UKC

Have you? I never have, but think I should seriously consider it, though it does sound gross. But not as gross as leaving it under a rock, 7.4 metres from where lots of people climb.
Just reading this https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/rocktalk/things_that_annoy_you_cragside-6... and I keep seeing posts about crags around Europe where litter is a huge problem, and poo the biggest. I know this will not be a popular thing for a man to say, but I think women MAY be bad culprits in that when they wee, they give themselves a quick wipe and dump the tissue, maybe I am wrong on that, and its just a misoginistic prejudice, sorry.

Anyway, how many actually poo in a bag at the crag and take away. Is it too bad? And any tips, yeugghh

Would you hang the bag from a tree?

Alternatively you could walk a couple of hundred yards from crag before going for a Forest.

So its OK at that distance to leave a pile of poo and some stinky tissue. For one person maybe, but when 20 people a week have the same plan, maybe there could be problems.

I have used a WAG bag on many occasions without any trouble.

People create their own versions using kitty litter etc but I just find it easier to use the purpose built variety.

Any older tradesmen will remember the days before CDM regs and workforce welfare, when an old cement bag was the usual repository for number 2s. This was usually chucked in the skip afterwards.

Yes, I have used bags in the hills (remember the Cairngorm Poo Project?) but nowadays I usually bury the evidence (properly, not just under a stone). However, I'm usually far from popular areas and I doubt such a strategy would be practical in the long term at a popular crag. Therefore bags seem to be the way forward, together with a robust container to pack it out in (CPP used the old BDH containers).

N

As a man I have pooed in a bag - not really a problem - just double bag it to make sure it doesn't burst in your sack. In winter its not a problem as it generally freezes anyway.

If only there were rubbish bins at car park, and perhaps composting toilets, then this would reduce this problem immensely.

But its not an ideal world so please just bag it, carry it out and dispose of it properly.

You measured it?

It's not a problem.  Bag it, seal it then put the sealed bag in an old drybag, roll up the top of the drybag and clip it to the outside of your rucksack until you get somewhere you can chuck it in a bin. 

7.4m?

If only. Someone had thoughfully left a poo right under the start of Valkyrie (the Froggatt one) earlier this year... 

Plenty of time for a little totting up whilst you're squatted! 

WAG bags are a neccesity for multi-day stuff in sensitive areas  but it might be a good idea to have a spare avaliable in the UK at popular crag venues (lighter than a trowel!), especially for groups, in case of emergency urgency (you gotta go, when you gotta go). They are not so expensive, easy to use, retain more modesty than I expected and are hygenic. Some European crags are so bad I'm surprised they don't have a free bag service (and disposal bin).

Useful post. I've previously asked a few friends and none of them carried their faeces or paper out and I suspect the majority are similar. I admit I don't use bags though have considered it. Having said that I can't remember when I last had to poo on single day outings and try to go before leaving campsite etc; developing a routine and early breakfast muesli and beans seem to help.....its far easier in every way to use proper facilities if possible, even if one ignored environmental effects. 

Judging by other posts we're a bit better about this in some way compared to continental climbers.

Your mates chalk bag?  

I have a dog. I always have poo bags with me for him, so when I’m van camping I just pick up my poop like I would his.

A month ago was picking up permits for Mt. Whitney and was given a wag bags for free for every party member. It's really the way to go. Not red tape, but free bags for people going to popular places and bins to dispose of shait. Just like for dogs - it's all invented already!

Personally I use moss, ferns or snow but if you must use paper, set fire to it.

I agree that if you're visiting an overcrowded crag like Malham wandering off into the field isn't a great idea. On the other hand I defy you to locate anything lying deep in the forest at Kyloe in the woods.

As someone who does have issues with temperamental bowels, I have occasionally had to resort to an al fresco dump - I do, however, always try and be discrete about it and hide/bury it as well as possible away from where anyone would be walking. I have a pack of Wilderness Wipes, which are biodegradable and have been known to bag out loo roll and tissues.

You can get baby nappy sacks that are biodegradable and de-odourizing and, as Tom said, use an old, opaque(!), dry bag to carry stuff out.

You went looking for it by the sounds of things, under a rock 7.4 m away.

Let sleeping turds lie.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Shit-Woods-Environmentally-Approach/dp/1580083...

Snow???

Hardcore.

Not at all, you should try it. The most eco friendly way of maintaining personal hygiene and not uncomfortable. If I could figure out how to design a machine that produced snow indoors I'd be marketing it to the aspirational middle class as a save the planet alternative to Andrex.

Only once used snow. Christmas day, perched on crampons, diarrhoea;  had to use handfuls of snow.....gritty and painful. Never again unless you can kindly advise on correct technique and snow quality!

I suppose one benefit would be having a hand warmer for a while.

Isn't there already a device that does this, slightly warm snow, but easier on the old ballon-knot, a bidet? 

Excellent for numbing post curry + beer ritter sting too.

I obviously can't speak for all women, but generally when peeing al fresco I will use a leaf, a bit of snow melted in my hand or dew to clean myself.  If there is really nothing available and I use a tissue, I will add it to the rest of my rubbish and pack it out.

Earlier this year I walked the Trotternish Ridge.  Got caught in unexpectedly horrible weather and found that the obvious spot to put up my tent (flat, grassy, sheltered by a large boulder) had three poos that had been "buried" under rocks.  Had a horrendous night in an exposed location instead :/

Absolutely. Working high in cathedral spires... nearest loo ten minutes descent away, with possible queue of 300 tourists? Simultaneous pee into bottle, poo into bag with a trowelful of hydraulic lime, tie, add to the shit sack. Job's a good 'un... 

