Treating snow-water ... who does it?

I used to be fairly cavalier about drinking untreated water, thinking that I'd probably be fine and if not a bit of diarreah
wouldn't kill me, but then I got something called leptospirosis from drinking (relatively lowland) untreated streamwater. Leptospirosis is hard to diagnose and (in me) caused meningitis that left me in the hospital for 5 days. In light of that incident, I just don't think it's worth taking the risk - a tablet of iodine might save your life...

While were on the subject: pills verses filtering. I have filtered for a long time- even some city water in the rockies tastes bad; but filter it and it's good.

I remember reading about the different water treatment options- REI??? But it said it takes hours for the cold hard water to be safe and it still tastes bad.

Since the filters are lighter then water, or fuel, it makes sense to bring a group filter on an overnighter.

In popular areas. e.g. Paradise/Muir, Boulder Basin, Enchantment, etc -- I use this for treatment www.polarequipment.com/

Much lighter and cheaper than a filter and one bottle lasts for years -- plus I've had problems with filters mafunctioning in the field which is a PITA, or worse when they "silently" fail and are no long actaully filtering anything -- this has happend to friends on rafting trips.

Iodine kills the nasties -- the taste is noticable -- until you add gatorade mix.

Off the beaten track -- I don't bother with treatment.   It's somewhat amazing how fewer people you encounter once you are more than six miles from the trailhead.

If the location is popular enough for me to think that the snow may have been contaminated I filter. If not, straight in the bottle. I am fairly concervative on what I consider to be possibly contaminated, but since I add powdered Gatoraid the pill I add had no real downside in my opinion.

That stuff Ron's selling is mouthwash! Some peaty scotch is deadly to those little worms.

Since this is a poll, I guess I'll put in my minority vote for filtering.

Lamely I always filter...even on a day trip. I'm thinking that my filter weighs less than the 2 lbs for a liter of water.

On overnighters on snow, I melt and filter....saves the gas of actually boiling and the water is at a more drinkable temperature.

Can't say I like the taste of iodized water even after the neutralizer and gatorade has been added. I always bring it as a back up though.