I wish I could help you, but unfortunately I have no ideas. All I can say is that you are not alone. A while back I saw a show on TV. It was at the USMC Mountain Warfare Center in the eastern Sierra. These poor instructors were having a pretty hard time teaching the young Marines how to light a fire, mainly using issue mag. sticks. Out in the snow several did manage to get a nice warm looking fire build. On the snow. You should have seen the looks on their faces when their roaring fire suddenly dropped out of sight and nothing but a cloud of steam was left...