Jet boil disappointment in the snow (field review)

As a follow up to our field review on the Jetboil PCS we took it up above tree line in winter to see how it performed. We had high hopes of melting a lot of snow with the Jetboil. In winter conditions in the backcountry a stove is not just a way to cook a meal, but it a critical piece of safety gear.

We were disappointed with the jetboil camping stove in these conditions.

Hard to light
Josh spent quite some time trying to light the jetboil. He was outside the tent in gusty wind conditions. As mentioned in our earlier review the piezo ignition had already failed on the stove. So he tried using a lighter and matches. The wind made it very hard to light. In fact Josh couldn't get it lit in these conditions and so resorted to the relative protection of the tent's vestibule to finally get the stove lit.

It should be noted that while the conditions were poor they were by no means extreme. We were at 2000m elevation with the wind gusting around 20-30kph. We were in a sheltered position behind a rocky outcrop.

Slow to melt snow
Once lit the stove seemed painfully slow in melting snow. Our comparison stove (Kovea moonwalker) which we thankfully had melted much more snow. The Kovea stove chewed through the gas like a large man at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Conclusion
I still like parts of this stove. I would not take it to the snow again. While sometimes it's very fast sometimes it's not, which makes for an unreliable stove. The best thing about the stove is the tiny amount of fuel it uses.

My new MSR Reactor stove arrived the day we got home from out trip to snow, so we'll have some field tests on that soon for you.