Wintering With Batteries and Canister Fuels

First off let me start by apologizing for such a delayed posting.  Homeinapack has been neglected as usual by work.  I've come to the realization that regardless of how much subsistence living you think one can do, a few bucks will always be needed.  Even most of the tribes here in Alaska partake in the cash economy rat race these days.

State of Homeinapack is getting a few changes.  First off a "+1" button has been added.  Also, the theme will be reworked to something a little more unique and appealing.

I've finished a season working as a tour guide for Exit Glacier down in Seward and decided to winter in Kenai.  Nothing spectacular just working a job to keep alive with.  As usual I'm outdoors although in a camper now.  Still there is no hookup so it's fuel and batteries for everything I do.  Here is the start of my next few posts as I'm waiting to conduct some experiments.

First is the issue of fuel canisters.  Having spent most of my time in Alaska in Fairbanks, most of my outdoor cooking was done with white fuel.  Now that I'm in warmer winter temperatures I've tried canisters again.  To my surprise it still seems that performance is not as good as in warm temperatures.  Temperatures here have been averaging between 20F-30F.  According to Roger Caffin's site,  I should be seeing better burns since propane boils at -43.6F.  A resort I worked at last winter ran pure propane stoves, heaters, and lights at -41F with no problems.  MSR ISO-Pro fuel is 20% propane so better results were definitely expected.  That is not to say that it's not working at all, but I can definitely tell it's not up to par. 

This can has been sitting around a bit so I'm going to purchase some new fuel from all the manufacturers that cooperate and run a comparison.  Currently I'm waiting for replies from Brunton and Jetboil for numbers on what their "four season" mixes contain.  Both MSR and Snowpeak post there mixes on their sites.  MSR's ISOPRO is a 80/20 Iso-Butane/propane mix and Snowpeak's Gigapower is 85/15 Iso-Butane/Propane.

Next is a matter of batteries.  My regular alkaline batteries that were used all last winter have finally died.  These were on my Petzl Tikkinna2 headlamp.  Since I was passing by REI I decided to buy the new Core battery for it instead of regular batteries.  Petzel's Core is made up of a Lithium Ion Polymer which supposedly lasts longer in cold temperatures.  Petzel has a pretty good explanation of some battery characteristics here. Again temperatures in my current location are averaging between 20F-30F, but I've already had to recharge twice.  Now assuming the Core is able to hold charges longer than the lifespan of my old batteries it would still be worth it with the only inconvenience being to have to recharge.  For longer outings it would still be beneficial to use the Core instead of regular batteries since carrying a solar panel or hand crank would be lighter than a few packs of batteries.  Some investigation into other lighting sources was done, but that is a post for another time.