Gear Observations: Gendarmstien

For this trip I was expecting snow and temperatures in the range of -15 to -5 degrees C with possibly some snow falls and mild winds, which turned out to be correct. Some of my gear reflections follow.

Sealskinz gloves


The biggest surprise for me was the Sealskinz gloves, the air was cold and along the coast windy but there was no rain, however, I often had my hands in the snow. These gloves whenever worn kept my hands dry and warm even when used to remove snow from the signs, benches etc. occasionally I combined them with Goretex overmitts which further helped to deflect wind and keep my hands comfortably warm, not uncomfortably numb. Though the outers did get damp during the day they felt drier the next morning having formed part of my Paramo Vista pillow. For those considering these gloves in my view they are worth a look, with the caveat that I did not use them in rainy weather.




Feet

For this trip I wore my old pair of Innov8 390 gtx boots and I was very happy with the grip they provided on most surfaces, they were partnered with Bridgedale liner socks and Seakskinz socks, for the most part my feet were kept dry and warm. The Sealskinz helped to form a waterproof layer as well as providing some insulation from the cold. Some water did seep through the socks but at no time were the liner socks more than damp (possibly from sweat). Under similar conditions I will use this arrangement in the future as well as trying the sock combinations with my Terrocs for summer, an arrangement used by Colin Ibbotson as well as described by Jörgen Johansson in Smarter Backpacking

Shangri La 1



I have always been interested in this shelter, especially as it reminds me of my first shelter many years ago, though I was always concerned with entry and exit with the pole located in the centre at the front, however, I found this to be less of a problem than expected especially when the front pole is angled away from the inner slightly. The shelter is easy to set up and is spacious inside especially if you pull the centre side tie outs out a little which does reduce the head height in the middle of the shelter as shown in the following picture. The inner net is a little more problematic, it seems the best option is to attach it before erecting the shelter, I prefer not to do this. I am also surprised given the attachments for the floor why attachments have not been fitted to the inner net to allow fixing to the shelter. Having said all this I found the combination of the outer and inner to work well in the conditions which were well below zero and without any wind it was evident that inside the innernet and shelter felt warmer than being outside when the temps were below - 10 C. Overall I was very happy with the shelter and felt that for the conditions it was used it it was an ideal shelter and seems ideally suited to long distance treks where a small footprint may be required.


Primus Express Spider, I used this stove to boil approximately 600 mls of water 2 times a day. Often the water had some ice floating in it and whilst not recording the time taken to bring the water to a boil it did not seem excessively long. The average fuel consumption for the trip was 24 gms of gas per litre boiled using Primus power gas which is a mixture of 25% Propane: 25% IsoButane: 50% Butane which as shown by BPL (Membership of BPL required) is more efficient at lower temperatures when compared with the standard 30% Propane: 70% Butane mixture.

Moisture in sleeping bags, I used a Nunatak Arc Alpinist (with Epic outer) for the trip and each night there was some condensation in the foot, partly caused by my desire to dry my damp liner socks. Over the course of the 3 nights the sleeping bag gained 40 gms in weight (or approximately 5% of its weight). There was also some loss of loft but I remained comfortably warm at all times without the need for my Western Mountaineering Hooded Flash Jacket.

Aarn Featherlite Freedom, this was my first trip with this pack and I was happy with it and felt that the harness more suited me than perhaps the Mountain Magic did. There was ample space in the pack with the Sports balance pockets (10 litres in total) on the front. The interesting feature of the pack is the internal divider in the waterproofliner, it can provide some challenges packing until you become used to it, but otherwise it is an easy pack to load with an excellent roll top closure. I will write more on this pack once I have used it a little while longer.

Gear Reflection Tornby to Grenen

Some of the items used and my comments are listed below.

MLD Trailstar, a wonderfully roomy shelter that is easily pitched and when pitched tight will deflect winds from all directions.

Aarn Mountain Magic 55, a pack ideally suited for trips of 4 to 8 days in my view, carries well and the front pockets are a bonus. This trip I was very pleased to have the waterproof liners which kept everything dry in what was extended periods of heavy rain.

BPL 240 Quilt, this was the first trip for this quilt and I was pleased with it and at all times was I warm (a little too warm), temperatures were never below zero but I feel comfortable in taking this quilt as part of my sleep system into sub zero temperatures.

