Arctic stoves

I believe some the Iditarod dog sledders use big alcohol burners. Provided you can get canisters up there I would look at a remote canister stove that allows the canister to be used inverted, and take a windshield and something to stand the stove on. Thin piece of plywood is good.
If you do take your whisperlite you will still need to take account of dangerous goods restrictions if flying.

Thanks – I’ll actually be driving to the start.

I can confirm that Iditarod dog mushers use HEET (conveniently sized containers) in a butt-simple set-up of a baking pan with a handful of fiberglass insulation.  The step up from that, like in this photo, would be chaffing dishes like a caterer uses.

Here’s a write-up of my version of a Moulder Strip (and BRS-3000T) use at -21F which definitely wasn’t the lowest temperature it would work at.  There’s a lot to be said for Bob’s original, simple strip of copper from the flame down to the bottom seam of the canister:
https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/moulder-strip-put-to-the-test-butane-canister-use-at-21f-29c/

And then there’s just plain old propane:

Sure, that’s a pound of steel per pound of propane, but 100-gram butane canisters are also 1:1 fuel:steel and 230-gram canisters are 1:0.63.  With pure propane you’re good to close to -40F (and lower if you use any of the tricks for butane).  I use it on a snow-camping trips.  It’s cheap (super cheap if you refill at home), readily available and you can use a propane stove on it or use an adaptor and run any butane stove on it directly.  They make those plastic bases for the propane cansiters to make them more stable and you kind of have to have one of those unless you imbed it in a snow bank or have a rig to hang from a tent pole or branch (for all those trees in the Arctic!).

And can I just comment on how SWEET! it is to have an option like this in your quiver:

How are you going to drive to the Arctic Ocean?  There’s security at the Prudhoe Bay oil fields and you can’t actually drive yourself all the way there – you get stopped 9 miles to the south.  You can pay to take a tour and dip your toe into the Arctic Ocean (in summer), but they count noses onto and off of the bus.
Inuvik is another option. When I was last there, you had to drive from Inuvik (which is a lovely northern village/town) north on the frozen MacKenzie Rivier to get to the Arctic Ocean, but since the Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway was completed in 2017, there is an year-round public highway to the Arctic Ocean.

(But, of course, that’s in Spring, not in January when there’s no daylight).  If you haven’t done a lot of winter driving in the Arctic, I have thoughts about that as well.

I don’t know what aggregate they used on the ITH, but going from the Top of the World Highway to Inuvik, IME, involved some really sharp rocks.  I had two flats during those few hundred miles (and thankfully had one replaced in Fort McPherson).  It’s not so bad with a bit of snow on it.
Seriously consider studded snow tires for your rig and have (and know how to use) tire chains along – I’d never do a trip like that without enough to chain up all four tires and have resorted to that to bash through a closed highway over the pass in a 2WD Corolla when the biggest, baddest jacked-up trucks were stopped.

If you have access to a -65F chamber, take ALL your gear there, cold-soak it and then bend, torque and twist each piece.  Lots of stuff gets weird at -40F and even more materials are past their limits at -50F: jump in your car too fast and you’ll shatter the vinyl seats.  The tire’s flat spots from parking persist for several miles of driving.  Steering doesn’t return to center, rather, you turn into a turn AND turn back out of it because the steering fluid is so viscous.  Etc.

even more materials are past their limits at -50F
So am I!

jump in your car too fast and you’ll shatter the vinyl seats.
Vinyl Sir?
Leather, if you please!

Cheers

Alcohol Stove lights easily at -24 degrees

Perry, I can send you one to test in your super cool chamber.

Denatured alcohol will not light easily at those temperatures. It will light if you pre-warm it. I’ve successfully used an alcohol stove in the cold (Trangia system) by keeping the burner and my fuel in my parka for a bit to keep it warm, and then setting everything up and lighting it within a few minutes. Works fine.

But be realistic. Don’t expect alcohol or the burner to perform well if it’s the same temp as ambient when it’s this cold.

The Starlyte Stove in the video works just fine in below zero temperatures. The reason it works so well is the stove is lit soon after the alcohol is poured in.  The Trangia design makes for a poor cold weather stove.

Perry, I can send you a Starlyte Stove for testing. Keep it when tests are complete. You’ll probably want to take it to the arctic with you. ;-)

Well, not quit true as it depends on the stove design.  I build a custom alcohol stove for Peter Ripmaster for the Iditarod 350 and 1000 race (which he won in 2018).  He used it for several years to melt snow.  My 2 cents.

Well, not quit true as it depends on the stove design.

