Whisperlite universal (canister mode) for Denali

Has anyone done it? Any issues?

My thought is it makes the system more reliable. 

The upside-down canister in liquid feed mode should work to -42F (boiling point of propane) and upright canister mode should work well to ~15F (isobutane boiling point is 11F). Nothing can really break (no gas pump), no chance of spilling white gas when transferring containers, no preheat issues (just run it for the first minute in upright canister mode, then flip the canister), ability to simmer when in upright mode, and isobutane seems to burn cleaner than white gas.

The only cons I can think of is that the fuel canisters are slightly bulkier than the gallon jug of white gas. 

If you have used a whisperlite universal (or Windpro 2) on Denali (or other very cold conditions), can you let me know what you thought, and if I'm missing anything that might make it less reliable than a traditional white gas setup?

Additional question if you have the experience - how much isobutane did you go through per day? Seems like they have about the same amount of energy per lb (21600 BTU/lb for 80/20 isopro, 20600 BTU/lb for white gas).

Check with your flight service and see if they will allow you to fly with a bag full of pressurized containers.

We used approximately 3 gallons of white gas over 3 weeks for a team of 5.  That's ~400 oz of fuel, if you brought that in 16oz iso containers that would be 25 cans ($275 at current REI pricing).  White gas is $19 per gallon.

White gas is the norm up there, so if you are on a different system you might lose out on bartering opportunities.

Where do you get 400 oz of fuel? Gasoline has a density of 715 -780 gm/liter, or 6 - 6.5 lbs/gallon. The REI website puts the weight of a gallon of white gas at 6 lbs. That makes your 3 gallons of fuel 18 -21 lbs, or 288 - 336 oz. That's 18-21 cans of fuel, so $200 - $230 for canisters instead of $57 for your 3 gallons of white gas. The OP could probably cut the fuel consumption a bit by using an MSR Reactor instead of the Whisperlite Universal or WindPro. If the OP used a Whisperlite Universal and brought the fuel pump, they would have the option of bartering for white gas if they ran out of gas cartridges.

mark felber wrote:

Where do you get 400 oz of fuel?

3 gallon * 128 oz/gal = 384 oz, rounded it to 400 oz.

It's not exact because the density isn't quite right, etc.  The standard allotment for our group (for a maximum 4 week trip) was actually 5 gallons (1 gallon per person) because you need to bring extra fuel in case something goes bad.  5 gallons is ~500 oz...

The OP could probably cut the fuel consumption a bit by using an MSR Reactor instead of the Whisperlite Universal or WindPro.

I think a Reactor as your primary stove over a multi-week expedition on Denali would be kinda awful.  No large pots available for snow melting, and it would be really difficult to cook anything requiring any finesse (like bacon, pizza, quesadillas, bagels, and lots of other tasty food).

I think this is one of those scenarios where it makes sense to just do what everyone else is doing (white gas).

Some thoughts from the UA guys about this (1:05:50): https://youtu.be/TCXvBpM9PsI?t=3952

God that would suck. Use white gas. As someone who has done 25 AK range expeditions...buy a few pumps, learn how to repair your stoves. That ends up being so many canisters! Trust me, that would suck. It's been done, but...why?

We used white gas for almost everything, but brought canister style stoves for making things like tea or coffee, just a bit less to deal with. SAS let us fly with those in 2017, not sure the policy now.