Washington Business Winter 2019 | Washington Business | Page 30

what’s working
The Stove that Conquered Harsh Conditions
The WhisperLite stove, and others like it, changed the way
people travel.
Andrew Lenderman
At A Glance
Cascade Designs has a repair
shop in Seattle that can fix just
about anything. The company
encourages repairs, rather than
expensive replacements, as part of its
commitment to sustainability.
30 association of washington business
This is a story about a stove. It’s called the MSR WhisperLite International 600.
Andy Coulter was a guide in Alaska back in the 1990s. A bush plane dropped him off in
the wilderness one day. After a while, he realized he forgot his stove fuel — concentrated
white gas that can boil water very, very efficiently.
No problem. He asked the pilot to siphon off a little bit of aviation fuel. The
WhisperLite burned that gasoline like the plane that brought it there. Andy Coulter
had hot water on that trip.
I met Andy recently at the Cascade Designs repair shop in Seattle’s Industrial District.
Cascade is the parent company for MSR. Andy works there now, repairing the same
equipment he relied on when he was a guide in Alaska. We traded stories. There we
were, two Andys from the 1990s, talking about a stove with a cult following.
My WhisperLite story started when I worked for the U.S. Forest Service in the 1990s. I
traveled the West in a Dodge truck before and after the fire season. I was 18, 19 years-old
and relied on luck and a few pieces of equipment to get by. That meant lots of camping,
and not many hotels.
My WhisperLite could boil water in four minutes or less. Its bright blue flame heated
water for coffee, oatmeal and instant dinners every day.
I remember chilly nights and being lonely thousands of miles from home. But I never
had to worry about that stove, which allowed me to save thousands in travel costs, and
always kept me warm.