The Evolution of a Cook Set

I've spent the last few days perfecting my alcohol stove (or rather building through trial and error a version of Chad's stove) and rethinking my approach for pots and water bottles. Now that I've got a good stove, pot and water bottle solution I thought I'd take a moment to walk through the evolution of my cook set.

All weights include actual fuel brought on a 4-5 day trip and empty water bottles.

"Traditional" Approach

Way back before I started my ultralight quest my cook set consisted of:

• MSR Whisper Lite Stove (with bag)
• 22 oz MSR Fuel Bottle
• 1,000 mL Nalgene bottle
• Measuring Cup
• Mug
• Spork
• Bowl
• MSR Pot (with bag)

All of this weighed in at 66.7 ounces or 4.17lbs.

Ultralight

As documented in this blog, over the last couple years I have been transitioning to an ultralight style of backpacking. My original goal was to get my base weight down to 12 pounds.

I traded out my stove, mug, spork, and pot for lighter options. I quit carrying a Nalgene bottle and started carrying a Gatorade bottle. With the new "tea kettle" style pot, I was able to leave out the measuring cup altogether. My new cook set consisted of:

• MSR Pocket Rocket
• MSR Fuel Canister
• Titanium Mug
• Titanium Spork
• Gatorade Bottle
• Tea Kettle

The new cook set weighed in at 21.6 oz or 1.35 pounds. A reduction in weight of 45.1 ounces or 2.82 pounds.

The Super-Ultralight Quest

I was able to surpass my 12 pound goal and spent most of 2009 with a ten pound base weight for warm weather trips. My new goal, for '010, is to join the "Super-Ultralight Club" with a base pack weight of seven pounds.

My MSR Pocket Rocket has been replaced with a homemade alcohol stove and I combined the pot and water bottle. The new cook set consists of:

• Homemade alcohol stove
• Titanium Spork
• Pot/Water Bottle (Snake Eyes Can)
• 3 oz Listerine Bottle filled with fuel

The new kit weighs in at 5.4 ounces; 61.3 ounces less than my original cook set and 16.2 ounces less than my ultralight cook set.

Here's the kicker, the Super Ultralight Cook Set cost me less than $15, about half of which was for the spork.