Relying on boiled lakewater instead of melted snow
From BearWiki
Claim: Bear should have bottled snow or ice, not lakewater.
Snow is almost always clean, and is widely recommended as a survival water source without boiling so long as you melt it first[1][2][3][4]. Stagnant lakewater, as Bear notes, is usually dirty (however, above the treeline, it is usually safe -- something that Bear doesn't note)[5]. Not every stranded tourist will be able to have a fire, nor a container suitable for boiling. Even Bear doesn't build a fire up there (assumedly because of the lack of wood above the tree line), and instead carries a contaminated canteen full of contaminated water with him. Yet, he sat around resting, while a canteen full of snow or ice could have been melting from slow body heat transfer, grass warmth, the canteen resting in meltwater, being covered in cloth, or any other means. However, do not eat non-melted snow unless lowering your core temperature is a goal.
If lakewater is a necessity, gathering from the shoreline or shallows (as bear does) is the worst place to get it, as far as giardia is concerned.[6]
[edit] Analysis
Support: It is virtually universally supported that snow would be the best water source. Never eat the snow because doing so lowers your core body temperature and may lead to hypothermia. When melting snow, put a little water in the bottom of the pot and then add the snow. Obviously, put the pot over a fire.
