I'm in the market for a new stove for backcountry use, primarily in base camp situations for summer alpine trips. I'm interested in hearing any strong recommendations.

The criteria I consider important include:
- dependability
- weight
- efficiency (e.g., low boiling time, operation under cold temperatures)
- ease of field repair
- ease of operation.

Comments? Preferences?

For fast and light weekend trips I like Jetboil. It's compact, lightweight and is very efficient. Get the classic one, not the Flash version. There are couple of limitations with it though. 1) Piezo igniter is known to fail, so make sure to bring a small lighter as a backup, 2) It's only good for boiling water, not good for simmering food, 3) Performance deteriorates with altitude and colder temps of course. I've used it on Rainier. It worked great at Camp Muir at 10K, but was so-so at Ingraham Flats just 1k higher.

For longer expeditions, higher altitudes and colder temps, MSR Whisperlite is the standard. Plus it's easy to bum fuel - people always have a surplus of white gas.

With the jetboil, you can get the party pot which will allow you to cook food. Or create your own potholder for your own pots, works reasonably well.

My more adventurous friends all carry an XGK. Some have whisperlite internationales. Good to have stoves that use the same connections and can burn petrol.

I had an internationale, sold it as I don't go out enough in cold weather, and can generally find cansiter fuel. Right now I'm using a Jetboil + pocket rocket for my backpacking.

I have been using this one: http://www.trailspace.com/gear/primus/alpine-titanium/ for the last 8 years. It has worked flawlessly on peaks in South America, Nepal, Canada, and USA. Extremely light and super-reliable except for the piezo part (but that seem to break on all stoves. It's removable anyways)
Does not look like Primus makes this exact model anymore but a little search produced: http://www.backcountry.com/outdoorgear/Primus-TiLite-Stove/PMS0045M.html which looks almost identical. Unfortunately it seems like they only sell it in a package with a titanium pot...

The only drawback of a canister stove is that you need to consider logistics of obtaining canisters at fly-to destinations since you cannot take canisters on the plane. (neither can you take used fuel bottles). This only becomes an issue when you are flying out for a quick trip, and go to the mountains straight from the airport.

--Misha

you can bring empty fuel bottles if you clean them of all traces of fuel - I have flown domestically with MSR fuel bottles plenty of times.

Yeah, you gotta keep that in mind with canisters. Also the store hours, it's annoying when you get to the store and find it's closed. If you're unsure about finding canisters, go with liquid fuels, you can usually find a gas station.

I just got back from climbing Elbrus in Russia, and we used the JetBoil Helios for cooking and melting snow. We camped at 14,000' in the cold, and it performed beautifully.

Since really good canister stoves like the Helios or the MSR Reactor starting coming out a few years ago, I pitched my trusty old MSR XGK into the closet. I'll still use it for really remote trips when I think I might need to burn camel dung or whale oil, but it has definitely become a niche tool now.

The MSR XGK doesn't burn camel dung or bad kerosene for that matter. I was planning on using it as my basecamp stove and using my Jetboil for my high altitude stove. I got a hold of some bad kerosene in Namche Bazaar and no matter how often I cleaned my lines I couldn't get it to burn for more then 30-40 seconds. I ended up using my Jetboil for the entire trip.

I'm another one who has gone predominate. Just some things to keep in mind.

-above 15Kft piezo-electric starters work like shit (I've expereienced this on numerous trips but I aways forget, and its irregardless if its on the stove or a lighter).

-in cold temperatures don't insulate the cannisters.... it only makes the problem worse... either
A) take a copper wire and pass it through the flame and then wrap the cannister to make a heat exchanger
B) or use a lighter carefully to keep the cannister warm (it works but doesn't it sort of sound Darwinian)

-while cannister stoves preformance if unaided (by the above techniques) decreases with temperature, it improves with altitude (better difference in pressures).

Personally I'm a fan of the Jetboil.

Thanks for the testimonials.

I've used both the Whisperlite and XGK at various times and have had problems with each. Field repair was possible in one case that involved replacing a gaskets, but still it was a PITA. Convenience obtaining fuel seems to be the big plus for liquid fuel stoves.

I may end up trying a canister stove. Chas has some good ideas about dealing with the issue of cold temperatures. How about any experience with the MSR Wind Pro? The distal fuel canister means that it can be inverted, another way to influence performance.

Never used that stove, but the JetBoil Helios is easily to invert on the canister stand. It really is a wonderful stove if you are worried about performance.