UKH

Is there any point? i have had to try drink silty glacier melt only once, does anyone regularly use a water filter on long routes to save weight?

Water filter = Cleaner ice cold water.

Pocket rocket + canister = Hot tea and dinner

I often find a straw useful in the Alps to top up water intake - with the caveat of choosing sources wisely. Never used a filter personally  unless on a greater ranges expedition.

Just have a bottle with a wide top, nalgene type, I shove in snow and daytime heat melts it.

Nalgene and straw, no filter. If you're cunning, you can often manage the approach without ever touching your water bottle by using the straw in streams and meltwater trickles. Never been ill yet, just be selective and don't go drinking water immediately below huts or in the middle of popular bivi spots!

Ice cold water = much longer boil times, carry more fuel. 

Wide mouth nalgene and a lifestraw, for if the water's suspect. 

A few water purifying tablets, plus the indispensible coke bottle, to use where doubtful about quality. Wide necked bottle can be worthwhile also.

I've never used a water filter as you're nearly always above the animal grazing altitude and even when not there's nearly always a fast flowing stream. Never had to drink silty glacial melt water either.

The only time I've ever been ill was from drinking snow melt collected near a bivi hut with no toilet. We filled two bottles, one we boiled for drinking, the other we just melted for cooking later. During the night I drank from the wrong one and spent the rest of it vomiting and sh*tting off the hut balcony.

As someone that has melted and boiled a significant amount of snow on gas canisters I'd say 1x gas canister can boil a lot of water no matter how cold. When I was in Finland for about 12 nights boiling snow down to -30C ambient, we only used about 5 canisters. That included breakfast/dinner/hot water bottles etc. 

I’m curious, how is the Coke bottle helpful when water quality might be an issue? 

Or am I being really fantastically dim and you just mean to use it as a nice light bottle to fill with water and dump the tablets in?

I did just mean it as a cheap, ultralight, collapsible bottle which was of known volume to dilute the tablets. sorry that wasn't clear. Also obviously invaluable to carry any water where conditions are likely.....I think there's a very a recent UKC thread where many replies recommended coke type bottles over bladders and nalgene.

Edit. In case anyone hasn't used sterilizing tablets before one needs to leave them acting for some time to kill microrganisms, so obviously one needs to carry the water in some sort of container before use. Being a dork I forgot this once and burnt my mouth.

Yeh, but you had a sledge to carry it all! 

Ah, I was hoping there was some weird and wonderful use for coke bottles that I’d not come across before!

Not really weird uses but coke bottles cut easily with a penknife.....I've cut a 500ml one to use as a scoop to collect water running deep between rocks, have cut them for use as a mug (but deforms to much with very hot water), cut off the top for a funnel that delivered water from a leaking main stopcock to kitchen sink waste (lasted a few months), fashioned temporary protector for ice axe adze, cut off top for container/protector for rolled up neoair Xtherm mat.....

356g (230g fuel) canister

45g Alpkit Kraku

150g Lightweight 1l pot

Total: 551g for 12-16 litres of boiled water. Not too bad in anyones pack I reckon