Katabatic Bristlecone Bivy, not really needed in the Trailstar however the bivy provides ideal protection from drafts in windy weather. I used the bivy on top of my Neo Air this time and was pleased with the minimal slip between the bivy and the mattress, I will experiment further with this approach.

Stoves, I took 2 stoves on this trip to compare fuel usage, the stoves were the Monatauk Gnat, and the Compact Caldera cone, both used with the Evernew 1 litre Past Pot. Both stoves performed well and were used, with care, inside the Trailstar. I only ever boil water and for a day I boil approximately 1.5 litres of water. The fuel consumption figures were interesting:

Monatauk Gnat: 22 gms of gas per 1 litre of water, reflecting similar figures when used in Vålådalen in May 2010.

Caldera Cone: 25 gms of alcohol per 1 litre of water.

In my view the conditions were the same for both stoves and a windshield was used with the gas stove.

Paramo Vista Jacket, for this trip I wore the new lighter weight Vista jacket, in XL it weighs 660 gms which is a 200 gram saving over the Third Element Jacket (which is to be discontinued). I was pleased with the jacket and partnered with a silkbody long sleeve shirt I never over heated and it repelled all the rain that it was subjected to.

Stoves

Perhaps my biggest challenge for this trip has been, What stove?

I have more stoves than I am prepared to admit to, so the first decision is wood, gas, metho or esbit.

Answer, I would love to use wood, but am not sure about the area I am heading to so; gas is easy, alcohol and esbit are also easy but could be a hassle.


So gas is easy but the empty canister weight adds grams to my pack my quick calculation means that I need to carry (including canister weight) about 615 grams of gas, whereas with an alcohol stove I could carry 550 gms including containers then there is the burners etc.

If I carry a Trail Designs Heineken Keg stove the weight for the keg, caldera, cozy, plastic cup is 144 gms, whereas a Monatauk Gnat plus pot wind screen is 217 gms. So the weights are


Trail Designs Keg 694 gm starting weight
Monatauk Gnat 777 gm starting weight.

What do I choose?

On weight alone is has to be the Keg and the keg has the added advantages of using alcohol, reliable and no moving parts. On the other hand a gas stove requires clean jets burners etc. Usually weighs more but offers less of CO problem, reliability and controls. An interesting dilemma.

Monatauk Gnat Update

Thanks to Martin at Fjäderlätt, I now have the weights of gas used for the Gnat on the recent trip to Vålådalen.

The stove was only used for boiling water, and a windscreen was used some of the time, the design of the windscreen came from BPL.com and information can be found here.

The total amount of water boiled for the 3 days was 4 litres approximately, the amount of gas used was 80 gms, indicating that 20 gms of gas per litre of water boiled was used. For me this would mean that I would use less than 30 grams of gas a day and with the weight of the stove (48 gms), the on trail weight has similar figures to that of esbit and alcohol. In the end the difference may be a matter of the weight of the empty gas canisters when compared with the weight of the bottles used for alcohol or the packaging of the Esbit, an interesting conundrum.

Bushbuddy backup stove

Stoves are as much about personal preference as they are about fuel usage, weight, type of fuel etc.

I have been pondering on which stove to take with me to Lapland in July as well as other trips. Readers of the is blog will be well aware of the stoves I have and mostly I have used Esbit or alcohol stoves with wood stoves also featuring. Often I need to "stealth camp" and as a result wood stoves are not appropriate though my preference has always been for wood with a backup fuel such as Esbit or alcohol. Recently however, the availability of the larger Esbit tablets (12 gm) in Copenhagen has decreased and this has made me rethink the types of fuel to use.

This afternoon I decided to play with back up stove options for the Bushbuddy and I found that my Mogo Firefly stove with 30 ml of alcohol easily boiled 600 ml of water using the Bushbuddy pot stand surrounded by an aluminium wind break. The stove will easily fit in my Bushbuddy which fits nicely in the BPL 900 ml pot. So for my next trip that will be hat I am carrying a Bushbuddy combined with a Mogo Firefly .

I will report back on my experiences.

Oh and yes I really should do something about the garden.

And the winner is

Recently we celebrated our 100 th post by running a small competition which showed how many stoves we have, when you can really only use one stove at a time.

Whilst the number of entries was low, the quality was high, demonstrating that there are others out there who know their stoves, meaning they surf the internet a lot looking at stoves.

Firstly the correct answers.

