Caldera ULC Fusion first look.

On Friday, when I got back from a somewhat stressfull day at work there was a very light box with a customs label on it sitting in my hall. My new Caldera cone had finally arrived.
Here's what had happened. When I finally made the switch from a gas cannister stove, the caldera was the obvious choice. I only wanted to boil water and popular opinion was that there wasn't a better meths stove available in terms of quick boil time, stability and efficiency. I got the stove and cone and was instanly convinced. I enjoyed the fact that I could light up, walk away and know I'd come back to a pot that was still upright and not boiled dry. The only drawback was not really a problem for me-that of the size of the cone. I just inserted it into my pot, put a disposable pint glass on the top and filled it with my hot drinks kit. After a time, however, I got a new smaller (lighter) food bag, and I began to find it hard to get all my food in it. This was a stupid reason to get a new stove and so I had to think a bit harder. Despite the fact that I had marked up the pint glass with measurements, I still never used it for anything. I don't like things in my bag I don't use. Plus my old cone was getting bit bashed up. What's more, I had seen a new compact cone that fitted inside the mug. I had a good reason to at least consider a new piece of gear. So I made the fatal mistake of emailing Trail Designs about the Caldera ULC for my Snowpeak mini solo. Rand wrote back saying that they were currently playing around with ideas for a two part Caldera, they were about to make one for the mini solo and might as well make two if I was interested. I was interested.
So what did I get in my box? This: Clockwise from top left-The two halves of the cone, stand and grate for a wood fire, a gram cracker esbit stove, a pepsi can stmeths stove, two titanium tent pegs and a titanium floor to protect the ground. I also got a new fuel bottle, a measuring cup and three esbit tabs.
First up, I don't think I'll ever use the gram cracker. I love the simplicity of the idea, but the esbit stinks and it messes up pots really badly.
The wood stove I am interested in. Here's the grate on the stand inside the lower half of the cone and the picture at the top of the post is the grate on the stand by itself. Build your fire on the grate, fire it up and drop on the top half of the cone. There's a titanium floor to use so that you don't scorch the grass. I'll not use it regularly, but occasionally I fancy the idea. I assume the chimney effect will draw air up through the base of the fire and make it burn faster- The Grate sits above the lower vents. It's a nice simple solution to the woodfire concept.
The main reason I wanted this is so that it fits inside my pot but there are a few other advantages. First, although it only weighs a tiny bit less than my old cone, I don't have to use that pint pot. That saves me a whole ten grams(!) which is 25% of my rain chaps or almost 10% of my Z-pack (hey every little helps!). I can use my smaller food bag which also saves me (another tiny bit of!) weight. I used to have to fold up my foil lid for my pot, but I can keep it whole. Whats more, Titanium is a much nicer metal that aluminium. It looks nicer and it springs open rather than having to be moved into shape. It's got a real quality feel and the set up works perfectly.
The cone is slightly shorter than my old cone (on the left), but the pot sits on two tent pegs so that there is the same distance between the stove and the pot- I assume it will work in exactly the same way. You can put the pegs into holes at the very top of the cone when you're burning wood or you can just use the top half of the cone by itself as a windshield and potstand combined.
There are a few important things to point out. Firstly, this cone is not generally available.More importantly it's only suitable for a limited amount of pots at the moment. This is what Rand says:
"It is a system thats only for a limited amount of pots. The SPMSolo, the MLDesign 850 and the Evernew stacking set are the only ones we've figured out a basic system for" I'm figuring that they're getting the height/diameter/position of the split ratios sorted out.
This is certainly a work in progress. In the last email i got from them, they mentioned lower vents in the upper pot, which mine doesn't have. They did say as well that it was the best thing they've come up with. Based on my first impressions, I'd put a reasonable amount of money on them being right.

And more..

I never thought my video would generate this much interest! I'm going to continue to publish comments that deal with safety because it's important for people to look at these issues and make their own mind up. So, Martin Rye said:
Couple things and more. On a multi day route you would miss those spare clothes. Wet days on end would push the safety boundary in my view. You would be safer with spare warm clothing to get into in an emergency. Wet clothing wicks body heat away five times faster.

It seems that every time I've taken this kit out, it's been wet days on end so I've got a fair understanding of how it works. The cape/chaps combo does a good job of keeping me dry except for the ends of the arms-I've been just as wet in traditional waterproofs and I would always save my dry clothes for when I got to camp. But when I'm in camp, if I'm really soaking, I can take my wet clothes off and get into my sleeping bag and put on the down vest which will keep me warmer than a fleece or long johns and not getting into the sleeping bag. What I actually found myself doing was just wearing the clothes until they dried when I got to camp. I wear montane terra trousers and a smartwool microweight baselayer which I have found dry extremely quickly. on my feet I wore coolmax liner socks which also dry very quickly. I do run pretty warm though. I dried at night and got wet again during the day, which was similar to what I used to do which was wearing dry clothes at night and putting wet clothes on again the next day.

I like Caldera stoves but they can flare up and set fire to the ground. If your shelter burnt down what would be plan to keep the elements of you without a waterproof? Good luck to you but would it work on a five day no resupply wet Scottish route in May?
I haven't had any problem with my caldera setting fire to the ground, but if it's dry, I put it outside the tent. If it's wet, then there shouldn't be so much of a problem with the ground catching fire but should the worst come to the worst, then silnylon burns slowly. The worst should be a hole in my waterproofs. There's enough material in the cape to be able to bunch it and tie it off or even just wear it with a hole in it- I'd be generally covered. 5 days no resupply in a scottish May? I don't get the chance to get up to Scotland much unfortunately but my understanding is that I may well be encountering snow etc. I would be more likely to pack a kit that reflected the more wintery conditions and lower temperatures, but if it's cold enough to wear a micro fleece, that would be on my back and not in the pack. Wind is the real killer with the cape as a waterproof but only if you're going up high. The main change I'd make for a 5 dayer is spare socks- my socks reek after 3 days!
Also does that pack keep all the kit dry without stuff sacks? Yes!