[pct-l] Denatured alcohol ... watch out for wind!

[Eric Lee (GAMES)]

Paul wrote:
>
So then, if conditions are particularly dangerous out there now, maybe ezbit
tablets would be a safer/more responsible option?  Burned on a reflector
surrounded by a small pile of rocks, I don't remember them ever flaring up
when I used them.
>

This has been a long thread so I lost track of whether anyone has already said this or not, but flareups aren't the only source of danger.  There's also wind.  So Cal often has very strong and unpredictable winds and a sudden gust could knock over your pot and stove and/or scatter any burning fuel in a wide pattern.  Alcohol stoves are particularly susceptible to the problem because they're so light but it could happen with any stove.  It doesn't even take a particularly strong gust of wind to pick up an alcohol stove and transforming it into a rolling inferno that scatters burning fuel everywhere along its path.

I'm embarrassed to admit that it almost happened to me just north of Garnet peak on Mt. Laguna a couple of years ago.  I had come to a nice overlook and decided to eat a hot lunch there.  The wind was only a gentle breeze with occasional stronger gusts.  I'm usually a pretty smart and aware sort of guy but the "gusts" thing didn't really click in my mind.  I set up my stove on a wide rock, lit it, and started cooking.  A couple minutes later while my back was turned an unusually strong gust of wind (stronger than any I had felt to that point) suddenly struck and knocked over my whole setup - pot, windscreen, pot stand, and stove.  My windscreen took off flying but fortunately the pot, stand, and stove got tangled up in each other and the stove ended up only traveling about a foot and stayed on the rock.  Needless to say I was horrified and sick to my stomach at what had so nearly happened.

Like I said, alcohol stoves are probably the worst about becoming unexpectedly mobile due to their light weight but I could see it happening to canister stoves too (especially if they get blown over onto a slope where they can keep rolling awhile) and esbit tablets too.

If you're faced with a choice between using a stove in the wind or eating a cold dinner, the cold dinner should win every time.

Eric