In the number one was
the Optimus Stella, Bushbuddy Ultra, Svea 123 and Ti Tri Caldera

The first "0" clockwise from the top
Snowpeak GigaPower Manual Titanium. Whitebox Solo, HPS Esbit, MoGo Firefly, Trail Designs 12-10 stove, Thermojet Micro stove, Trail Designs Gram Cracker, BPL Firelite and the Evernew EBY254

The second "0" clockwise from the top

Pack a feather XL stove, Whitebox original, Brunton (Optimus) Crux. HPS Esbit, Trangia, MoGo Firefly, Trail Designs 12-10 stove, Vargo Triad and Trail Designs 12-10 stove.

So who won, well it was very close and congratulations to both Lighthiker and the Armchair adventurer who between them were able to name all the stoves.

The winner is Armchair Adventurer, with Lighthiker one stove behind, so in consideration of their expertise I have dug out 3 prizes from the stoves pictured have asked them to send me 2 choices out of three and they each will receive one of their selections as a prize.

Well done and thank you to Dave and Roman

100

This blog had its first post in October 2007 and since then the number of posts has gradually built up till its 100th post today. To commemorate the 100 th post I thought I would offer a little competition based around stoves.

The challenge is to identify the 18 different stoves, (including manufacturers name) shown in the photos, some tips

1. All stoves were purchased commercially, no homemade stoves.
2. Some were purchased up to 5 years ago in the USA.
3. Some stoves are no longer commercially available.
4. Note that some stoves are repeated (for aesthetical reasons)

I will leave the competition running for about 2 weeks, at which time the entry with the most correct answers will receive an alcohol stove (one of those pictured) which I believe is currently not available in Europe. If there is more than one correct entry a random number generator will be used to determine the winner.

Entry can be submitted via the comments section,

Enjoy

What gear have you carried for the longest time?

I like many others have changed gear when the next "bestest" thing comes along, however, there is always gear that does not change because we are happy with it, for me it is the BPL.com long handled spoon. The spoon has an interesting history as the design was first suggested by Bill Fornshell on BPL.com MYOG Spoon Well I purchased one of the BPL spoons in 2006, when they were bright and shiny, now they have a matte finish.
The spoon is ideal for the meals where there are a few pieces at the bottom of a deep pouch. However, whilst out for a day walk I realised that I had forgotten my Ti stakes for the Caldera stove, but then I discovered that the spoon had another use, a pot support in a Trail Designs Caldera Titanium Caldera.

It is no longer bright and shiny but will remain in my pack for many trips to come.

What has been in your pack for many trips? And it is not likely to be changed.

Esbit Caldera

I went for a short walk this afternoon, the temperature was about -2 C. There has been snow on the ground for about 3 weeks now and the ground is frozen. I visited a nearby forest Hareskoven, where I have been many times before. It is a very popular area though late on a friday afternoon it is less so. I wandered around the area, meeting some people as well as a couple of deer, after a while I decided it was time for a cup of tea so I got my BPL 550 Titanium pot out out along with the Caldera and set about boiling some water. After about 6 minutes the Esbit tablet had heated the water to boiling at which point I made some tea.


I keep returning to Esbit for its convenience and simplicity, the ability to take it in your luggage on a plane is a further benefit. No doubt Esbit has its down side but for me, it works.

The walk was very pleasant and a fine escape from other commitments.

Compact Ti Tri Caldera Inferno

I have always been a great fan of the Ti Tri Caldera, and having tried the compact caldera with the MLD 850 cup I soon began to wonder whether it was possible to get a Compact Ti Tri Caldera Inferno for the MLD 850 cup. I contacted the folks at Trail Designs and they said sure no problems and in a bit over a week I had a shiny new Compact Inferno. I have now been able to test it out and this is a report of its first use. My first pleasant surprise came when I realised that everything fitted in side the cup and it was possible to place the lid of the pot loosely on top. However, the bending the fire grate is a little problematic but it fits in the base of my foam cozy so all in all a compact cook set.

The weights are as follows

MLD 850 pot including lid 90 gms
Compact Titanium Caldera 21 gms
Titanium Inferno 38 gms

with a Gram Cracker (3 gms) as a backup the total cooking system weight (not including 2 Ti stakes) is 152 gms. The following photo indicates the assembled system without the Ti stakes.



I set about lighting the Inferno in the normal manner and soon there was fire going, I allowed it to establish itself before putting the pot on.



