A photo of a lay flat handle on pot lid.

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Lay flat handles for pot lids are described. They make backpacking cookware lighter, more versatile and packable with multiple pots. Introduction Lay flat handles for lids make alternative ultralight DIY lids possible and practical, particularly with nesting pot and pan sets where safe storage of the delicate foil lids duringRead More →

Ultralight tent pegs and concrete nail pilot hole spike.

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This page is about my ideas on ultralight titanium tent pegs that can greatly reduce the backpacking weight of an ultralight tent. Introduction My ‘bell tents’ or ‘tipi tents’ require so many pegs that their lightness becomes very important. At the same time, their functionality must be maintained. “The bottomRead More →

Ceramic wick candles. Featuring stable wicks, heat feedback to keep wax molten and perpetual ceramic wicks. Left; Square zirconia wick that sits in a tea candle dish that sits on an insulator. This wick stores a considerable amount of wax within it and can be removed to start another candle, start a fire or provide an ignition source for a smouldering tent stove. Center; Fixed zirconia wick in a food can that provides a large wax reserve and can be conveniently sealed with a plastic lid during backpacking. Right; Large glass fibre wick, in part of the aluminium tube from a thick marker pen.

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DIY candle This post is about making a DIY candle wick for alpine backpacking camping. It is a modified tea candle. The ceramic fibre wick has a metal-sheathed that provides; stability, long life and heat-transference that helps it work effectively under cold alpine conditions. Introduction to DIY backpacking candle wickRead More →

Student Stove with two large cut outs in the burner wall.

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A cheap ultralight blower stove The ‘Student’ ultralight blower stove is designed to be light, cheap and simple and is made from a 425g tuna tin, to match the skimpy budget of a student. If used with care it will have a short but useful life. Students can afford tunaRead More →

Ultralight 'Bell Tent' a roomy shelter with the comfort of central heating with an ultralight wood stove.

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This DIY silnylon bell tent can be pitched high for luxury comfort or low for strong wind survival.Read More →

An ultralight alpine woodshed for keeping a little 'stach' of dry fuel sticks for your next visit.. It is sewn Tyvek with zip down one side

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Ultralight backpacking woodshed for stashing dry fuel This post describes an ultralight backpacking woodshed sewn from Tyvek to store and manage dry fuel sticks for snow camping. Introduction to an ultralight backpacking woodshed If you are like me you probably enjoy your alpine areas smothered with snow for skiing, butRead More →

An assortment of 'make shift' pot lids that make the stoves light and backpackable. From top left: An old faithfull frying pan/lid of many years service, sponge 'tins' from opportunity shop,

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Backpacking pots, pans, lids & lifters This is about backpacking pots, pans, lid and lifters that can be make backpacking cooking effective and enjoyable without needing to spend much. Introduction There are many pots that can be used for cooking on a blower stove. While most will do the jobRead More →

Simple direct connection of power supply to blower fan.

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This is a simple USB plug is a two-pin connector for laptop fans as used in my blower stoves. It is, cheap, robust, ‘repairable in the bush’ and compatible with the existing cables and sockets on the laptop fans. The laptop fan cables are designed for the gentle static environmentRead More →

Whisky top burner with riser (~9 g), with small clean concentrated flame.

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Backup alcohol burner A ~9g ‘whisky top’ backup alcohol burner is described. It can be used as an alternative ultralight way of cooking, on wood-burning stoves, when it must be used inside a tent in bad weather. Introduction This article is about a compact backup alcohol burners to use in myRead More →