Camelback and similar drinking systems are a really great idea, you can sip on the move and ensure that you stay hydrated. However a dangling hose and dusty conditions can mean that your drinking end gets a dunk in the grit and ends up manky. One good idea I read a while back, not sure of source, was to cut a small hole in the base of a camera film case and then slide this onto the hose, removing the mouthpiece first. You can then use the cap to enclose the end in a protective box. So, remove mouth piece, cut hole in film canister base, slide onto hose, replace mouth piece and then put lid on film case. This works perfectly for most straight mouthpieces, the newer bent camelback ones don't work as well. I use a platypus, so don't have a problem. Makes drinking dust and dirt free, thus more hygenic.
travel: August 2003 Archives
Another interesting thread from the UKclimbing.com website, this one on how long it might take the Alps to recover and rebuild the permafrost that holds the mountains together. A variety of mountaineers and glacier researchers have contributed and it is still open for discussion. There is some good stuff in there, plus quite a lot of ecological banter.
I like mountains, you might have noticed. However to get to real mountains I usually need to fly, this is not very good for the environment and is heavily implicated in global warming, there is a good comment section on climate change, on the guardian website.
The Alps are falling to bits around Mont Blanc and on the Matterhorn, everything is falling. Most of the classic snow and rock routes are unclimbable. See this thread on the uk climbing alpine forum, it has been written by someone who is in Chamonix at the minute.
So am I destroying the environment by flying too much. I like cheap airfares as much as the next person, but will these quick weekends in France destroy some of what I travel for? Can flying be made more accountable in terms of the pollution it creates or will it always be a protected industry because of the benfits of tourism to the country. No country is going to impose high taxes on aviation fuel first, as they will loose out immediately. Though flying is not the main contributor at less than 5 percent, it is the fastest growing one. Recent reports have also said that even cutting green house gas emissions to the levels specified in the Kyoto treaty might not make any real impact, not that the USA or Australia even agreed to those minimal reductions.
I try to save electricity when ever I can, I recycle and use public transport, but it all seems small beer in comparision. Global warming as a weapon of mass destruction, perhaps this does not over state the case.
