layton

Thanks for posting Chris, I'm sure there are tons of folks who will get a lot of enjoyment out of your book. I can think of a thousand things that detract from the beauty of Yosemite more than some bolts. Your guidebooks are excellent and I hope to see more. I hope you're psyched on all the free publicity these wankers are drumming up for your new book!

The SNL paradoy commercial is awesome

rock on!

try a z-rest, it never pops, it's lighter than any thermarest, and you can drag it around and sit on it anywhere around camp.

Not that I'm advocating it, but there looks to be a few nice walls up there if someone were to bolt lines to connect cracks. Did you see the N face/ridge of Tomohawk?

oh, i forgot to add! the test on the soto stove was done with a GSI brand aluminum pot, not with titanium (as I listed in the weight). The reason I swapped the pots out in the numbers was to give the soto stove optimum conditions to see if it had any change of performing near, or outperforming the jetboil or reactor. If it did (and it didn't) then I would have re-ran the test with an aluminum pot.

dane, I used a full 100g of the same brand cartridge on each stove and that graph would look sweet with the weight on the x-axis

awesome responses - as for the testing - I'm done. Since there are soooo many variable and different testing conditions, I figured my data is enough to get a rough estimate of each type of stove's worth in different situations. I agree that the best test would be to constantly boil water. I have to return the soto and the jetboil to REI, so if someone else wants to do this on a rainy saturday, I'd love to see the results. Looks like a small stove like the Soto wins on one 8oz fuel canister, but loses to the jetboil after that. The reactor loses in this study, but my unscientific sneaking suspicion is that it would win the water boiling contest. That said, I'd stay with the reactor on trips >4 days unless I already owned the jetboil, but even if I owned the jetboil, I'd still use the reactor in winter.

I tested the Soto stove with a titanium pot which is supposedly the best lightweight canister stove (it has a regulator to conserve fuel and help with cold weather operation), the MSR Reactor, and the JetBoil. I timed how long it took to boil one liter of water on each stove, and timed how long it took to run out of 100g of fuel. I then divided the two times to get how many liters of water the stoves could boil with 100g of fuel (the small canisters). The flaw in my test is that the stoves may perform differently depending on how much fuel is left and how long they were running for. The best way to do it would be to individually boil each liter of water, turning the stove on and off (letting if cool) each time. Also, I had each stove on full blast. The reactor seems like it doesn’t waste fuel based on how high you turn it up, but the other stoves may. They could be at a disadvantage in this experiment due to this fact. Here are my results: Observation: The Reactor seemed like it burned the hottest and the most consistently for the life of the cartridge. The flame seems way more evenly distributed than the pinpoint heat of both the Soto and the JetBoil. Also, the pot is wider so it get more surface area heated. It clearly wins the contest as the quickest boiler. The Jet Boil surprised me by being only 4oz lighter than the reactor and taking much longer than expected to boil a liter of water. Since it is thin and tall, boiling less water more frequently may conserve more fuel. However, it would not die. The burn time was incredibly longer. The Soto packs a little punch, but it died out the quickest. I was really hoping it would outperform in cook time, but it didn’t. Data: (weights are of a 600g scientific scale, boil time is time it takes for the 1st large bubble to hit the surface on 1 liter of water at 32degreesF, burn time is until the flame went out on a 100g canister). Reactor Weight=17.2oz(stove,pot,lid) Boil Time=160sec Burn Time=2920sec Liters boiled/100g=18.25L Jetboil Weight=13.3 (stove,pot,lid,cozy) Boil Time=263sec Burn Time=5360sec Liters boiled/100g=20.4L Soto Weight=6.24oz (stove, titanium pot, lid) Boil Time=270sec Burn Time=2520sec Liters boiled/100g=9.5L 4oz (110g) MSR isopro bottle=6.5oz* 8oz MSR isopro bottle=12.5oz* *weights taken from the internet, not confirmed. Conclusion: It would be nice for someone to help me figure out the break even point where it would make sense to bring the heavier more fuel efficient stove. I’m not very good at this type of math – I’m sure I could figure it out, but I’d question my numbers. Other numbers to figure in are the different weights of a 4oz vs 8oz fuel bottle since it is slightly lighter (but not much) to bring an 8oz bottle. The JetBoil wins in the most efficient stove, boiling 20.4 L assuming the heat output is the same throughout the test. The Reactor was close behind by about 2 liters less. However, based on pure observation, I’m thinking the Reactor may actually win since it burned consistently hot and boiled water so damn quick. It wins the user friendly test by it’s absurdly fast cook time, and it’s higher volume capacity. I wish MSR would make a limited edition titanium reactor stove! The Soto stove (and perhaps any lightweight stove) wins if you are not going to use up a fuel canister. It could actually win the efficiency test for a couple fuel canisters worth just because of how light the system is. It would be awesome if some mathy-type person could help me figure this out! I will published the results on my website and hopefully put them in a 2nd edition of my book.

