I'm with Rick on this one. For melting snow, I like a big, open pot. I think a kettle would be kind of hard to fill with snow. Even though you want to ditch the pot lifter, I'd recommend the Antigravitygear 2 Qt. Hard Anodized Pot . That's what I use. Since the snow to water ratio is about 10 to 1, you need something with a large capacity and this one works great.
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Gear Talk There's no such thing as having too many sporks!

Backpack Flyfishing Tight lines,light packs