[at-l] Zipitty do-da

[hiker_00 at hotmail.com (Tim Woodworth)]

Dear weary Bob,

I think I've come to the point I need to try what you've been "preaching" for the past several years with Zip Stoves.  I am one of the reformed WhisperLite users who now uses Esbit.  I sneak my WhisperLite out when you'all are not looking because it produces an excellent heat for making the good foods I crave at the end of a long day and if I'm hiking with my son, it is the thing to do.  My Esbit use is a little like therapy: I do it because I'm supposed to.   

I am making light of the success of Esbit.  It has never let me down.  However, I leave in nine days on a one way flight to Atlanta.  (Yo-ahh!!!, don't get so excited its ONLY a section hike)  This comes up because I just finished counting tablets in the basement and wondering if I'll have enough tablets and heat capacity to deal with the cold weather I'll surely get by the time I finish the GSNP.  I actually held a package of jello and worried, in true Yankee fashion, if I would 'waste' a table on it.  Not good...

So, a primer if you please on the success of zip stoves when it raining like a cheap ....  No really, this summer I had rain experiences like no other.  It gives me pause about trying to find something dry to burn to keep myself from hypothermia and phycological breakdown.  Do you carry dry tinder?  Is it timely?  I don't want to wait 20 minutes to start a 2 minute cup of coffee.  Have you failed in making a suitable flame?  How much stuff does it take?  How long does the battery last? I tell you I"ve never had a trail acquaintance use one of these things.

There are downsides to Whisperlite's (clogging) and Esbit (btu).  What's the bad side of using Zips, practically speaking?  Are they big, my pack is small?

I like coffee in the morning, sometimes the carbohydrates of  hot pasta lunch and good food at night.  I've seen stoveless youths on the trail that confuse me to no end.  But then again I haven't see them doing that in cold weather.  Raw ramen when its 10F, ha!!

Thanks,

Shepherd Tim