how come we never hear about what Sam is up to?

atc + kong gigi = perfect setup

or dane?

that's a great idea thanks! Based on that article, would it make sense to make some sort of vase shaped pot with a super tight locking lid, an aluminum base, and a titanium side that would either be double walled with an air space you could fill/refill with a small amount of water and/or a superlight non-flammable coating on the outside of the pot. I don't think you would have a much heavier pot (1-3 oz maybe). You could add oil to non hot-drink meals to further increase the efficiency. someone call msr

I did the math using the dealer's specs. I took the time it took to go through 100g of fuel, and divided it by the time it took boil one liter. By those calculations the Soto stove boils 24 liters of water on one 237g cartridge and the reactor boils 22. WTF? That has gotta be wrong. I think the best thing to do is buy two full canisters of gas, time how long it takes to boil 32 degree water (by straining a slurry of ice water) and then time how long it takes the rest of the canister to run out while lit....then divide it out. I'll also do a side-by-side with a jet boil too. unless of course someone has all three? after that, i can figure out the breaking point, unless of course the jetboil and reactor lose to the soto?

Has anyone figured out the break even point between fuel use vs. weight on a pocket rocket vs. a reactor. How many liters of water need to be boiled before the reactor becomes worth its weight? If no one knows, I may begin this experiment. I'd actually like to try it with the new Soto stove. Also, do you think that by heating less water, the use of heat would be more efficient since the water will be closer to the heat, or do you think that would waste energy?

i watched it two night ago. It wasn't that grusome, and could have been WAY better. hopefully the sequel mixes and matches shit up more.

cool! thanks for the TR

sweet - I was going to try and do this with wayne on his trip down here - maybe not now. Did you bail on p.7 or 8? Would a stick clip get you up it (serious on this question)? If the stick clip idea wouldn't work, could you climb Lone Star to the start of the Texas Tower Connection route,and take that up Lone Star? Looks like someone linked the two way earlier than last year?

Reviews? I haven't seen it yet, but am disturbed by it not beign discussed here

if you have to get just one, get the rings - you can do almost anything you could on a hangboard, more portable, cheaper, easier on the elbows and shoulders. I rigged mine with a sideways angle as well to do pinches easier. Don't do monos for the love of god

Right on Dane, FYI the edition you will be getting is the 1st printing limited ed (50 copies) until I realized I printed the typo copy Conciser it like the upside-down airplane stamp

that kodak looks like a good buy for a video still, any suggestions on a good dig camera / video cam combo?

i've done that too in AK, not fun either

I was thinking about getting a Flip video camera, but was wondering what any of you tech junkies thought of those? Are there any relatively lightweight cameras that also offer comparable video (in quality and capacity)?

i've tunneled through a few and it is an awful lead. it takes a long time and you get fully soaked. Put your insulation in your pack and just wear your shell to keep things dry. I would not climb under one in the heat of the day or with recent wind loading/scouring