[pct-l] MSR Triva Questions

[brian.robinson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Brian Robinson)]

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Gray wrote:



>>    Fly Brian used alcohol for his triple crown trip in 2001. That should=
 tell
>> you something about the quality of these stoves.
>
>No, that tells me something about the weight of those stoves, as well
>as a little bit about what kind of food he ate. Not really anything at all
>about quality.




I'll be the first to encourage you to bring a stove you're comfortable with=
. It's your hike and your life. Mountaineering in bad weather, a working st=
ove can mean life or death. The PCT isn't usually like Mt. Rainier, but....



Anyway, my real point is you CAN tell something about the quality of alcoho=
l stoves by the fact that I used a Cat Stove on my Calendar Triple Crown hi=
ke. Believe it or not, I carried extra weight to ensure that I didn't have =
to leave the trail due to bad weather, equipment failure, or whatever. My s=
chedule didn't allow it. If I didn't firmly believe in the Cat Stove, I wou=
ld have brought something else.



IMO, the Cat Stove is more reliable than a commercial gasoline stove. It ha=
s no moving parts to clog or fail. Just don't step on it. In truth, I did h=
ave a Cat Stove failure on my trip. With enough thermal cycles the aluminum=
 eventually oxidizes. Essentially, it "rusts." The impending failure was ob=
vious for weeks and TrailDad was nice enough to send me a new one before it=
 became unusable.



Flyin' Brian