The one thing people screw up on their winter car kit here

I keep seeing folks in Fairbanks stuffing a whole emergency kit in their trunk with candles and blankets and all that. But they forget the most important part: a way to actually melt snow into drinking water. I learned this the hard way when I got stuck on the Elliott Highway for 6 hours last February. Had all the warm clothes in the world but got dehydrated because I couldn't melt anything without a stove. Now I keep a cheap backpacking stove and a metal cup in my bag year round. Anyone else pack a little stove after a close call up here?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren_carr21d ago

That stove saved me on the Parks Highway a couple winters ago. Water freezes solid in like 20 minutes up here, so a regular water bottle is useless once you stop moving. The trick is having something that can actually get snow to a liquid state. Candles burn too slow and most people's car lighters can't handle it. The backpacking stove is the only practical option for the interior. What brand of stove did you end up going with? I've seen some cheap ones that rattle apart on the washboard roads.

richardknight21d ago

A six hour wait on the Elliott with no way to melt snow? Man, that is genuinely terrifying to hear. I never even thought about the dehydration factor because I'm always so focused on staying warm and not freezing solid. But you're right, you can be wrapped in a thousand dollar parka and still be in trouble if you're thirsty and everything around you is frozen solid. The human body needs water even in the cold, maybe especially in the cold with all that dry air. I've been keeping a big thermos of hot tea in my truck for years but I never considered what happens when that runs out or if you're stuck longer than expected. That backpacking stove idea is way smarter than my stupid thermos plan.