Melting snow at a camp in the Cairngorms

 

A little video from a recent camp in the Cairngorms. I was impressed at how well the MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe stove and Fire Maple heat exchanger pot worked for melting snow. A great winter combination.

I wrote about heat exchanger pots in this piece and how good I found them but hadn't yet tried this setup for snow melting. It worked as well as the much heavier MSR Reactor and Windburner stoves, other than not being quite as wind resistant. I'll be using it again.

The canister was a half-full GoSystem 2250 Powersource. Under it I put a sheet of thin foil (actually a cuppa soup packet torn in half). 

The morning after I took this video the temperature was -9C and there was a breeze. This did blow the flame sideways a little but the stove still melted the ice in the pot - it was frozen solid - quickly and then boiled the water fast without need of a windshield.