Am thinking of taking my Camelback with me to the slopes at Christmas, and just got wondering if the thermal control kit was worthwhile. Seems a fair wodge of cash for it, at about £18, but just wondered if anyone else had used one for skiing/boarding and if so, was it worth it? Also, any alternative suggestions?

If it's just the insulated tube then it's pointless as the water will still cool to ambient temperature, it'll just take a bit longer to get there.

If you really want to use a camelbak then once you have taken a drink blow hard to push the water back to the reservior where hopefully the heat from your back as well as the relatively large thermal mass will prevent it from freezing, however in my experience this doesn't work too well either.

I'm wondering how much TBF (time before freezing) that extra bit of what looks like neoprene, or something similar, will give you. I reckon, that on a cold enough day, it'll solidify before you drink the contents. Just guessing. What are the reviews saying?

I reckon you can't beat a hipflask filled with sloe gin myself for the slopes.

Agree with what gonefishin said, blowing after drinking works as well as anything.

Sticking it under your jacket also helps loads if you don't mind the hunchback look.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Camelbak-Hydration-Rucksack_W0QQitemZ110459366104QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_3?hash=item19b7e42ad8

one of these went for £12.00 last week

As said above, they're utterly useless and the just blow down the tube trick doesn't work if you fall over lots as the water just comes back up and freezes solid.

So speaks the voice of experience. Now I just put a bottle of water in my bag, if I'm taking one.

Don't you have a butler on the slopes then, CFH? 😉

Works the other way also as in stopping whats in the tube getting warm on a sunny day.

The water will freeze and wont take too long to do it- whilst climbing kilimanjaro we had hot water in our camelbaks and it froze within about 3 hours (whilst using the blow back technique) and that was at about -10/15 celsius ish.
Best advice is pack a flask with something nice and hot in if you are wanting to take drinks with you. Personally, i rarely get thirsty skiing and tend to stop at one of the huts if i do need anything.

(the neoprene thing is a waste of time so save your 18 quid)

Blow back. Don't fall. Simples.

As said above, they're utterly useless and the just blow down the tube trick doesn't work if you fall over lots as the water just comes back up and freezes solid.

So speaks the voice of experience. Now I just put a bottle of water in my bag, if I'm taking one.

I have one – works fine in sub zero as long as you drink fairly regualrly and have the one with the big rubber cover over the mouth piece. I have one with just the sleeve and it's rubbish.

My one is on a snowboarding pack and the tube goes down one of the arm straps, which also helps i expect.

Blow back here. Works most of the time.

When I forget I can normally wriggle the tube enough to crack the ice enough to suck some through. That melts the ice a bit more and I blow back again. If that fails I'll call in at a welcoming mountain hut for a coffee or a beer and the Camelbak's thawed by the time I've finished.

Whilst snowboarding in Canada at -20c on a regular basis I successfully avoided any hose freezing issues by routing the hose out of the side of my Dakine Helipro daysack and in through the armpit zip of my jacket. The hose was clad in the neoprene sleeve and had the rubber cover over the mouthpiece.

The water didn't freeze but my face did every time I lowered my face mask to have a drink.

You could try adding salt to the water to lower the freezing point! 😆

Or replace water with neat spirits.

To put a counter perspective on the question – I think they're great. I've got one on the Camelbak I take snowboarding and it certainly slows down the freezing of the water in the tube and nozzle. I would agree that the blowback technique is also worth doing, but you WILL forget to do that one time and then you've got to crunch your way down the tube to try and get some flow back again – the thermal kit will make that freezing less likely as it'll take longer to happen.

If you do get a kit, make sure it's the one with the big rubber cover on the nozzle as otherwise you'll still get freezing down there.