mckrob
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2007
- Messages
- 2,020
I've finally had a day off today, first one in quite some time. I am in St. John's, Newfoundland for business for a couple of weeks and thought I would take advantage of the weather and the fantastic trails around here and get out for a walk.
Cape Spear is the most easterly point of land in North America, about a 20 minute drive outside of the city of St John's
The East Coast Trail is a 500+km long trail running almost the entire length of the Avalon Peninsula on Newfoundland's east coast, it passes through the Cape Spear National Historic Site
Looking south towards Maddox Cove
The Cape Spear Lighthouse, built in the early 1800's
I will be doing short solo hike next weekend so I thought I would try my new GSI Soloist pot set before the hike.
I normally use MSR's stainless "Stowaway" pots which are very durable but a bit on the heavy side (1.1 litre pot is 439g or 15.5oz). I was browsing through www.mec.ca and found the GSI Soloist which is cheap at 26 $CDN (21 $US), compact, and lightweight at 307g (10.8 oz). The set consists of a 1.1 litre hard-anodized aluminium alloy pot with a folding handle, a lexan lid with strainer, and a polypropylene insulated bowl/cup. The handle folds to lock the lid for travel, and a MSR Pocket Rocket and 4oz gas cylinder will nest inside the pot. The set comes with a pouch for the stove so that it doesn't scratch the inside of the pot, as well as a stuff-sack for the set that is seam-welded and waterproof (acts as a separate water carrier).
The cylinder shown in the photos above with my MSR Pocket Rocket is an 8oz cylinder which also nests inside the pot, but it is a much tighter squeeze getting the lid on with the stove, cup, and gas cylinder inside the pot, but the 8oz cylinder does fit.
My first impressions of the set are very positive; it's well built and ultra light-weight (the manufacturer claims their alloy "Halulite" is just as lightweight as titanium), and the size and shape are very well thought out allowing both stove and fuel to fit inside. The price is also very reasonable.
I'll give this a bit more use next weekend and post here if I notice any deficiencies, but I doubt I will find any!
Cape Spear is the most easterly point of land in North America, about a 20 minute drive outside of the city of St John's
The East Coast Trail is a 500+km long trail running almost the entire length of the Avalon Peninsula on Newfoundland's east coast, it passes through the Cape Spear National Historic Site
Looking south towards Maddox Cove
The Cape Spear Lighthouse, built in the early 1800's
I will be doing short solo hike next weekend so I thought I would try my new GSI Soloist pot set before the hike.
I normally use MSR's stainless "Stowaway" pots which are very durable but a bit on the heavy side (1.1 litre pot is 439g or 15.5oz). I was browsing through www.mec.ca and found the GSI Soloist which is cheap at 26 $CDN (21 $US), compact, and lightweight at 307g (10.8 oz). The set consists of a 1.1 litre hard-anodized aluminium alloy pot with a folding handle, a lexan lid with strainer, and a polypropylene insulated bowl/cup. The handle folds to lock the lid for travel, and a MSR Pocket Rocket and 4oz gas cylinder will nest inside the pot. The set comes with a pouch for the stove so that it doesn't scratch the inside of the pot, as well as a stuff-sack for the set that is seam-welded and waterproof (acts as a separate water carrier).
The cylinder shown in the photos above with my MSR Pocket Rocket is an 8oz cylinder which also nests inside the pot, but it is a much tighter squeeze getting the lid on with the stove, cup, and gas cylinder inside the pot, but the 8oz cylinder does fit.
My first impressions of the set are very positive; it's well built and ultra light-weight (the manufacturer claims their alloy "Halulite" is just as lightweight as titanium), and the size and shape are very well thought out allowing both stove and fuel to fit inside. The price is also very reasonable.
I'll give this a bit more use next weekend and post here if I notice any deficiencies, but I doubt I will find any!
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I did look over the pots you mentioned though, they are very light, extrmely high quality, but I decided to keep using my MSR stowaway pots as I fill them with gear, and like the larger capacity.
