Discussing Stoves

Editor’s Note: Water. What is it good for? Absolutely everything. 

That pretty much sums up how and why we rely on stoves in the touring scene. We rely on stoves for drinking water (melting snow) and heating water, for rehydrating food, and sometimes, and also very important, for cooking food. So, it goes that nutrients matter, too. Gavin Hess (our Gear Editor) and I wanted to chat about stoves and best use cases for different models, and if we’ve learned anything after all these years of faffing with this or that type of fuel, or field-replacing a stove part in the field. Here’s our discussion with some light edits to remove most off-topic digressions. 

Jason: Stoves. A podcast I listened to, the Evoke Endurance Podcast with Sam Hennessey as a guest, got me thinking about stoves. I recall Sam discussing the use of multiple MSR WhisperLites under a single pot to melt snow more efficiently. It’s been a long time since I regularly used a WhisperLite, so it got me thinking: maybe I’m missing some use cases where a WhisperLite, or a more minimalist stove, would be beneficial. So, let’s jump right in and talk about the Big One (Denali) and which stove is most suitable.

Gavin Hess: Well, it depends a little on the group size. But for our purposes, let’s assume it’s a small group, because I think, probably, very few of our readers are going on a nine-person expedition. In some ways, the WhisperLite is like the Kleenex of the stove ecosystem, and we could sub in an MSR XGK or Dragonfly. WhisperLites are nice over the course of a long trip, though, because they’re significantly quieter, despite still being somewhat loud; they’re significantly quieter than many stoves, so you’re much less likely to talk too loudly and get into trouble with your neighbors.