Snow Peak BiPod stove at Philmont

Guy

Looks interesting but kind of hard to tell whether it would be stable with a 6 or 8 liter pot on top of it 1/2 filled with a tasty Philmont 1 pot dinner.   Don’t forget that independent of the canister, it is possible for reflected heat to damage the stove itself. For example, my SOTO Muka stove (white gas, remote fuel bottle) has a specific recommendation on the max diameter of the pot to use.

Thank you for the reply, Bruce.  Good point.  I will keep that in mind as I search for the perfect stove.

I thought Philmont required white gas. Has that changed?

I don’t know what rules existed in the past, but know for sure that canisters are allowed currently.  (alcohol stoves are not)

Philmont doesn’t require white gas currently and allows canisters to be used, with both available in the backcountry for refueling.

In my opinion, which isn’t necessarily the opinion of Philmont Scout Ranch, that that stove would work for Philmont pots. The dimensions listed make it sound like it’s a similar size to the MSR Whisperlite which is the most commonly used stove at Philmont.

The Philmont “What to bring” list simply says “Backpacking Stove”.

http://philmontscoutranch.org/TrekPreparation/WhattoBring.aspx

It then links to canister stoves and liquid-fuel stoves. Liquid-fuel is white gas, aka, Coleman fuel.

Guy Trek is correct in saying alcohol stoves are not allowed. That’s listed elsewhere.

We took 2 crews this past summer. One used the stove in question the other used and MSR Windpro II

This MSR was definately more stable but the snow peak worked fine. The crew that used it was a 12 man crew with a couple of 8 qt pots. I personally liked the MSR a bit better since it had a smaller footprint (easier to find a stable footing).

White gas or canister – Philmont doesn’t care. All the main commissaries sell replacement canisters. IMO canisters are the easier method  (liquid – filling, filtering, spilling, etc., stoves don’t need to be warmed, primed, etc.).

Mze

We went to the PAW (http://www.philmontscoutranch.org/TrekPreparation/PASS/PAW.aspx) class a few weeks ago.  The training staff confirmed that canisters stoves are acceptable and that canisters are available in the back country.

The Snow Peak BiPod looks a little unstable for my taste.  Our crew is testing the Kovea Spider (http://kovea.com/product/spider/).  We wanted a stove that can support a large pot and has an external canister.  The external canister allows us to use a windscreen and lowers the possibility of burned fingers.

Don’t forget, you can not dispose of empty canisters in the backcountry. You must pack them out until you reach base camp.  Other than that, canisters are great.  I have always used liquid fuel (three trips out there)  and have never had much of an issue.  Had to buy a new pump at Baldy Town because of a broken piece due to some carelessness, but no failures that couldn’t be fixed.