Those of you who hike without a stove
Do you also not carry a stove in winter?
That depends on if there's flowing water. If I have to melt snow, which is most likely on my winter trips, I take a stove. It also depends on what your definition of winter is. I see you're from LA....
"Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning
Are you concerned about safety, as in not having the resources to heat water if you become hypothermic?
Both systems work well---going stoveless or with a stove. The stoveless route works well for a time until you start hankering for more variety in your menu choices, as in scrambled eggs or grilled cheese sandwiches or toast or hot morning tea or fried tofu/tempeh or all the rest. Plus, I would never rely on a stove to forestall hypothermia. Survival from this comes in the form of your shelter, bag, clothing and sleeping pad. Sometimes the last thing you want to do in a tough situation is fuss with a stove.
Well put Tipi!Originally Posted by Tipi Walter
I agree with every word in this post, with emphasis on not relying on a stove to prevent cold injury.
I dug up some chemistry notes and tried to calculate the heat benefit of a stove. Here's what I found: If you raise the temperature of one quart of water from 40F to 140F (as hot as you can drink), you add about 60 Calories of heat. That's less than the energy in one ounce of sugar. (I'm not an expert and I could be wrong. I used the formula one Calorie = 1 kg water x 1 degree C.) But that doesn't count the psychological aspect of a hot drink or meal, especially if you have a healthy partner willing to heat it up for you while you're in your bag.
This is a real good question, because fear of hypthermia was the last thing I had to get over before going stoveless. But I got over it.
"Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning
I didn't mean to imply carrying fuel and a stove prevents hypothermia, obviously. It's a way to warm liquids to drink to warm you up. I just wondered if not having that particular option in the eventuality that you become hypothermic was something that concerned no-stove hikers.
A stove is more for psychological comfort than anything (melting water for snow excepted).
A hot drink can be nice...but so can not having to futz with a stove.
When I was high on the Continental Divide this past summer, I was caught in nasty storm. Did not (could not!) go any higher. Something about thunder, lightning, hail and rain....
Made a high camp at about 12800' or so and hid out in my shelter from 3:30 pm until 6am or so.. Since I packed cold food, I had a very nice time munching on tortillas, tuna and cheese. No need to futz with stove in the rain, wind and cold.
Not a good idea to use a stove in the small, light and highly flammable shelters many of us use. :O
Having said that, when I winter camp (no flowing water), I'll take a stove to melt snow.
And this weekend, I am car camping with the fiance'. We are taking the Coleman dual burner stove.
Well put!!!!
Last edited by Mags; 10-26-2011 at 20:12.
Paul "Mags" Magnanti
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I was out once in winter and let my hands get too cold.Could barely move my fingers enough to flic my bic to light my Svea.Now I carry a flint steel&striker.Also comes in handy for lighting campfires with coleman fuel....
It depends on the winter. In Canadian winters I carry my stove becaus it could turn to a life saver while in summers is just for convenience. I just find it useful for melting water.Here there will not be a drop of water.aroud in extreme subzero temperature.
Is it practical o use your stove to warm up the tent in the start ? I found it yes. If you are dead cold(weather permitted) you can make a short fire in your tent jus for a few minutes to warm your body up.
I must say though, leaving the stove unatteded or having a power nap while stove is burning in the tent should be absolutely forbidden.
Is it wise to count on stove to save your life? no
Is it a stove practical or reliable in a stormy night to warm up the tent? Big NO
Do Itake stove in winters: Yes , always
this...............
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I think I would add to Tipi's excellent short list one more item: food. Fuel in your belly (or lack thereof) will go a long way toward staying warm or getting cold, independent of (or in addition to) external factors.
In the summer, I often won't bother with a stove. But during the cooler seasons and definitely in winter, I do carry a stove (usually a "soda can" stove), and vary the amount of alcohol I carry, depending on how cold I expect it to be.
RainMan
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Personally and currently, I salivate at the thought of bringing my stove as there are many items sitting in the pantry waiting to be cooked and eaten on the next trip. I'm saving these items just for the trip, so my taste buds are ready. I could return to stoveless trips but why forego hot tea and scrambled eggs and grilled cheese and fried tofu and hot lentil soups and morning toast and all the rest?
There are three levels of backpacking meals:
1) Stoveless. "Snacks".
2) Pot meals (Pasta-Sides, mac and cheese, soups, dehydrated Mt House meals, etc---add boiling water meals).
3) Fry pan meals (fired eggs or omelettes---many varied options). Even bacon.
I've been in this fix many times---when the hands turn to blocks of wood and they can't even unhook the hipbelt or pull open a zipper. But I never use my stove to warm up the hands as fuel is precious on a long trip and I won't use it just to get my hands back to normal. Instead I use an open flame candle inside the tent---and the shelter must be put up with wooden hands and all, just grit the teeth and do it. Afterwards you can light up a little three inch candle and thaw out the hands.
My system is stump simple: A Blistex blue container bottom with a three inch, three hour dripless, smokeless candle made by Manischewitz and available in most grocery stores. For a long trip I take around 5 or 6 of these babies and they will keep my fingers thawed when it's 0F inside the tent and I'm sitting up to write or read, etc. Hint: Never blow out a candle but pinch it off with wet fingers. Otherwise you could blow a spark onto your bag or onto your sleeping pad.
The candle, great idea!
SMSP
South MS Patriot
What about lighting the candle; wouldn't a lighter create sparks that could fall on something; or even worse a match and it's semi-unpredictable flare up? Also not sure how comfortable I feel about squeezing a flame with wet fingers- but that could just be lack of experience doing so combined with the desire of not getting burned!
My standard firestarter are a couple Bics, one in a ditty bag and an emergency smaller one in a protective housing. (Yes, a Bic switch can get depressed in a stuffed ditty bag and lose all of its fuel---not good, hence the emerg backup in an old McNetts container, see below). Some people like to use flint and steel, which does cause sparks, obviously. I've never noticed any pinholing sparks shooting off the Bics---no pad holes or tent floor holes or sleeping bag holes.
Snuffing a candle with wet fingertips is EASY, and keeps blown sparks from happening and stops a smoking wick, etc.
A Bic lighter fits perfectly inside one of these empty containers, and keeps the Bic switch from getting depressed.
I'd rather have a pound of clothes to keep me warm than a pound of stove fuel.
David Smolinski
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