[pct-l] Jetboil and Snow

[Jim Marco]

Well, it all depends on the ambient temp and what tricks you are prepared to use to keep the toppers going. Yes, the jet Boil is one of the better stoves down to about 32F/0C. It starts loosing some flame at about 40F and produces little at 25F/-4C. Sleeping with a fairly full canister works, but if they are not nearly full, they quickly loose heat to the air on a 20F morning. 
Here is an excerpt from a BPL article: "The Effect of Cold on Gas Canisters"
"We can see from these graphs that those canisters which rely on n-butane for the bulk of the contents are not going to like cold weather. If you want to use one of these in the snow you must keep the canister above freezing point - which can of course be done by sitting it in a bowl of cool water for instance. The canisters which rely on isobutane for the bulk of the fuel will serve you better under mild winter conditions - down to -10 C for instance. However, can you rely on the night not getting any colder? I thought not. Once again, a bowl of cool water may be your friend."

It depends on what brand of fuel you have, ie, the mixtures of gas commonly found in canisters. That can vary a lot. 

Your best bet is to take a bowl with a flat section larger than the diameter of the canister you want to use. Put the stove in it and add drinking water when you are cooking/melting snow to insure the canister stays at 32F or above. Pour the water back into your water bottle when you are done. (Sleep with both the canister and your water, of course.) For the 15 minutes or so of snow melting, you will be fine. But, you really don't want the heat on high.

Most toppers can be used with the bowel of water method, though some canisters are just butane which doesn't like to be that cold. A standard MSR, Snow Peak or Jet Boil canister will be fine. Insure you get a fairly good canister for cold weather, not the butane ones. Evaporative cooling (canister cooling while using a topper) can cause some pretty bad problems near the limits. 15 minutes on high will usually drop a canisters temp around 8-10F or so. 

Frankly, I would use a different stove, with a larger pot for snow melting. White Gas remains the standard for cold/very cold temps, working with no help down to about -35F/C or so. These are Antarctic conditions, though. Some specially designed canister stoves allow good performance to -20F and lower by adding remote operation, heat shunts, and inverted canisters (liquid feed.) I believe these will function down to about -25F provided you sleep with the canister to start them going. They also require priming like WG stoves. I don't believe I have EVER been out that cold.
 
	My thoughts only . . .
			Jdm
-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Ned Tibbits
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2013 3:25 PM
To: Ken Powers; Richard Rempes; pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Jetboil and Snow

We're in snow all the time, teaching and filming, and we take canister stoves and have never had a problem!



Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education
www.mountaineducation.org
-----Original Message----- 
From: Ken Powers
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2013 12:04 PM
To: Richard Rempes ; pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Jetboil and Snow

One of the criticisms of butane canisters is that they don't burn well in
the cold. I found that slipping the canister into my sleeping bag at night
kept the canister warm enough that it burned efficiently on cold mornings.
We haven't had any problems in the evenings.

Ken
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Rempes" <botchedlobotomy at rocketmail.com>
To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2013 11:23 PM
Subject: [pct-l] Jetboil and Snow


I am considering buying a Jetboil Titanium for winter camping. I understand
that these stoves are extremely efficient at boiling water, however, I am
concerned about their ability to melt snow, i.e. will this flamethrower just
burn through the pot? Anyone have experience with this stove in snow?

gaspasser
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