[at-l] Re Zipstoves

[kahley7@ptd.net (kahley)]

This is shamelessly snatched from BPL.
The author is Peter Vacco who spends
about four mos a year (?) on walkabout in alaska.......
Not exactly a thruhike but.......

 > Peter
 > Speaking of the titi zip stove - how did it work out for you this past
 >
 > summer?? Inquiring minds need to know.
ahhh, the titanium zip stove toy. one of my favorites.
short background history.. i have had two sip stoves previously (wore
out one tinkering with it, gave second away), and then two of the german
version (way cool but kinda stout. required massive modification to not
fall over)
i bought my titi stove for last summers walk and only modified it in
the way of adding two more little pot supports. almost nothing really.
zip stoves are two speeds now and weigh 10.0 oz. it worked just as well
as all my previous wood stoves. although there is a small problem as one
gets substantailly farther north in that bushes get a bit rare and you
have to plan your life a little better. what's to report, it heates
water in a twinkle. it's easy to light because i douse the power bar
wrappers in fuel oil for tinder. if i HAVE too, i can cook on only the
smallest weenie scraps of twigs that can be found crawling along their
bellies out on the gravely parts of the tundra. its fits just ducky
inside of the wally pot (sic.grease pot), which is always nice.
the motor did start to make an unusual noise towards the end of summer,
but performance did not degrade and battery life remained excellent.
zzcorp will send me a new motor. not a big deal. whether or not cooking
at all is a cost effective way to travel is a good topic.after all this
wandering about i tend to feel that is more of a pain in the shorts than
it is worth, food wise. but that i still do it because i like hot water
to wash my hair, and the occasional "real" meal balances out my psyche.
hell, what do i know? i suppose all gear is a work in progress.
and i CAN"T FIND IT!!!! and i about two moments ago tore up my rooms
looking for the stupid thing. it's not there because it's still in my
ammo can i left in the middle of nowhere alaska. (to be picked up, but
then the pilot didn't wnat to go. so i called his hunting buddy who
guides out in that area, but since there was no snow in western alaska
this fall, (they didn't go. no snow = no snomobiles) oh shit, i gotta
get busy.
i have sort of been missing some of my gear, but not caring too
much, but NOW i remember why/where it is.