Using In Good Conditions
Good fortune lieth within bad, and bad fortune within good. — Lao-tzu.
Let’s first define a range we can call good conditions. Not much wind. No rain, or only a little drizzle or soft mist now and then. Cool or maybe almost-but-not-quite-cold, though still well above freezing. Warm or really warm but not baking. Lower elevations.
In other words we’re talking about a gentle day in late spring, in summer, or early fall. Not about trips into the Himalayas in January, or into Death Valley in August. These good conditions represent about 90% of the trips that 90% of us make 90% of the time. If not more. What you want from a stove under these conditions can be provided by almost any stove at all.
This is low-stress backpacking. You get up in the morning, sometime before noon let’s say. You stand and scratch, yawn for a while, and bump into things every now and then, in a pleasant and agreeable sort of way. You eventually fire up the stove and make breakfast. You are in no hurry. Life is good. This is what you want it to be like.
Later, you pause along the trail and make lunch, eating it while admiring the scenery and trying to decide just what about the rest of your life is keeping you from doing exactly this sort of thing for the rest of your life. Even later, after comfortably walking for several more hours you drift to a stop in late afternoon and make supper. Nothing has happened that would make a good movie, or a bad one. You have encountered nothing to write home about except the scenery and how good you feel, and you’re done with your chores in a few minutes, without any fuss at all.
In a way these are the most demanding conditions for ultralight backpacking stoves. They easily separate the light side (good) from the dark side (bad). Since you’ve got nothing else to use in discriminating between stoves, you can concentrate on just weight, heat output, cost, and ease of use. Or, all else being equal, only on weight.
This sort of use defines ultralight backpacking stoves. This is where ultralight backpacking stoves shine.
Let’s review what you have to do with a...
Liquid fuel stove: Unpack it. Set it up. Fill the tank or attach the fuel bottle. Pressurize it. Prime it. Light it. Wait for it to warm. Cook, while keeping an eye on the stove, lest it lunge at you like a dragon in heat.
Compressed gas stove: Unpack it. Attach fuel container to stove (for some stoves). Guess how much fuel is left, and whether it’s enough to cook your meal. If not, then unplug the canister and temporarily swap in a new one, if you can with your brand of stove, or otherwise plan on changing them halfway through cooking. Light the stove. Cook, while keeping an eye on it, because you still really never know with these things.
Alcohol stove: Remove it from your pot, where it snuggles conveniently. Fill it with fuel. Light it. Set pot on it, and set wind screen over it. Come back when the fuel burns out.
Wood burning stove: Hunt around for wood. Test each piece to see if it’s solid and crisp or soft and punky. Also test for dryness. Break wood into small pieces, possibly cutting your hands in the process. Unpack stove (a wood-burner will be too big to store inside your cooking pot). Put fuel in place. Light fuel. Set pot on it, and set wind screen around it (optional). Come back when the fuel burns out or when the cooking is done, or when your food begins to smoke and smolder, as appropriate.
Solid fuel tablet stove: Remove it from your pot (should be small enough to store inside your cooking pot). Put fuel in place. Light it. Set pot on it, and set wind screen over it. Come back when the fuel burns out.
What’s the difference?
Operationally not a whole heckuva lot. With canister (compressed gas) stoves it’s hard to tell just how much fuel you have, but other than that they’re pretty easy. Liquid fuel or white gas stoves require a little watching and tending, and may get clogged with soot, but they’re pretty dependable too.
The real differences are that with an alcohol or fuel tablet stove, you just set up, light, and wait. Wood burning stoves require more involvement, but the fuel is free, and you have an infinite amount of it available, more than you can possibly burn unless you are genuinely and unfortunately clumsy.
And these last three types of stove are dead simple, insanely light, and dirt cheap. Nothing to go wrong, no moving parts, no confusion. Operator error will not result in sudden, huge, and surprising accidental incineration. Of you and your companions. Stove weight ranges from one-sixteenth ounce to maybe one-half ounce (1.8 - 14g), with wood-burners coming in at three or four ounces (85 - 113g), and no penalty for the weight of fuel since you carry none.
All (practical) stoves involve open flame, so you have to be at least a little smart, but “think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” (George Carlin)
Exercises
- Have a nice dream about a day without wind, a day with no rain. A pleasantly cool day, trending toward warmth later on. A day when you are out of doors, hiking, and having the time of your life, a day of low-stress backpacking, without a care in the world, with no decision to make except for which scenic overlook you’ll stop at for lunch, and when. Then get up and go to work.
- Plan your escape. Get the details tattooed (upside down) on your belly so they’re always with you, and so you can read them without having to stick your head up between your legs while bending over backward and doing a 180-degree twist. Or put it on a piece of paper in your wallet. Whatever.