The fire burned well with wood collected from a nearby forest, some of which was a little damp.



Whilst I did not time it, in around 10 minutes the water was boiling, a faster time would have been possible if the wood was dry.



After a few minutes the Caldera had begun to cool and was even cool enough for one of the local spiders to approach, see top of the concrete block in the picture.



My feelings is that this is perhaps the optimum solution when wood is available but you would like to carry fuel as a back up. I will be using this arrangement in up coming trips and will report further once I have used it whilst out and about.

MLD 850 pot, Compact Caldera and Esbit

I have been a fan of the Trail Designs Caldera system ever since it has been released, however, packing a full size cone into a caddy that weighs approximately 75 grams which I do not use seemed like a waste of space and weight. So when Trail Designs and MLD launched the compact Caldera I felt that with everything fitting into a pot would save weight and space in my pack.

It had been reported that the Compact caldera was less fuel efficient than the regular Caldera but still provided enhanced performance over a normal stand and windshield. On a recent trip I used the Compact Caldera and MLD pot and what follows are my impressions from this three day trip

I normally boil about 800 ml of water in the evening for a freezer bag meal, cup of tea and soup and a cup of water in the morning for coffee. The temperatures during the trip were approximately 5 C at night and a little cooler in the morning. I did not measure the water temperature but assume that it was around 10 C. There was a light breeze blowing each night and I cooked outside with the stove sheltered behind a large rock. I use a mini fire steel and lighting Esbit can be a little problematic, so I poured about 5 drops of alcohol from a dropper bottle for striking the fire steel, this lit the cubes within three strikes in the cool evening conditions. Though I did discover when it is dark the flash from the fire steel can be very bright.

I used Esbit with a Gram cracker and the weights are as follows.

Gram cracker 3gms
MLD 850 pot including lid 90 gms
Compact Titanium Caldera 21 gms
Ti Base Plate 6gms

Total carried is 120 gums.


For the first night I used 2 x 4 gram tablets placed on top 1 12 gram tablet in the Gram Cracker, this arrangement, just boiled about 600 ml of water and I needed another 2 x 4 gram tablets to boil water for a cup of tea.

The following night I reversed the arrangement and placed the two tablets at the bottom (Gram Cracker) and the 12 gram tablet on top, this arrangement allowed me to boil 600 ml of water as well as a further 200 ml of water for a cup of tea. Whilst the jury is still out I intend to explore the later arrangement further as it appears to provide a more economical use of the tablets.

Soon I hope to be able to trial the use of an inferno as part of this system, which may provide the optimum solution for long distance hiking trips, where some fuel is carried.

Caldera Ti Tri Inferno and the Bushbuddy

Hendrik over at Hiking in Finland has provided an excellent video on the operation of the Ti Tri Caldera Inferno with his Tibetan 1100 pot. Similarly this BPL.com review thread provides reviews of the Inferno.

I have used the Inferno stove on a recent 3 day trip as well as on 2, day walks. My overnight hiking meal routine involves a boil in the bag meal such as Real Turmat, soup and cup of tea (or 2) at night. For the mornings I need some hot water for coffee, so I heat no more than approximately a litre and a half a water a day. When I am hiking with a fuel stove, alcohol, esbit or gas I am always worried about how much fuel I am using and how much is left and usually as a result have spare fuel when I return home. The benefit of the wood stove is that you are only dependent on wood being available in the vicinity of your campsite, which is not an issue in Scandinavia, unless you are up high. (See The bearable lightness blog for a discussion of the use of the Bushbuddy above the treeline in Sweden). Hendriks review along with reviews at BPL.com support my positive experiences with the Inferno, it is efficient at boiling water quickly, it is easy to place wood in, the multi use aspect of the stove (wood, alcohol, esbit) provides the ideal arrangement for the hiker. I found that the fire took less than 5 minutes to become hot enough to place the pot on and in less than 10 minutes I had 800 ml of boiling water in my BPL.com 900 ml pot. Hendrik has reported times of 7.5 minutes for a litre which reflects my experiences.

The boiling times for the Bushbuddy maybe a little slower, but I have not done a side to side comparison to determine this. Importantly there is very little ash left over with the Inferno, a similar result will be found with the Bushbuddy.

