high altitude stove

[porkchop401]

Fellas , I am trying to figure out what stove to have in the pack when the truck parks and the hiking begins. I am planning on being by my self so carrying every thing in on my back , though I will probably be only about a mile and a half it is exstremely steep and all up hill. I wanted to hunt these areas this past season but was only able to hunt at the lower elevations and listen to bugles up there due to the needing to leave at 2:30am to make it up there buy daylight . Elevation is in the neighborhood of 11K and am not sure what will work best for mtn house meals (16/oz of boilling water) and need to be able to carry enough fuel for 4-5 days . Alcohol, butane ,hard fuel ect. your thoughts please.

 

[jmden]

Fellas , I am trying to figure out what stove to have in the pack when the truck parks and the hiking begins. I am planning on being by my self so carrying every thing in on my back , though I will probably be only about a mile and a half it is exstremely steep and all up hill. I wanted to hunt these areas this past season but was only able to hunt at the lower elevations and listen to bugles up there due to the needing to leave at 2:30am to make it up there buy daylight . Elevation is in the neighborhood of 11K and am not sure what will work best for mtn house meals (16/oz of boilling water) and need to be able to carry enough fuel for 4-5 days . Alcohol, butane ,hard fuel ect. your thoughts please.

Any of your typical stoves should work fine. Most of the cannister stoves take cannisters that are a isobutane/propane mix that should work fairly well especially if you warm them up with you in your sleeping bag before use in cold weather. How cold are you talking?

Good reading with some good cold weather info on cannisters part way down:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/canister_stove_faq

One quote from above article: "Altitude offsets the effect of cold temperatures. The lower atmospheric pressure (with higher altitude) makes it easier for the liquid fuel to vaporize in the canister and supply the burner with gas."

White gas stoves will work as well, but are typically heavier.

Right now my 'go to' ultralight stove/pot system is:

Stove:MSR® MicroRocket Ultralight and Compact Canister Stove

This stove has its own igniter, but always bring a lighter just the same.

Pot: MSR® Titan™ Kettle - Ultralight titanium with pot, mug, or bowl versatility

Then use an MSR 4oz. isobutane/propane cannister. The cannister and stove easily fit inside the quite small Titan Teakettle for a very compact, very lightweight cooking system at under 1 lb. If I just boil 2 cups of water a day for one dehy meal, a cannister will typically last about a week or more.

The MSR Reactor or the JetBoil will boil water faster, but they are much bulkier and heavier systems and I've had little problems (wind--make a windscreen out of available materials if need be) with this system.

 

[1SevenZero]

I second the MSR recommendation. I use the Pocket Rocket stove, but that is because they didn't make the micro when I purchased mine.

As for the cooking pot look at getting something just large enough to boil the water for your meals. Anything larger is just unnecessary bulk and weight. I carry one made by MSR, the Quick 2. It was a part of a set that had a couple of pots plates and insulated mugs. I carry the smaller of the pots (1.5L) and sometimes a mug(winter).

I would recommend taking some heavy duty foil (folded over once) that you can wrap around the base as a windscreen. It's light and will store inside the pot along with the stove and gas canister when packed.

As a side note...a trick I learned winter camping that is awesome. Just before going to sleep boil water and pour it into water bottle. Then put the water bottle in the foot of your sleeping bag. It'll help keep you toasty.

 

[porkchop401]

Well this past year it was about 23 most mornings at 9k feet but im not sure what 11k would be. I generaly can take single digits ok at night as long as i have a hot meal before bed.

 

[jmden]

Just an fyi...the Titan Teakettle holds well less than a quart of water so it's a pretty small, light, efficient, quite flexible little tool--better than a pot alone. I use it when elk hunting for heating water/food over a wood fired Kifaru stove in my WildSide Systems TipiTents as well. It is one of the most used parts of my kit and has been for years. Of the 30+ days I spent out this year, it probably got used at least 2/3 of those days.

 

[Tikkamike]

I have a jetboil and use the primus canisters (because that is what it sold locally) I have used it at 10,000 in the summer and 9000 foot in the winter when it was 15-20 below zero to melt snow and it worked great. one cannister (that fits in the mug) would probably do it if you only cooked one meal a day, if you were cooking 2-3 a day id take at least 3 just to be safe. the jet boil will boil 16 ox of water in about 2-3 minutes depending on temp. so thats not a lot of fuel consumption. they are light though so not a big deal to carry, and they have a crunch tool that punctures the empty ones so you can compact it and it wont take up much space (about like a smashed pop can)

 

[1100 Remington Man]

I use one I bought at Wal-Mart in the camping section a Coleman Peak one for around 25 bucks & is small & when we backpacked for elk it was as good as the MSR my brother had & actually boiled water faster. Tip it fits inside a 20ga shotgun shell box for protection in pack. We camped above 9000ft worked Great.

 

[Tim in Washington]

These are getting great reviews Soto Micro Regulator Stove - Reviews and Price Comparison at Trailspace.com I'm going to try one next year
Tim

 

[BitterrootBob]

This is a great stove for high altitude, cold weather: MSR XGK EX Extreme Condition Stove

MSR is the best backpacking stove maker IMHO. The only downside to this stove is it doesn't simmer real low very well. It is a fuel miser, though. It would take one, or a maximum of two, bottles of fuel to meet your requirements and that would be cooking two meals per day.

 

[BitterrootBob]

I forgot to mention, whatever you do, DON'T get a Butane only stove! You will regret it if you get up there with a Butane stove.

 

[Tim in Washington]

I've never had a problem with butane/propane stoves either at high altitude or cold weather(or both) you just need to but the 4 season fuel mix
Tim

 

[jmden]

These are getting great reviews Soto Micro Regulator Stove - Reviews and Price Comparison at Trailspace.com I'm going to try one next year
Tim

This stove is a great stove. It has a burner head that spreads the flame out better than the MSR Micro Rocket and is fairly adjustable in case you wanted to actually cook something vs. just wanting a 'flame thrower' to boil water. It's one downside (and I own one and really like it) is its integral piezo lighter is known to fail. I've gone through a couple already. At 2.6 oz., no other stove has this kind of functionality that I know of at that weight. The regulator feature of this stove helps it work better in cold weather and throughout the life of a cannister than many other cannister stoves. Boil time is just under 4 minutes.

At 13.2 oz. the MSR XGK EX is several times heavier and larger in comparison. Just not an ultralight stove. Great stove, you can just get stoves with similar performacne in much smaller lighter packages. Boil time with white gas is 3.5 minutes. My entire cook kit (Soto OD-1R stove, fuel cannister, and Titan Teakettle) weighs as much as the MSR XGK EX.

 

[Mike 338]

I've been considering a new stove myself. I think I'm sold on the Jetboil. I think if I knew I'd be melting snow, I'd opt for a big pot like the Sumo.

 

[madcow41]

I run an MSR XGK with diesel fuel, or in colder areas Jet-A