Arctic stoves

You will be very happy using your Whisperlite. I have the Whisperlite Universal and use it in white gas mode for winter camping.

So don’t bother with anything else unless using white gas is prohibited or unsafe in your judgement. Be sure to bring a good MSR foil windscreen for your stove because it definitely conserves fuel in winter.

IF you must use butane canisters use a stove (like the Whisperlite Universal in butane mode) that permits you to turn the canister upside down for best cold weather use.

Nit-picking: NOT ‘butane’ canisters but ‘propane/butane’ canisters. A trivial detail for those who know, but an important detail for novices.

Cheers

It took about 12 minutes to melt and boil the water on full throttle.

Which is why I recommend a WG stove for “real” cold (not the NZ/AUS variety)… douche the thing with white gas (aka “prime the hell out of it”), light it up, and go.

just stand back so it doesn’t singe your eyebrows

burned hair has a distinctive smell

douche the thing with white gas
MSR do mention a small fireball the size of a football.
Now try doing that here with a storm raging outside:

See how long your tent lasts.

Cheers

singed eyebrows wouldn’t be as bad as a singed (plastic) tent : )

Again, what do mushers use in the Artic?  Alcohol Stoves.  Don’t fix whay ain’t broke.

MSR do mention a small fireball the size of a football.

Only an idiot would light a WG stove as I describe in a tent… are you?

Am I what?
I don’t use white gas stoves anyhow, because of the fireballs. I used kero stoves for many years – they are the same sort of thing but lighting them is harder: kero won’t ‘fireball’. I used to use metho for priming, and I had that down to a fine art. But kero stoves STINK.

Today – I use canister stoves. Cleaner, simpler, more powerful and usually cheaper too.

Cheers

Today – I use canister stoves. Cleaner, simpler, more powerful and usually cheaper too.

And again, this thread is about “arctic cold”… which renders what you use irrelevant.

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Well, if you use an invertable canister stove ( like the Kovea Spider) , it will perform well below -40F.  That it the biggest value of an invertable stove.  My 2 cents.</p>

-33.5F????

That is too cold for humans :)

Nice trip and nice video, thanks

And again, this thread is about “arctic cold”… which renders what you use irrelevant.
Given that I am not in the Arctic, you would be right.
Mind you, parts of the Arctic seem to be above 0 C these days: a worry!

But you may note comments from many others that remote inverted canister stoves function very well at very cold temperatures. With a typical butane/propane mix, down to -24 C. With straight propane, down to -42C. Which is colder than I want to be these days.

Cheers

David, I entirely agree with putting glide wax on the bottom of your pulk. But if you have -10 F. or lower be sure it’s a good ALPINE glide wax made for those temps. Don’t use XC ski kick wax. You ain’t kicking’, yer a-glidin’!

I live in Fairbanks, AK. We have had 2 cold snaps (-20 to -39F) this winter lasting 7-10 days each. I would not take anything but a white gas stove into the backcountry. Know how to use it and how to repair it. Also know how to start a wood fire if wood is available. Good luck.

I have to agree with Barbara and others, at these kinds of temperatures I would only really want to take a white gas stove. Yes very occasionally they can be blocked, but as long as they are maintained, they’re very reliable and predictable.

Yes, there is talk of a “football sized fireball” in one of the MSR manuals, but that is only for the XGK model, the whisperlite you have (or equivalents like the Optimus Nova that I have) aren’t anywhere near as bad while priming.

Yes if you really want to be safe open your tent door briefly while you initially light and prime it, but other than said MSR model the flash you get will not be any worse than lighting an alcohol stove, and it is way safer overall, with far less chance of spilling the flammable liquid and causing any disasters.

k

In my experience, the fireball only happens with user error.  If you practice in non critical conditions and are aware of the fireball problem, you can avoid it.

If it’s already warm, then goes out and cools a bit, I think that’s the risky time.  Put out some more fuel to (re) prime it.  It’s already warm so there’s more of a cloud of evaporated WG, then light it and there’s a fireball.  Or something like that.

Maybe if when you light it, and hold your head back, your eyebrows won’t be singed.  And otherwise be aware of the potential of a fireball.  Maybe young adult males shouldn’t be allowed to use (in my experience – my problems were when I was a young adult male).

Another problem with WG is that it has a lot of impurities (different molecular weight organic molecules).  It’s more likely to clog up the valve.  My WG stove got plugged a couple times.  My ~1972 whisperlite universal had a built in orifice cleaner – you shake it back and forth and it cleans out the jet.  You want to know how to clean out your jet.

Upright canister stoves feed evaporated butane into the valve and orifice.  Much more pure low molecular weight organic molecules so the valve and orifice don’t get plugged up.  Inverted canister doesn’t have this property – more likely to get plugged up like WG.

But, in -30F temps I’d probably use a WG stove, but it would be nice if I could figure out how to get an upright canister to work.  This is theoretical since I don’t go out in that cold temps.

I tried kerosene once, but it is so stinky.  Even when I was careful not to spill it.  It doesn’t have the fireball problem though.

Technically, most of my trips are in the sub-Arctic, not the actual Arctic, but -25F (-32C) is still -25F.  I’d never knowingly start a trip into those conditions – it’s just not fun, IMO, and if it gets much colder than that, it’s beyond what my gear and skill set can handle.  But it’s nice to know that if it does get to -25F, my canister stove and Moulder Strip™ works just fine.  And I have multiple cold-weather techniques for canister stoves still in reserve

But HYOH and CYOFB.

“Hike your own hike” and “Create your own fireballs.”

But, really, at -20F or colder is ANYONE going out with ONE AND ONLY ONE stove?!?  I’m not.  At 0.9 ounces for a canister stove and less than that for many alcohol options, I’ve got at least two arrows in that quiver.

“Stupid Light” in summer becomes “Deadly Light” in real winter weather.

Roger Caffin…………………………#3734885

Nit-picking: NOT ‘butane’ canisters but ‘propane/butane’ canisters. A trivial detail for those who know, but an important detail for novices.

Yes, 70% propane, 30% butane. There is a BPL thread here somwhere that that has a few pages dealing with the availability of it. David Gardner? ordered a case of it if I remember right. Available in Canada and the USA

But HYOH and CYOFB.
LYOS?
(light your own stove)

Cheers

Dan seemed to be enjoying -33F in that video, but he sure looked like an ice man : )

Just for completeness, maybe the most common technique to extend canister operating temperature lower is to put it in a small container of water.  And put some of your heated water into it to keep it warm, as you go.

I pack my canisters next to my water bottle in my pack, against my back. The water does not freeze.
Over night the canister lives next to my feet at the foot of my quilt. Next to my XC ski boots if necessary!
And my watch lives around my neck under my quilt as well: the LCD display does not like sub-zero.

Cheers

But, really, at -20F or colder is ANYONE going out with ONE AND ONLY ONE stove?!? I’m not.
Good point! Yes, I carry a backup in the snow.

Cheers

Awesome responses!  Keep them going. I noticed no one mentioned Esbit. Will this not get hot enough or not burn well at such low temps?

what I’ve read: (pure) propane: Will work. Alcohol (denture) stoves should work (backup plan), and possible white gas (naphtha) should work with priming.

yes, it’s cold. We get it. It’s known as the toughest, coldest, windiest ultra.  In February – heading to the Arctic Sea, in the Yukon.