The major differences between the 2 stoves are:
-the compactness of the Bushbuddy over the Inferno
- the ease of adding would to the inferno
- the coolness of the base on the Bushbuddy when compared to the inferno
- more assembly required on the inferno
- the Caldera is a multifuel cooking system

Comparing the weights of the Inferno and the Bushbuddy in use

In both cases I am assuming that I am using the same pot (BPL 900 ml.)

Ti Tri Caldera Inferno, Caldera, Ti base plate mesh and grid for inferno. Total weight (on my scales) is 116 gms


Bushbuddy Ultra weight 144 gms.

However, this is not the end of the story.

In use weights will normally be higher, in my case if using the Ti Tri Inferno I would also take the caddy to protect and hold the stove and the caddy weight is 80 gms.

The Inferno in use weight plus caddy is 196 gms

Whereas for the Bushbuddy I will need to take a cup and will use the pot or the freezer bag as a bowl the total in use weight with a FoldaCup is 169 gms.


In the morning I would not use a wood stove but rely on a small fuel stove, normally Esbit.

In the case of the Caldera I could take the Gramcracker for an extra 3 gms and would have a complete Ti Tri Caldera system for 199 gms. (lets call it 200 gms)

A second stove with the bushbuddy is a little more problematic, Hendrik has described making a small alcohol stove for his bushbuddy, however, I would prefer to use an esbit stove such as the HPS stove weighing 5 gms combined with some ti foil for a windshield weighing 8 gms. Providing a complete Bushbuddy system for 182 gms. Unless you are a diehard gram counter the difference between the two set ups (17 gms) is not worth worrying about.

So which is better? Neither really, I think it will come down to personal preference, they are both great wood stoves and will serve you well in the outdoors. Which will I be taking on my next trip? I am undecided at the moment and it ultimately depend on the type of weather expected.

Coastal walking in Thy National Park: Denmark

Well I am back from a 3 day trip in Denmark's first national park Thy National Park. The walk followed the coastline along the Redningsdvejen (The Lifeboat Trail). The sun shone and the wind blew and it was a very enjoyable trip. A trip report will follow as well as some gear comments especially on the Gossamer Gear Gorilla, Trail Designs Caldera Inferno as well as the bivy tarp combo used. The photo shows the MLD Grace Solo tarp and the BPL Vapor bivy.

Titanium Caldera: Wood Burning mode

On a recent trip to Sweden the Titanium Caldera Stove in wood burning mode was my primary source for cooking, along with a few 4 gram Esbit tablets. The Caldera Cone is a frustum of a circular based cone which is specifically designed to fit a certain size pot and the folks at Trail Designs provide them for most common pots in either Aluminium or Titanium (only the Titanium cones can be used for wood burning) along with the cones, Trail Designs also provides an alcohol burner as well as the Gram Cracker a Titanium stand for Esbit Tablets. The weight using the gram cracker and accompanying caddy varies, but for an Evernew 900 ml pot, the total weight of the cone, floor for wood burning mode, caddy (Ziploc) and gram cracker Esbit holder is 116 gms.

I have spoken about the gram cracker before, and in a recent post on Backpackinglight (USA) Rand Linsey of Trail Designs indicated that " we found that Esbit on the Gram Cracker is actually more efficient in the Caldera than alcohol....and lighter. You do need to use the Gram Cracker or some other similar method to slow the burn rate down."

However, back to wood burning. My main cooking method is cook in the bag type meals, I normally boil about 800 mls of water for a meal and a cup of tea. The evening temperatures were around 10 C, with water temperatures similar. To set up the Caldera it is a matter of sliding the dovetail joint together and for wood burning there is a Base Plate as well as 2 Titanium Needle Stakes used as pot supports. Lighting the fire was done with a FireLite Mini and cotton pads (which ignited a little too easily). The wood available was birch and pine and was air dried as it had not rained for several days. Once the fire was started I would put the cone on and then stoke the fire until it was time to put the pot on. At the point of placing the pot on the up draft is reduced and this can cause some reduction in the fire and possibly a lot of smoke (ideal to keep away the mosquitos but not ideal for stealth camping) Stoking the fire through the gap on the side of the cone enabled me to boil the water quickly and then make dinner. The benefits of such a system is that the fire can be kept going and provide warmth, or light or just a sense of well being. I allowed the fire to burn itself out which left a small amount of cold ashes to distribute.


I enjoyed using the Caldera in wood mode and with the added benefits of a few Esbits for warming a cup of water in the morning for my much needed coffee it will form part of my gear on many trips. However, I recognised that if the focus of the trip is wood burning then I think I would still prefer to use the Bushbuddy as I feel that it provides a better burn and less ash. However, other walkers may have a different view.

