding non-carbonated water, are excellent.

Some people have luck with 1 gallon Crystal Geyser bottles, but I've had those leak on me. I prefer one and two liter pop bottles.

You do NOT need to put duct tape on the entire bottle, or use a “full-strength” sling.

Don't take a lousy, thin bottle, and try to reinforce it with tape. It's better to take an already solid drink bottle and don't use any tape on it.

Everything needs a clip in loop on a wall, including water bottles. While 3 mm cord is popular, I prefer thick twine called bank line. It’s super strong (300+ pounds!) inexpensive, and holds knots very well, see photo. I use about 24 inches of bank line per bottle. Tie one for every bottle; bank line is cheap.

Make sure your clip in loops are solid! If a loop fails the bottle will fall, and could seriously hurt or even kill someone. Use a constrictor hitch, which is similar to a clove, but more secure. (Check out the video at the bottom of the page to learn how to tie it, very cool knot.) Make sure that knot stays solid with a couple of wraps of hockey tape. Tie the string ends together with an overhand, good to go.

Speaking of hockey tape, it’s great! Think of it as heavy-duty athletic tape, that has superb stick-ability even when cold, wet, sweaty, etc. A few wraps of hockey tape around the neck of the bottle secures the clip-in loop. Taping your knot is fast and cheap insurance. Just don’t waste your time and tape covering the entire bottle. Bring a roll of hockey tape with you on the wall, it’s helpful for other things.

Water jugs to avoid . . .

Do NOT use those 1 gallon jugs with a built-in handle as shown below. The handle looks tempting, but the tops suck and will come off.  You absolutely want something that has a solid threaded top.

Some people like the 1 gallon Crystal Geyser bottles, but the plastic is flimsy and I've had them puncture on me. The plastic in carbonated pop bottles is much stronger.

A few other tips . . .

• Water for the leader . . . There's basically three options: carry some, don't carry any, or haul some up later on a tag line. If it's not too hot and you're moving pretty fast, have a drink before you start your pitch and hopefully you won't need much more. If you do need water on your lead, you're already carrying a huge load of gear so don't take a bigger bottle than you need to. Have a small bottle, like 1 liter max, for the leader. If you're using a tagline to bring up more gear or anchor materials, you can use this to bring up water mid-pitch.

• Remove any labels from your bottles, and that little plastic ring around the neck, which can sometimes interfere with tying your clip in loop.

• On day one, if you drink a lot of water before you leave the ground, you might be able to start with slightly less, like .75 gallons.

• Try to really squeeze the full bottles into the bottom of your haul bag. Doing this fully spreads out the sides of the bag, making it lots easier to pack the rest of your stuff.

• An insulated wide-neck Thermos bottle lets you keep real ice cubes for a day or so, which can be very handy for that well-earned end-of-the-day beverage. Totally optional, but nice.

• If it's hot, an umbrella for shade and a plant mister bottle to spray yourself off at the belay can help you stay cool and drink less. 

• A few squeezes of lime or lemon juice can help cut the big wall cottonmouth. No need to be gourmet here, the little plastic bottles of citrus juice from the grocery store work fine. A big squeeze of lime/lemon juice, a few sugar cubes, and some salt is the Frugal Climber’s sports drink.

• If you have access to a freezer, freeze most of your water bottles if it’s going to be hot. Having ice cold water on a multi-day hot weather big wall is priceless. Don’t freeze everything solid or you’ll be thirsty on day 1. Freeze some bottles all the way for the latter part of your climb and some other bottles halfway for the first day. Don't fill them all the way to the top before you put them in the freezer or they will probably crack, duh. Be sure and top off all frozen bottles with liquid water before you start (it's easy to forget to do this, ask me how I know.)

• If you have a preferred powdered electrolyte/sport drink mix, add this to the bottles on on the ground, especially if you’re going to freeze your water.

• Tip I learned from hownot2.com and the Big Wall Bible (haven't tried this but it sounds brilliant): if you're not taking a ridiculous amount of water, you can put frozen bottles around the perimeter of your haul bag, which will leave a small area on the bottom in the middle that is essentially a refrigerator. You can use this to keep perishable food cold, like something really yummy you can eat on the first night.

• Remember to pull out enough water for the day each morning and keep it accessible in your day bag or wall bucket. You don't want to be diving into the bottom of your pigs during the day to replenish water, or for any other reason, for that matter. 

• If you’re bailing, don’t pour out or bring down your water. Leave it for someone else if you can. (You might wanna check local land management regulations to see if this is okay,) If you have some way to leave a message, write “Free” on a note or tape and leave it on the bottles. Make sure it’s well secured and not going to roll off the ledge, that could be a big hazard to someone below if it falls off.

• Reuse your bottles. When they're empty step on them till they squish flat, and then screw on the lid. To re-inflate for the next wall blow them up by lung power, seal the lid and then gently roll them around. The dented parts should expand. (At the very least, offer them to somebody else at Camp 4.)

Here’s a nice short video on how to tie the constrictor hitch. This is perfect for attaching a keeper cord to water bottles. Sometimes embedded Instagram videos like this don't work. If you can't see this, go to the original Instagram link.