I have now used the Little Ripper on another snow trip camping next to another hut.
That reminded me the importance of using a largish tent if an extended time is spent at camp but because we cooked and warmed up inside the hut the Notch did very well for me again.
So we had to cut more wood.
There were plenty of fallen branches around (snow gum) , 4 to 7 feet long 1 to 4 inches in diameter and that is what we cut.
We had the "chain saw" the Little Ripper and a 15" long hand saw with the pruning saw type handle.
Roughly I could cut 2-4 times faster with the Little Ripper compared to the chain saw (gets tiring very quickly with the chain saw...) but the 15" "pruning saw" cut about twice as fast as mine, however it is over twice the weight.
So my conclusion is that for occasional use the Little Ripper works well, for regular use one with a longer blade would work much better or something like the Fiskar Folding saw (the 7" is about 10oz) would work better.
BTW, a forum member at BPL pointed out that the Little Ripper looks very much like the Sven Saw, and it does...
(I had no idea but am rather pleased that after all "my design" is already in use...)
The Sven comes in 15" and 21" , so that could do the job for prolonged use.
The 15" Sven is less than $30 (Amazon) so well worth a look..
You can see them all here :
http://www.rei.com/category/4500579Franco