Originally Posted By: ireckon
An example of my regular extreme condition is snowboarding off piste near the top of Whistler during January. I've read that a butane lighter is bad at high altitudes. I'll get one just to test it out, but I won't make it part of my big three...yet.


Whistler is 7100 feet in elevation. I know from personal experience that BIC type lighters work at that height. The highest elevation I ever used a BIC was at 7800 feet.

At that elevation, the BIC lighter and then my pocket rocket stove worked good enough to cook dinner for 4 people.

In winter, when the temperature drops below about -10C (14F) , any butane lighter or fuel cannister will work as long as it kept warm in in an inside coat pocket before using. The stove's fuel cannister benefits from a small fleece cover that keeps it somewhat resistant to the cold until the food is cooked.
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Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.

John Lubbock