Oooooh, tell us more! What is it about alcohol stove design that makes one light up better than another if both stove and fuel are this cold?

Peter had a particular need: ultralight in ultra cold temperatures and he wanted to heat up variable amounts of snow / water.  His stove only held a maximum of 2 oz of fuel and had a carbon felt wick that protruded about 1/4” above the rim.  It was about 45 grams and 2.8” in diameter.  We made a remote fueling port so that he could refill it on the fly.  He was using bottles of yellow HEET.  Before the trip, he tested it at -40F.   Best regards.

carbon felt wick that protruded about 1/4” above the rim
Ah yes: a wick. Much easier to light too, as you only need to heat one little bit of the rim.

Cheers

Driving to the start point of the endeavor. We’ll be traveling the 380 miles from that point by foot.   Starting in Eagle Plains Yukon Territory. 10 day ultra race using a pulk to haul our gear.  Looking at the Coleman propane – not sure about that. Have to give it some thought.

Any info or photos on this carbon felt wick stove?

If you have the starlyte to test, I’d be happy to do so

this might be a nice little write up for Ryan later!

always willing to try options in my chamber. Once we finish the current client test, I’ll be checking out my sleep system :). Not to worry – I carry an O2, Co, and Co2 sensors for safety as well as have someone monitoring from outside.

In this video you’ll see Sean Emery use his Fancee Feest alcohol stove to heat his morning cup of coffee.

Temperature was -32 degrees.

Perry, I’ll send you one of the Fancee Feest also. They are now made with an integrated titanium pot support.

At a minimum put lithium batteries in the gas monitor so it functions to a lower temperature.

Never mind your trip, tell us about your client and what they need tested down to -65F.

Months ago, on your other thread, I mentioned putting a glide wax on the bottom of your pulk.  I’ll repeat that.  It makes a huge difference to the effort you’ll expend.

Why aren’t you sure about Coleman propane canisters?  I’ve used propane down to -44F which seems like it shouldn’t work, although it was a massive volume and surface area (two 80-pound-capacity tanks) just to run a stove-top burner or two.  Maybe it got some radiant heat from the house, but the tanks were outside on the porch.

Perry, do like David T. says, go with propane. You’re familiar with the pockett rockett, get an adaptor hose to fit and run a remote line. You’ll be pulling your gear with a slippery pulk….easy peasy to carry two 1 lb tanks of Coleman.  GO PROPANE

That is definitely epic. My admiration.

I will add my support to the Propane recommendation. No pumps, no priming, and lots of power.

Cheers

This is what the alcohol stove looked like.  The carbon felt was 1/4″ over the top edge of the stove body.  The reserviour pump system was replaced with a simple connection to a HEET bottle.  You could refill the stove while it was burning by tipping the bottle and giving it a little squeeze.  I think that Peter used this for 3-4 years.

And speaking of batteries – obviously you only bring lithium batteries but with the potential of -30F and -40F (that’s also -40, Canadian); you may have to keep them warm like dog mushers had to do with their alkaline batteries 20 years ago.  So a headlamp with the battery pack behind your head, under your hood, is better than one with the batteries hanging out in the weather.  Just be glad you don’t have to dog mush or go caving using one of these under your coveralls:

I’ll make a plea for some serious lighting along with you.  Plodding along, 5 to 20 lumens is plenty, but sometimes you need 5 seconds of really bright light to get your bearings and then it’s worth having some powerful light tucked inside your coat.
Maybe you want more than this, but bang for the buck, I’ll often toss this in the pack (with four AA lithium cells in it):

For such a reasonable price, and 190 lumens, it has a surprisingly bright central beam.  I use it to look for moose 200-300 feet away on winter nights when the dogs are barking.

Perry….use propane….win/complete the race in safety!

For bomber reliability, I’d go on ebay and pick up an Optimus 8R. For subzero, nothing really beats a prime and light White Gas stove, and the 8R is at the top of the heap for cold use.  2nd choice would be a Svea 123,  3rd choice would be and MSR-type pump WG stove.

Sorry, but I am going to have to firmly disagree.

I have an 8R and a Taiwanese copy. Both are fairly low power stoves.
Propane and propane/butane stoves both beat white gas hollow for sub-zero conditions – and I have used many stoves of all sorts in the snow.

I remember one sad trip with a liquid-fuel stove when the pot boiled over and the water hit the pre-heat pipe over the flame. The shock dislodged lots of scale inside the pipe which blocked the jet solid and could not be cleaned in the field (late at night in the snow). Reliabilty? Maybe not.

White gas is a dinosaur today.

Cheers