Gear Closet-Trail Design’s Sidewinder Ti-Tri Stove
The Sidewinder is all set up for wood burning mode with the stakes holding the pot off the windscreen for better ventilation. All that it needs is the floor and its ready to roll!
Wood mode with the floor
I have scoping out this Trail Designs Ti-Tri Stove for a long time now and I was lucky enough to find one on Backpacking Light’s Gear Swap. It took me a couple of minutes even then to buy it because at $130 used, it isn’t cheap but I am very glad I did for the piece of mind that it provides. The Ti part means that it is titanium and the Tri part is the fact that it can be used with three different types of fuel denatured alcohol, solid fuel tabs and most importantly wood. On longer trips, I have always dreaded that if my fuel ran out or leaked out for some horrible reason, I would be sunk. It has never happened, but I feel that the piece of mind that it provides me and the fact that I can burn wood if I ran out of fuel at home or a shorter trip in mid summer when dry would is abundant is a great asset to me.
The wood cone and grate create an “afterburner” effect , making for a clean and efficient burn.
So far, I have only used my alcohol stove to boil water and melt snow with and it is always been really efficient and solid in any wind condition, even at Crater Lake’s Rim where the wind seemingly never stops. The short profile of the Sidewinder Windscreen combined with its stability and compactness when not in use makes this stove system perfect as it all fits into my small 600ml. pot snugly along with its other parts. The grate lays flat on the bottom of the pot and the titanium floor, inverted inferno insert and the Sidewinder Cone roll up in a nice neat package and fit into a tyvek sleeve along with my Zelph’s Starlite Stove and small cleaning rag. All in all, with a Z Packs Stuff Sack that they make specifically for pots, it weighs 7.190 oz. for everything besides fuel.
Zelph’s 3oz. Starlite Stove!
Everything is all packed inside the pot and ready for the mountains.
All ready to go inside a Z Packs Stuff Sack.