A Winter Stove Suggestion

[300winmag]

Zelph,

Video links for the Caldera Cone Sidewinder Inferno exist under the Finnish backpacker Heindrik. Just search on YouTube or at Backpacking Light for Inferno videos.

As for the Vargo Tri Ti I know of no videos.

[way out there]

There's a new stove just out! it seem to be a multi tool for fire. it folds up to one third of an inch thick. it's a top load twig burner but can be set up for a alcohol stove or a wind proof isbit stove. very well made, stainless steel. A bit heavy but no need to carry fuel. this thing is so cool it's worth the weight to me. www.foldingfirebox.com the burn chamber is raised up and it has a ash pan so no trace. it also has a wind damper and these stainless sticks they call fire sticks these are used for many things including skewers for roasting food. anyway I love mine because it can be a big camp fire or a super efficient small flame stove. very versatile

[MedicineMan]

When I cannot find a stated weight within 10 seconds of scanning the main page I know
its not for ME or my backpack. The kayak yes, the paid Sherpa yes.
Yes there is a new stove for backpacking that can burn any fuel anywhere and packs even flatter.
There is a stated weight of 5.4 ounces in Ti and its spot on via my postal digital.
Emberlit

[Lyle]

I've use a Svea for 30+ years. 70's, 80's and 90's year round, since then for winter. Early on, the Svea wasn't considered a full-on winter stove, others were easier to keep pressurized. Did learn tricks though to make it work.
- Hold burning paper underneath briefly to warm it before trying to light it.
- Use extra priming fuel, sometimes need to prime it twice
- Place the stove in a small square of closed cell foam, just big enough for the stove - keeps the warmth from the tank from getting sucked into the frozen ground

Been out numerous time well below zero and never failed to have a hot dinner. Great little stove, but quirky, and they're all a little different. Have to develop a "relationship" but it's worth it.

[Tinker]

If you use alcohol in the winter, sleep with the fuel bottle and the stove will start much more easily in the morning and reach max. temps. more quickly (works with canisters and white gas, too). Sleep with your water bottle, too, for the same reason, regardless of what fuel you use. If you carry a metal water bottle (I carry a stainless 40 oz. one), you can set it by the fire (should you decide to have one) and melt snow until you go to bed. Put the bottle in an insulated holder or a heavy wool sock and take it to bed with you. It will keep you warmer the first half of the night (or better) and you will keep it warmer until you need to cook with it in the am.


One more thing while it comes to mind (I forget more often than I remember :\ ), titanium is a poor conductor of heat so it doesn't make a good alcohol stove. Alcohol stoves are very dependent upon a metal which conducts heat from the flame back to the liquid inside. Aluminum is the best, brass is next (copper would be excellent except that it's too soft). Steel (stainless or not) and titanium are not suitable when efficiency is important (since so much heat is lost to the air, extreme winter weather sometimes makes alcohol stoves very, very inefficient, making you carry way more weight in fuel than you would if you used white gas or kerosene).

[Wolf - 23000]

300winmag,

First rule of winter hiking is you don't play games. Bad things happen very fast. If you asking the question about stove then the also clearify where and when. A wood burning stove may work find in Nevada or the southern Appalachian Trail but try winter hiking in northern New England and you are asking for trouble. For serious winter hiking I liked the MSR Appex. It runs on gas burns hotter than wood and is needed to melt ice/snow.

Wolf

[English Stu]

If I was melting snow for water I would use my MSR Simmerlite.
I enjoy the BackCountry Boiler, I use it extensively in the UK and it now has a felt wick for use with alcohol. The chimney design means that soot is not a problem, a bit of a smell of smoke. I store in my pack after two polythene bags;one for the stove ,then the stuff sack and then another poly bag.You need to get into the swing of looking for dry wood ,especially in the winter.
I used a Bushcooker stove on the AT which is lighter and a fine stove, but I find the Boiler just beats it.

[way out there]

If you haven't seen this one, It's worth a look! It burns tabs, alcohol or wood and is variable output from a small flame stove to a nice size camp fire www.foldingfirebox.com It's stainless steel

[Don Newcomb]

I've played with a lot of stoves over the centuries but never a Sierra Zip...
I'd like to ask Garlic if during those 1000 miles if one battery lasted the whole time, and for anyone else who's used one, just how much cooking time can you expect from that sole AA battery?

You'd be very hard pressed to find one, but the Markill Wilderness Stove had an optional solar panel to recharge the battery & power the fan.

[Don Newcomb]

One thing to keep in mind with all wood burning stoves is that they are very dirty. If there is a chance you will be forced to cook in the tent or vestibule, you will need another option, such as a small alcohol burner.