In summary, if Esbit or Alcohol is the main fuel for the trip, supplemented with wood burning then the Caldera is the way forward, but if wood burning is the focus then I will take the Bushbuddy. However, both are great items to have available.

Trail Designs Caldera Ti Tri with methylated spirits (ethanol)

On a recent trip in Sweden I decided to take the the Ti Tri Caldera with the BPL 550 ml Titanium pot. At the beginning of the trip there was approximately 5 cm of snow on the ground and temperatures were around zero C, these conditions continued throughout the trip with snow falls increasing the ground coverage to about 10 cm whilst air temperatures remained below zero resulting in the production of ice in the water bottles. It was in these conditions that I used the Caldera.

When hiking I normally boil approximately 1300 ml of water a day and in these conditions I used an average of 40 gms of fuel per day. However, what impressed me was on the last morning when boiling approximately 450 mls of water some of which was ice with an air temperature below zero, 15 ml of alcohol boiled the water in less than 10 minutes. Whilst at other times 10 ml of alcohol was sufficient to boil 250 ml of water. To me this is a very impressive result in conditions that are not suited to the use alcohol stoves.

My setup is as follows, the Caldera cone, the titanium floor (now 2 half sections, thanks Trail Designs) the 12-10 stove, a TD Prime-Lite Primer Pan as well I use the caddy (an extra 75 gms in weight) and 2 cozies one for the pot and one for the larger caddy section. The pot slides onto the caddy so the whole stove packs up as a cylinder 20 cm long with a diameter of 10.5 cm including cozy. the weight breakdowns on my scales are as follows

Titanium Cone and Titanium Floor: 51 gms
Stove: 16 gms
Prime-Lite Primer Pan: 7 gms
BPL 550 ml pot with lid: 58 gms
Caddy: 75 gms
Cozies: 39 gms
MSR Litelifter: 29 gms

Total weight: 275 gms

The removal of the caddy would save weight, but I have found it useful as it provides flexibility in the preparation of freezer bag meals along with “hot” drinks.

Trail Designs Caldera Ti Tri with methylated sprits (alcohol)

On a recent trip in Sweden I decided to take the the Ti Tri Caldera with the BPL 550 ml Titanium pot. At the beginning of the trip there was approximately 5 cm of snow on the ground and temperatures were around zero C, these conditions continued throughout the trip with snow falls increasing the ground coverage to about 10 cm and air temperatures below zero resulting in the production of ice in the water bottles. It was in these conditions that I used the Caldera.

When hiking I normally boil approximately 1300 ml of water a day and in these conditions I used an average of 40 gms of fuel per day. However, what impressed me was on the last morning when boiling approximately 450 mls of water some of which was ice with an air temperature below zero, 15 ml of alcohol boiled the water in less than 10 minutes. Whilst at other times 10 ml of alcohol was sufficient to boil 250 ml of water. To me this is a very impressive result in conditions that are not suited to the use alcohol stoves.

My setup is as follows, the Caldera cone, the titanium floor (now 2 half sections, thanks Trail Designs) the 12-10 stove, a TD Prime-Lite Primer Pan as well I use the caddy (an extra 80 gms in weight) and 2 cozies one for the pot and one for the larger caddy section. The pot slides onto the caddy so the whole stove packs up as a cylinder 20 cm long with a diameter of 10.5 cm including cozy. the weight breakdowns on my scales are as follows

Titanium Cone and Titanium Floor: 51 gms
Stove: 16 gms
Prime-Lite Primer Pan: 7 gms
BPL 550 ml pot with lid: 58 gms
Caddy: 75 gms
Cozies: 39 gms
MSR Litelifter: 29 gms

Total weight: 275 gms

The removal of the caddy would save weight, but I have found it useful as it provides flexibility in the preparation of freezer bag meals along with “hot” drinks.

Comparison of performance BPL Firelite Ti Wing and Caldera Cone using the BPL Trapper Mug

Recently I have completed 2 four day trips on the Skåneleden in Sweden. I have used Esbit as fuel for each trip but have taken different stoves so as to compare the performance of each in real life conditions. In both cases the temperatures experienced ranged between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius and the stoves were sheltered from the wind, often on the floor of the Vindskydd (windshelters). I have been using Esbit because it is easily measurable and thus makes it easier to determine just how much is needed to be packed.

