Treating snow-water ... who does it?

....wow you guys are hardcore!

If I have to melt snow to get it and a few bubbles form on the bottom of the pan, I consider it safe to drink. If I can see the source of the water and don't see any mammals between it and myself, I drink right out of the stream. I pretty much gave up filtering water after my kids finished with Boy Scouts and I was trying to set a good example, but maybe late in the year when the water levels are low and/or there's heavy human traffic . . .

So far so good.

I carry water on day trips.  Boil to melt on overnighters up on the snow.

I would be real careful ingesting anything near Muir, that is a pretty unsanitary area.  Anything that goes into the snow just stays there forever.  Ok.... this is just my experience, but I camped overnight at Anvil Rock...  and of course I walked over to a certain area to pee....  later I noticed that the snow was no longer yellow... there was just a frozen chunk in the snow.  At this point I reached a new understanding about reading snow for potential water sources.... avoid icy chunks and anything that looks like beef jerky in the snow.  Of course, I guess boiling would fix it.

I saw a couple of frisky marmots frolicking at the top of Pebble Creek (I guess Mr. Marmot got lucky).  So.... That is something to think about.

This just wasn't an issue when I was a boy scout about a thousand years ago.  We just dipped our cups into the river or a clear section of a lake.  We never even heard of beaver fever back then.

I got one of those little hand pump water filters... have never really used it.  But I just feel better having it in case I want to drink from a mud puddle (not anytime soon). 

Then there are the ice worms -  seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews...691_iceworms21m.html
... but properly boiled, should give you a protein drink.   I've seen the worms in an exhibit somewhere, haven't seen them on the snow... but they are pretty small.

I'm pretty careful, having had giardia a couple of times and dysentery at least once (in other parts of the world, it's true, but the experience left me somewhat chastened). A friend got giardia in the Olympics—confirmed by stool test—so I'd prefer not to get overconfident.

I recently cured my favorite 7-year-old of eating snow by pointing out how many snot rockets I was leaving scattered far and wide. This seemed to gross her out so thoroughly that I never even had to explain marmot lovemaking.

Mark

Eeewww!!!

Well, I've been kind of keeping this to myself.  But since Marco and Zap let the cat out of the bag I might as well fess up:

I've pretty well "Broke the Code" on the purification and sterilization of snow and snow melt water.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/202/518167829_0760b3b44f.jpg?v=0
I discovered this little known but highly effective survival technique over 50 years ago in the scorching deserts of Sonora, Mexico.

You see, the agave worm is the natural enemy to the snow worm, red snow algae and other microscopic critters that tend to live in snow.
In the tequila distillation process, as the aguave worm dies of its drunkenness, it releases a unique waste product that is highly toxic to snowborne organisms but highly enhancing to the performance of the human brain.  Thus, treatment of snow in this manner immediately sterilizes the snow while, at the same time, the more snow you treat and consume in this manner, the smarter you feel.

More pictures of this process can be found HERE .