[cdt-l] An alcohol stove for two - Jim's take

Wed Dec 27 15:14:58 CST 2006

Jim and Karen

I suppose YMMV and YRMV (your route may vary) says it all.
On the trail this year, our average daily mileage on days when we were 
hiking was 15.5.
So we took 12 days hiking the 180 miles from East Glacier to Lincoln. We 
chose to do the Ahern Creek, Hoadley Creek, Elbow Pass route so we did not 
go near Benchmark.
The other section we took 12 days on was 163 miles from Dubois to Atlantic 
City/Lander. Due to the Purdy Fire we chose to hike a longer route round the 
western boundary of the fire area. I wanted to climb a couple of the peaks 
in the Winds and we also chose to hike via Texas Pass and the Cirque of the 
Towers so all this meant we did not go to Big Sandy and had 3 short days - 5 
miles, 8 miles and 11 miles. Certainly carrying 12 days supplies also makes 
one slower too!!

I agree that it's essential to keep an alcohol stove very well sheltered 
from even a slight wind otherwise fuel consumption could easily double.

Alistair

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ginny & Jim Owen" <spiritbear2k at hotmail.com>
To: <cdt-l at backcountry.net>
Cc: <kborski at yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2006 11:14 PM
Subject: [cdt-l] An alcohol stove for two - Jim's take

> Karen -
> I'm puzzled - I think you're missing something - so allow me to recap and 
> see where it takes us -
>
> We never had a 12 day section - and we were taking our time.  No 30 mile 
> days this time - max mileage was 28 and we only did that once.  I think 
> average for the trail was somewhere around 15 or 16. We were out there for 
> a 6 month hike not minimum time-on-trail.. Most hikers (including you?) 
> are faster than us - and therefore take less time between resupply.
>
> Max time between resupply was 9 days.  That was between Lander and Dubois 
> (150 miles?).
> Steamboat to Rawlins was about 165 miles /8 days. We had a maildrop at Big 
> Sandy, but didn't include fuel.
>
> We were 9 days between East Glacier and Lincoln (~150 miles), but we sent 
> a maildrop to Benchmark.
>
> Those were the longest carries on the trail - for us.  YMMV
>
> Remember - generally, days of fuel = (days on trail) minus 1. (Since you 
> don't cook dinner on your last day into town.)
>
> We (read "I") carried a 20 oz Mt Dew bottle of fuel.  No more - ever.  We 
> did not run out at any time during the hike.  Nor did we ever have to 
> replace the Mt Dew bottle.  I finally got rid of it in Phoenix cause we 
> couldn't take it on the plane. Don't know what it weighed, but it wasn't 4 
> oz. <g>
>
> Mmm - yep - there are two of us.  I counted again to make sure.  And we 
> both ate out of the same pot - except for coffee in the morning, which I 
> don't drink - ever.  <G>
>
> Now, what we did was dependent on the fuel consumption of our stove 
> (read - efficiency).  If we'd used the other, faster burning stove our 
> numbers would probably have been different.  If we'd cooked more - or had 
> tea for breakfast or coffee at noon or soup and hot chocolate every night, 
> our fuel consumption would have been different.  But we avoided things 
> that would increase fuel consumption.
>
> If necessary, we could have carried the same capacity for the shorter 
> sections and just added an unopened bottle of Heet to the pack for the 
> longer sections - but it was never necessary.  In the long carry sections 
> we forego the extras - like hot chocolate or soup with dinner or tea in 
> the morning or long cooking tortolini.  It makes a difference.
>
> We never paid more than $1.49 (+ tax) for a bottle of Heet - usually less. 
> We only once bought two bottles of Heet.  And one of those went to 
> Benchmark.  The short sections always left us with enough fuel left over 
> to fill the fuel bottle with only one bottle of Heet.
>
> So - using your format , but changing the numbers to fit "our" hike for 
> "our" stove and "our" usage -
>
> 1, 2-L titanium pot:  8 oz
> 20 oz. Heet + 1 oz bottle = 21 oz
> Stove:  1 oz
>
> Total:  30 oz (1.8 lbs) for no more than 3 specific sections.  All other 
> sections would be less.
>
> Mmm - make sure you have a wind screen - or you might eat cold some nights 
> no matter what stove you use.
>
> Thoughts on Esbit - we tried them prior to our '99 hike.  They stink. 
> Don't care what anyone says - to me they still stink. And they blackened 
> the pot.  And they were more expensive. And most times one tab didn't do 
> the job.  I know people who used them on the AT - they don't use them 
> anymore.
>
> But, as always - it's your decision to make - not mine.  (Gee - can you 
> tell I don't like them? <G>)
>
> In '99 we carried a Whisperlite International and a 20 oz fuel bottle. 
> Don't remember the weight, but it was entirely satisfactory.  Still have 2 
> Internationals buried in storage someplace  - one of them brand new, never 
> been lit. No - not trying to sell it. <g>
>
> We didn't convert to alcohol until about 4 years ago.  It took Ginny a 
> while to become a believer (me too).
>
> Suggestion - before you make a decision - try Esbit - in cold field 
> conditions.
>
> And if you do go with alcohol, make sure you know what the consumption 
> numbers are for the stove you're using.  That takes some testing .  Not 
> just the boiling 2 cups of water in X minutes thing, but under real field 
> conditions - like a 2 or 3 (or more) day backpacking trip.   That's how we 
> test things - not in lab conditions, but in field conditions where if it 
> doesn't work, we don't eat.  And if we don't eat, then we don't do that 
> again.  That's how Esbit got thrown out of the pool.  We gave away a 
> gaggle of those things at a Ruck after our '99 hike.
>
> The alcohol stove is not very efficient either in high wind conditions - 
> but we generally were able to find a sheltered spot to cook, and used our 
> packs and our bodies to increase the protection on really windy days.  The 
> only times we didn't cook as planned were when it was snowing on us or 
> raining really hard - but that would have been true no matter which stove 
> we used.  I love Oreos for dinner.
>
> Walk softly,
> Jim
>
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