The two stoves used have been the BPL (USA) FireLite Titanium Esbit Wing Stove and the Trail Designs Firelite SUL 475 Trapper's Mug Caldera Cone using the Gram Cracker for Esbit. The pot used in each case was the BPL USA Trapper mug a 475 ml pot weighing 37 gm, there is no lid and I used a piece of Aluminium foil.


BPL (USA) FireLite Titanium Esbit Wing Stove, windshield, and reflector plate (as shown in the picture below) = 26 gms (not including the Trapper mug)



Trail Designs caldera cone, gram cracker and Caddy (optional extra) and Trapper Mug
i. Total weight with caddy = 117 gms (not including the Trapper mug)
ii. Total weight without caddy = 37 gms (not including the Trapper mug)

The advantage of the caddy is that it can be used as a bowl and a cup, the disadvantage is the weight.


So how do they compare with my style of cooking, which is boiling a cup of water in the morning for coffee, making a cup of soup in the evening as well as a cup of coffee and a "freezer bag meal" where about 400 ml of water is boiled and then added to noodles mixed with other ingredients. In a day I would heat to boiling about 1600 ml of water that is 4 mugs. I normally carry a mixture of 4 gm and 14 gm Esbit tablets and for heating water in the morning I found I could use 1.5 tablets (6 gm) with the Caldera, but needed 2 tablets (8 gm) with the BPL Ti Wing. In the afternoon one 14 gm tablet was the ideal option for both stoves especially for the Caldera where I was able to boil 2 pots of water whereas for the Ti Wing I was able to boil 1 pot with the second almost boiling.

In summary, for the BPL Ti Wing I needed a total of 38 gm of Esbit whilst for the Caldera I needed 34 gm of Esbit, in each case there would be a little in reserve and as the weather gets warmer there is the potential for further savings. The following chart provides an overview of the weights for a 7 day trip using each stove and with or without the caddy. Unsurprisingly the Caldera with caddy is the heaviest and remains so. By the end of the third day the Caldera is a slightly lighter option than the BPL Ti wing, however using these figures after a week the difference is only 17 gms taking into account the original weight of the stove and the differences in the weight of fuel used.

So which option is better? Well as always it depends on your preferences, but if weight and packability are your highest priority then the BPL Ti wing is the best option, however, if you want to say that you are carrying the lightest option then the Caldera over a 7 day period is better. The Caddy of course provides additional options in food preparation and may on some trips be the best option especially if you are sharing the kitchen.



We will continue to explore these alternatives as well as other stove options, but most importantly getting out there is more important than counting the number of grams of a stove you are carrying.

MSR Pot and Ti Tri Caldera in wood burning mode

Holdfast has asked about the use of the wood burning option on the Ti Tri Caldera so here is a picture showing how wood can be added to the fire, note that there is also a Ti base plate that extends beyond the cone to protect the ground from scorch marks. Two titanium stakes are used to raise the pot to close to the rim of the cone.
The benefit of the Ti Tri is if you are relying on 2 fuel systems, such as alcohol and wood, but if wood is you one and only fuel then the Bush Buddy from Canada may be your best option.

Kust till Kustleden: Östafors to Glimåkra

I was able to get away for 4 days to the coast to coast trail in northern Skåne, Sweden. The Kust till Kustleden is the northern walking trail of the Skåneleden system and connects Sölvesborg in the east with Ängelholm in the west a total of approximately 300 kms. A trip report and photos are coming. I will also be providing an update on the Shangrai La 3 as well as comparison on the of the BPL (USA) Trapper mug with the Caldera and the BPL Titanium Esbit Wing Stove

BPL Titanium Wing Stove

For a while now I have had the BPL Titanium Wing Stove in my gear closet and whilst I have tried it a few times I have never taken it on a trip. Finally last weekend was an opportunity to test it out before longer trip in October.

For me it was a blessing to be able to take out the stove, windshield, fuel and matches from my 500 ml pot. to set it up and light. It was easy to use and took about 7 minutes to boils sufficient water for my boil in the bag meal. Yes there was a residue on the bottom of the pot but with the use of a small scourer I was able to clean it off. The advantage of such a stove is the measured quantity of fuel used and thus for me at least it is easy to determine how much fuel to pack. I intend to use this stove from now on because of its simplicity as well as its weight savings.