To Jetboil or not to Jetboil

Hi all. I am new here, but not necessarily new to hiking. I've done many weekend trips all across the south and east coast. This time, I am venturing to the Lost Creek Wilderness in Colorado. I'm absolutely excited about hitting the mountains and the opportunity to see the fall colors.

Here's my question... Given that the forecast is calling for temperatures in the 20's at night and we will be between 9,000-12,000 ft... should I take my Jetboil (isobutane), MSR Windpro (isobutane with windscreen and invert-able canister), or my MSR Dragonfly (white gas)? I really want to take the Jetboil, but I am concerned that it will be too cold and the altitude is too high.

Any thoughts? Appreciate ya'lls opinions...

You'll be fine with the Jet Boil but you may want to warm the canister in your sleeping bag with you for morning use. And, if it is really cold, you may need to warm it a bit before cooking dinner.

I agree, I've use my Pocket Rocket in the single digits and it was left out at night. Did not feel very good down the pants in the AM though. Dip in water too to help evaporation.
Duane

Make that vaporization.

Canister stoves work better at alititude in cold weather. You see pictures of high altitude climbers using them all the time. At lower elevations and cold weather, the gas will not evaporate. My canister stove (Primus Micron) worked at Yosemite at 7K at 15F-20F.

Markill makes a canister pad that heats up the canister. Not sure how it generates the heat. The description says you heat it up first, so kind of a Catch -22; how do you heat it up if your stove isn't working to begin with? It looks like a mini frisbee or coaster. Saw it on a UK camping gear site.

http://walkhigh.co.uk/acatalog/Stoves_and_lanterns.html

Your armpit under your jacket will warm up the canister nicely in about 10-15 minutes. Guaranteed to wake you up in a hurry on a cold morning!

While windscreens enclosing the canister are normally not recommended due to the danger of overheating the canister (BOOM!), they do keep the canister warm during cold weather use. (Remember that the fuel inside vaporizing cools down the canister.) Just keep feeling the canister to make sure it doesn't get hot! I use a windscreen that doesn't quite go all the way around the canister.

A piece of insulation under the canister to protect it from snow or frozen ground helps, too.

I wish I had a dog to carry those extra things.

Altitude improves the performance of compressed gas stoves. Cold is the problem.

You already have been given good advice on how to keep your canister warm.

Be careful with inverted use on the MSR Windpro. The stove has to be started with gas and not liquid fuel. For inverted use it needs primed similar to your DragonFly.

Hurry, the peak colors have passed.

My dog carries only his own stuff, not mine. In fact, I carry his sleeping pad and his first-aid stuff as well as the shelter for the two of us.

Insignificant weight and cost involved in the measures I suggested to keep the canister fuel flowing:

Windscreen big enough to go 7/8 of the way around 2 liter pot, double layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil: 0.5 oz.

Piece of old blue (closed cell foam) pad cut to size of MSR large canister: 0.1 oz.

Armpits: Already there, I hope!

Thanks everyone for the input. I feel much better about taking it. Was really concerned it wouldn't work well. Guess I'll keep it in the bottom of my sleeping bag just in case.

So.... The colors are already gone? Boo. I'll be out for 6-10 OCT. Maybe there will still be a few trees still going.

Thanks again everyone.

Rabbit

In my August trip, the night time temps were in the high 20's and we were above 10000 ft 95% of the time. We used jetboils the whole time with no problems.

ya should be fine, i have pocket rocket and just have to warm up the canister a lil bit and no probs. good luck!

Well, we went to Lost Creek Wilderness and had a super time. There was a good snow the first night, but temperatures during the day usually crept up to 50 or better.

The Jetboil worked great. I love how fast it was... esp. when wanting the hot morning drinkies.

Thanks again to all.