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denatured alcohol?
my hiking partner and myself each have a stove, and we are trying to decide
which one to carry when we do our thru-hike next year. He owns a MSR
Whisperlite and I have a Safesport alcohol stove. We had never even thought
about using the alcohol stove, but a few nights ago he suggested that it
might be a good idea to send the MSR back home durring the summer and use
the Safesport instead. Well this discussion kept going until we were talking
about carrying the Safesport the entire trip. The reasons for carrying the
alcohol stove would be that it is much lighter and compact than the
Whisperlite (it weighs 8.5 ozs.) and it actually seems to boil water faster
than the MSR. While simmering on this stove is a problem (although I think I
might have figured out a way to fix that) the same is more or less true of
the MSR. The BIG down point that we both thought of is the fact that
denatured alcohol might be harder to find on the trail, so that if we did
carry it the weight savings might be offset by the extra fuel we would have
to carry. So what do you guys think? Will it be a problem to find fule for
the alcohol stove on the trail? I guess that finding out the Kushmans were
using a Camping Gaz cartridge stove has started me thinking.
On a second note, I talked to Wingfoot last night and he said that he should
be on-line very soon, it will be great to get him on the list, imagine both
Dan Bruce and Jim Owens on this list, could it get any better?
And lastly, I am planning on spending a week on the AT in early May this
year, the area I am planning on hiking will carry me over Big Bald on the
TN. NC border. I have heard that the weather can get pretty bad up there
fairly late in the year and am wondering what I should be prepared for.
E. George Oeser (aka Needles)
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