High Sierra Topix

One thing about kitchen choices is what kind of hike and what kind of food you are doing for that kind of hike. If you are heading out for a lengthy trip and are limiting your cooking time and prep time with freeze dried foods and easy boil type meals, then a Ti pot and canister top stove will do nicely.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you are simmering and frying alot, then a remote canister stove and thicker aluminum pots and pans might be a better ticket. More elborate meals for shorter hikes where pinching pounds is not a big deal.

Non-stick seems to be the ticket either way, just a matter of who has the good non-stick coatings.

I have an MSR windpro and it's an amazing stove that is not all that heavy. Great flame control and a wide flame for better dispersion. I have a set of the Blacklite Aluminum pots. I wish the post had built in handles though, the grabber has caused a few spilled meals. not cool.

I recently bought a Ti 1400 ml pot from backcountry.com. it's the tall ones that fit a canister and mini stove in there. I purchased a Crux Lite stove that has reasonable flame size. This setup will do well for boiling and simmering. I will have to test it with a fry pan. I suppose if you kind of move the pan around over the flame you can get better even heat. Might be a pain, but it should work. This would be a good setup for simplicity, light weight, and small size.

My $0.02 which is probably worth $0.0000001

anyone have multi-pot experience regarding snow melting? I have two titanium pots right now, both about 1.5 to 1.7 liters, and will be melting snow quite a bit on my upcoming trip. Any reason to look at a pot with heat exchanger bottom to optimize fuel use (Jetboil FluxRing or similar)? Is it worth it if you're looking at 5-8 days in the backcountry between resupplies, with the chance of having to melt a lot of the water you consumer in that time?

I'm reluctant to drop $50+ on a 2 or 3 liter pot that may just add a pound of weight to my pack and not save me much fuel after all.

I did read some reviews of the titanium pots that they leaked as they were thin and when they punched in the quantity markers, they'd leak there. YMMV.

rlown wrote:I did read some reviews of the titanium pots that they leaked as they were thin and when they punched in the quantity markers, they'd leak there. YMMV.

my Mont-Bell has made it over 100 days of cooking for three without a leak problem. it isn't the lightest material, though. I have a second much lighter pot that worked fine on a one week trip, no leaks either, but I would not trust that thing for a longer trip or in winter when the pot becomes rather important.

thing about titanium as a material is that it doesn't conduct heat as well as aluminum, so you get a hot spot above the burner. I may do some experiments with my old square Belgian military aluminum pot - see if it boils faster.

If MSR didn't charge $40 for their strap on heat exchanger thingie, I'd try that too, but the price of that thing is ridiculous

They are starting to come out with non teflon nonstick - a Primus set I have is hard anodized with multi layer titanium nonstick coating. It's not like teflon... Since they are being forced to stop making teflon anything in 2012, we should be seeing more options soon.

Check the Primus website - they sell frypans and pots ala carte. Not the lightest but probably better-for-you nonstick.

I'm a water boiler - I have a couple hard anodized options and a REI branded (Evernew, actually) ti pot, the .9 liter with no coating. The GSI Halulite teakettle (not the Kettlist, the other older version) weighs in as very slightly heavier than the REI ti pot. Either is a great lightweight option for most stoves. The other not-pricey solo option is the GSI Minimalist - I have used it with a small alcohol stove and the cozy/grabber works okay. My standby, however, is the REI Ti pot - it just works, with every stove I have, with just enough room inside to steam bake a couple muffins. It's about 40 bucks if you can still find it without the nonstick. 5 oz, I think.

As others mention, if you're wanting to cook vs. boil water, aluminum works a lot better. I'm a boil guy, so I've had a Snow Peak titanium pot for, hmm, close to 10 years now. Does *not* leak, BTW -- it's Japanese, the Japanese don't make stuff that leaks. It's sort of tall and skinny so it works okay with blowtorch-type isobutane stoves, not so well for those that spread the flame out, but an isobutane canister fits in it so it makes for a compact package in my backpack.

If you're intending to cook, your 30 year old aluminum pot is going to do much better than a newfangled titanium one. As for "easy to clean", that doesn't apply to any non-coated pot, whether titanium or aluminum.

I do "real cooking" and have used both aluminum and titanium. I prefer titanium. I find it cleans easier and cooks better (as long as you have a stove that simmers). I feel that my set of nesting titanium pots are one of my best backpacking investments. I have use them for nearly 10 years and they still look new. Plus they do not get bent and dinged as much as the old soft aluminum pots did. Alternatively, maybe I have just become a better cook over the years!

From what I've heard, aluminum cookware is very bad for you. There are so many things to sort out as research results give us more info about how different materials impact us.

Wandering Daisy, I was wondering what type of scouring/sponge you use to clean your pots? I find a "Tuffy" plastic, scratch pad works well on aluminum. How do you protect your larger pot from becoming scratched when you put the smaller pot inside of the larger one...or do you have to be concerned about this? Do you use plastic spoons and forks to stir your meals while cooking? I don't know how durable titanium is, with aluminum it is not an issue. Thanks for your input. js hill

For years I have been using a Mirro el-cheapo supermarket aluminum pot with lid and attached handle. I cook in the pot & use a cozy my wife made for it. The total, pot & cozy, weighs in at 5.2 oz. (Similar sized REI .9 liter Titanium weighs in at 4.9 oz.). I used the $50 I didn't spend on the titanium to buy something more cost-effective, and don't notice the "extra" 1/3 oz. I am carrying!

. . . Kurt