[Tipi Walter]

300winmag,

First rule of winter hiking is you don't play games. Bad things happen very fast. If you asking the question about stove then the also clearify where and when. A wood burning stove may work find in Nevada or the southern Appalachian Trail but try winter hiking in northern New England and you are asking for trouble. For serious winter hiking I liked the MSR Appex. It runs on gas burns hotter than wood and is needed to melt ice/snow.

Wolf

One thing to keep in mind with all wood burning stoves is that they are very dirty. If there is a chance you will be forced to cook in the tent or vestibule, you will need another option, such as a small alcohol burner.

These are some good points. My main complaint of the wood burners is the nasty weather often encountered whereby most of the cooking will be inside the tent vestibule. On my last trip (this October) I spent 8 days of the 18 huddled up inside my tent during butt cold rainstorms cooking up meals with my white gas Simmerlite. A wood stove would not have worked. Plus, in blizzard conditions you don't want to be a) digging thru the snow looking for twigs, and b) squatting outside in the wind and cold and spindrift nursing a woodstove to life and waiting for your stuff to boil or cook. This thread is about winter camping, right?

[Doc Mike]

[QUOTE=Wolf - 23000;1209771]300winmag,here is my .02

First rule of winter hiking is you don't play games. Bad things happen very fast. If you asking the question about stove then the also clearify where and when. A wood burning stove may work find in Nevada or the southern Appalachian Trail but try winter hiking in northern New England and you are asking for trouble. For serious winter hiking I liked the MSR Appex. It runs on gas burns hotter than wood and is needed to melt ice/snow.

Before gas stoves I assume it was impossible to camp in the winter. Or is that only in the northeast no one winter camped or went on hunting trips or spent nights outside before gas stoves. Not saying gas stoves aren't nice to have, I'm just saying because one way may be best it doesn't make it the only way.

example.
When driving down the interstate you don't play games. Bad things happen very fast. If your asking about driving then clarify when and where. A car with no airbags may work fine in areas of less traffic but in high traffic your just looking for trouble. For serious interstate driving I like the 12 air bag version. It is much safer when in an accident and is needed in case of dramatic roll over.

[Tipi Walter]

[QUOTE=Doc Mike;1212146]

300winmag,here is my .02


Before gas stoves I assume it was impossible to camp in the winter. Or is that only in the northeast no one winter camped or went on hunting trips or spent nights outside before gas stoves. Not saying gas stoves aren't nice to have, I'm just saying because one way may be best it doesn't make it the only way.

Portable stoves have been around since 1850 and people have been using them for camping since then. Before that early human shelters, even portable ones, were designed to allow for an open fire inside the shelter, such as the early hide tipis and witu/wickiups. These shelters were also portable as noted, and so no, people didn't start living outdoors with the advent of portable stoves. The modern backpacker as a rule doesn't carry a shelter that can allow an inside fire or firepit or an open source woodstove, although with the coming of the enclosed woodstove came a real step forwards in survival using primitive shelters---see the Titanium Goat and the Kifaru tipis with their portable woodstoves and stovepipes, etc.

As for me, I won't have an open fire anywhere near my Hilleberg tent. In a long survival situation during the winter I'll just build a simple tipi and haul in a woodstove---otherwise my winter survival comes from woodstove replacement items: A dang good down bag, a high Rvalue pad, a four season tent, and ample goose down clothing for in-camp lounging.

[Don Newcomb]

Looking at old camping and hunting books; people did go camping and hunting in the winter, just not the way we do it. The use of pack animals was much more common so equipment could be heavier. Woodcraft was encouraged and people tended to build significant camps.

[Tipi Walter]

Looking at old camping and hunting books; people did go camping and hunting in the winter, just not the way we do it. The use of pack animals was much more common so equipment could be heavier. Woodcraft was encouraged and people tended to build significant camps.

Now LNT butts heads with the bushcraft types. This is a whole other subject with some controversy.

[Don Newcomb]

Now LNT butts heads with the bushcraft types. This is a whole other subject with some controversy.

Of course, I'm not encouraging woodcraft, just stating that it was a common and accepted practice until rather recent times.

[QiWiz]

+1 on Caldera Cone Ti-Tri. Love mine!

[Snowman55]

The Stratus Backpacking Wood Burning Stove works very well for winter camping. Light, well made, nests with grease pot perfectly for transport and even provides heat for you to warm by if you keep it fed with wood.

[Papa D]

I like bushcraft and I like the craftspersonship of the wood burners - cooking with fire (or a wood-burner now and again) is good skill building but for a winter stove - and I assume you mean winter - cold rain, blowing snow, sleet, etc., the MSR Whisper-light (or similar gas stove) is my go-to stove. See Tipi Walter's post. Tipi carries an awfully heavy load sometimes (I've seen him out a good bit) but he absolutely "gets it done" in comfort in the worst of conditions.