Stephan, The Bottle, Rocky Mountain Adventure Medicine

Many curious eyes have gazed at this multipurpose bottle during our travels.For 5 months now, my wife and I have been travelling throughout SE Asia on our honeymoon/ climbing & cultural journey. With 1 month still to go, we have found many reasons to appreciate this simple act of taping our water bottle.

Notice, I have 3 different types of tape on the bottle. Each with its own purpose. Before clarifying each, it is important to note that if you do opt to put any type of tape around your bottle, ensure you replace the tape every few seasons, otherwise you might be very disappointed when the time comes to put it to use. Weathering and cleaning can take its toll on the integrity of the tape. That said, each of these tapes are still proving to be very resilient and effective.

Below is a list of purposes each type of tape has had, along with its uses during the course of this, and several other trips.

Stephan, The Bottle, Rocky Mountain Adventure Medicine

GORILLA TAPE:
This tape is very durable and abrasion resistant.
-Great for patching up gear (remember to always round the edges before
applying, this will reduce likelihood of it getting torn off).
-Placed on the inside of my shoe, at the heel, to prevent further deterioration of the fabric.
-Patching up my drybag, and backpack (the crags can be harsh on fabrics).
-Effective doughnut, and patch, can be made for blister care (this was my go-to strategy to successfully care for blisters that guests would get when I guided multi-day hiking trips in the Grand Canyon).
-Used to mark damaged equipment.

ATHLETIC/HOCKEY TAPE:
This is a tape that contours well around objects, and retains very effective adhesion in hot and cold weather.
-Taping up the hands when faced with a sharp crag.
-Taping up the fingers to prevent aggravation of the joints.
-Taping up the ends of my glasses to give them more stickiness, so they stopped sliding down my face every time it looked down while on route, under the hot Sun (quick fix at the top of the 2nd of 3 pitches).
-Wrapping the webbing of my Chaco sandals near the attachment points to prevent further fraying.
-In winter, using it to keep rogue skins from constantly slipping off the back of my ski.

ELECTRICAL TAPE:
This tape is effective for insulating high heat sources, and electrical currents.
-When needing to cut synthetic rope. First wrap the tape around the segment,
then cut through its centre. Doing so ensures minimal fraying.
-Insulating a hot cup.
-Making “idiot strings” for your glasses to prevent them from falling off
(think about whitewater rafting, and multi-pitching).

Quick and easy access to this kind of gear can be a huge difference maker.
I’m sure there are several other applications that have been overlooked.

I encourage you to join the conversation and add any other applications you
can think of, as well as, any useful modifications you have made to your
bottles.

Stephan Guenette, B.ETOL, EMR, RMT