LiteMax Titanium Stove from snow Peak

I strongly recommend the Snow Peak LiteMax Titanium Stove because it weighs a mere two ounces, folds down smaller than a pack of playing cards, and puts off significantly more heat than an average stove burner.

Years ago, the first time I did some a proper mountaineering (a snowbound Mt. Whitney, for the record, so crampons and axes and all), most of my gear, in proper technical terms… sucked.

I was wearing hand-me-down hiking boots. I was using a pack I had purchased for casual tourist backpacking in Europe. My pants were heavy Vietnam-era surplus. My tent was a $40 piece of junk that would later have a wall shred to bits. And so on.

Perhaps worst of all, though, in retrospect, was the camp stove I chose to bring along. It was, in relation to the compact, lightweight gear you want for a mountain adventure, a behemoth weighing in at about two pounds and measuring a good eight inches across. Worse still, using the burner required bringing a 16.4-ounce propane cylinder that was about the size of a loaf of bread. So right there, a good quarter of my pack’s main compartment was filled and, with the base that keeps the setup from tipping, I had added the better part of four pounds to my overall gear weight.

As my affinity for outdoor ventures grew, my appreciation for the value of counting ounces increased in direct proportion. Thus, that heavy stove and gas cylinder were one of the first things to be relegated to backup status, e.g. left on a shelf ever since. Because I replaced it with the best camping stove I have ever use, and it has never let me down in more than a decade of service.