... except for when the clovehitch on the bag slips on the final lower through the tower and falls sixty feet, bursts, scattering a dozen pissbottles, poobags, sullied limedust everywhere, thirty seconds before the Clerk of Works walks in with a dozen dignitaries on a special tour. Amazingly they didn't notice.

Never in a bag, but have dug a hole, done my business there then covered it over and taken the paper away many times.  Don't mind it at all, poo with a view!

Never done it, but find the idea of bagging and carrying out my own poo significantly less offensive than coming into close contact with someone else's. Much less hygiene risk for starters, as I can't see me catching anything from my own fresh business.

Regarding toilet paper in the hills, for a wee I just drip dry rather than worrying about responsible disposal of paper. There is something quite liberating about answering the call of nature Al fresco. 

I do carry paper for emergency situatins but will avoid using where possible, as others have said Mother Nature provides lots of alternative options. Must Confess have never carried paper out, but it would be no worse than bagging up girlie items (love the mooncup as that is no longer an issue!) and I would have never drempt of abandoning those on the hills. 

Sphagnum all the way.

Thanks for all the replies. I think I will make my own WAG kit up with a couple of dog poo bags and a dry bag, however when passing Needlesports or another shop, will buy a WAG bag.

As to the other ribald conversation regarding Snow, Gravel and Bidets. After travelling in India I installed a douche in our bathroom https://www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/modern-douche-thermostatic-bar-valve-wi...
because frankly the Western habit of stick your hand up your arse and scraping it with paper is a bit backward.

Not sure why the OP has got the dislikes, but hey ho. 

Top tip. Don't use ferns

I don’t leave my tissue or my poo.  It’s not complicated.  If I’m alfresco weeing I don’t tend to bother with paper.  Poo is either buried, carried out or I wait until I find a toilet.  Depends on the situation.  

If you are bothered wood shavings is probably cheaper than whatever is in the wagbags.  

Never needed to whilst out climbing but I would say yes a couple of times a year whilst at work on site. Most days there are no facilities on site, occasionally when things are desperate it's a bag in the back of the van, paper goes in the bag and it's dumped in the next bin I drive past. 

Old crystaline/granular snow works like a treat. fresh powder clearly not so much...

damp moss is better than paper!

You need to compress the powder down a bit. 

Agreed.

I avoid ferns because a) the leaflets come off and get everywhere and b) I don't want a tick anywhere near there.

I've done it hundreds of times. In a bag that is, not necessarily at a crag. 

Cutting a bag open so you have a big space to aim for works well, then wrap it up and bag it. Baby wipes work well. Yes they are not great for the environment but not found an alternative.

Had a client dissapear with toilet paper today and didn't see her bring it back. Is it acceptable to leave it. No, but I didn't challenge her. 

I've had mates get to a crag and go "oh I'm bursting" and they go do a dump. Does my head in. If you carry bags for your dog then you should carry them for yourself. 

I tried getting my group to carry poo tubes in the Cairngorms once. Half the group didn't go to the toilet to avoid carrying shite out, which seemed crazy. Others used other people's tubes, which was genuis. 

For a few yrs now, I have carried plastic trowel (light, cheap) with half toilet roll round the handle, all in a couple of poly bags. It turns out that every time I or a friend has needed it (usually Spain and rock-hard ground, but sometimes UK), it's been easier to plop in the bag, roll up and put i  second bag. 

Usually carried out by hand to nearest roadside bin (at crags like Montesa, to nearest dog poo bin!) AND you can enjoy the luxury of T.P. without feeling guilty about littering. It really is easy! Mainly, we carried the bag in hand rather than in rucksack, but not always.

When working on old bikes in previous lockup, away from home, I also used this method. Really really simple, and as another poster mentions it's normal dog owner behaviour.

Has there been enough sensible advice to sidetrack this into a general poo story thread yet?

Yes, no worries, I have found out what I need to know.
I am sure some people would have been glad if I had known about WAG bags before climbing the Vajolet Towers a couple of years ago. Pooeee.
Whats your story?

Yep. Was I impressed to see box of WAG bags at the northern approach to Mt Whitney at the end of the JMT. However it was infuriating seeing dozens of used and sealed bags along the trail down to the road. Like dog owners bagging and leaving. 

Maybe each bag they give away free should have a unique barcode.

Then they can charge the user a hefty disposal fee together with a fine for littering  

Carry a WAG bag for emergency use, they're  easy to use, no worse than using a toilet and definitely more pleasant then pooing under a rock.  There is no "yeugghh" if you can manage to wipe your arse without drama  then you can use a WAG bag.

Random distribution over a wide area, as opposed to a small, linear feature. Pack out the bog paper. Consideration needs to be given to the local ecosystem.

I usually shit myself on the crag,as it should be.No plastic involved all bio shit here.

When I was younger I could normally nip off my sphincter muscle quite cleanly, negating the need for any toilet paper and an al fresco dump at the base of the Right Unconquerable could be achieved in a matter of seconds....less even, if I was wearing my split crotch Ronhills.

These days, in middle age, the slackened muscle takes a bit of time consuming wiping with at least five to ten yards of tissue. This normally means that I have to conceal myself in bracken at least 7.4m away from the climb where I can drop my steaming load and attend to my soiled ring piece without being spotted

I have a few, but needing a crap 30' or 40'  up Moonraker was memorable. (Not fear, just needed to go.) Harness off, sling under armpits, the turds hit the sea - thankfully not my second - and turned into brown pancakes that bobbed accusingly, and were still visible from the very top.

So straight into a bag? Or on the floor and then pick it up with the bag?

I've also been really impressed with the Americans on this aspect. We've had the same in Utah, when we picked up permits for a multiday hike, they gave us one wag bag per person per day. Also, when we've been in Indian Creek, they had wag bags at the car park that you could take for a donation. It's obviously super important in the desert, but the Americans seem far ahead of us on this.