Camp stoves at high altitude?

[spressomon]

FWIW, when I use a stove (canister style, MSR pocket rocket) at high elevation the fuel runs low quick, then when I get back down to my house at 5500 ft, it mysteriously "refuels" itself... not sure why but it does.

Rezarf <><

Now if you could get your LC gas tank to do the same thing you'd have all the time in the world .

 

[go4aryd]

There are a couple primary factors involved.
1) water boils at a lower temperature at high altitude, meaning it gets boiling fast, but must boil longer to get to the same temperature as if at a lower elevation. That means it take more fuel up high than at a lower elevation to do the same job(unless you like cold meals).

2) cold temperatures, often found with an increase in elevation, can play havok with "canister" fuels systems and can even result in freezing the canister closed after use (as the canisters typically get colder during use - has happened on winter trips to me multiple times). The newer mixed fuel canisters are designed to help overcome this difficulty.

I once made an soda can alcohol stove, and tried it out at a bit over 7K ft. It boiled my water, but really struggled. My buddy made one a couple months ago, that pressurizes quickly - it burns great and efficient even up high, just like my old trusty whisterlite white gas stove. It kind of depends on what you need. I haven't use JetBoil, but heard they they did not get water very hot back in the early JetBoil days. Perhaps that has changed. If not, you may run out of fuel before the boiling water is hot enough to really prepare that 14,000 ft freeze dried meal.

At 8-9.5K I haven't had any altitude related problems with any stove (except my little alcohol stove). Enjoy the trip - sounds like fun!

 

[paulj]

There are a couple primary factors involved.
1) water boils at a lower temperature at high altitude, meaning it gets boiling fast, but must boil longer to get to the same temperature as if at a lower elevation....

Once water comes to a boil, it doesn't get any hotter until it all boils away. At Denver the boiling point is about 95C, 5C down from sea level. At 10,000 it drops another 5C.

Many items will cook at these lower temperatures, but take longer. Pressure cookers are the best way to speed up cooking at altitude.

paulj

 

[teotwaki]

Canister stoves are nice for ultralight packing when cold and altitude are not an issue but weight is. A slightly risky solution to cold is to run a piece of copper tubing wrapped around the canister and up into the flame as a heat pipe. You need to make sure that you don't have any leaks from the gasket that seals the canister to the stove. For mine I keep the canister in my sleeping bag and then put a foam "jacket" on it to help it last longer before the gas liquifies again due to the cold.

I generally use my MSR XGK-II white gas stove for winter camping. It's been past 17,000 feet with no problems.