MSR Alpine Fry Pan

If you want a very solid fry pan for the outdoors, and you need it to be lightweight, this MSR Alpine Fry Pan is the best fry pan I have been able to find in all my years of wilderness travel--ESPECIALLY if you have plans to cook over an open fire. The stainless can take a beating and keep going, so it's rugged. However, it also has an aluminum plate sandwiched under the stainless on the bottom so that it distributes heat evenly. A titanium fry pan can't match this even heat distribution, and an aluminum pan (at least of the lightweight "backpacking" type) will almost certainly warp over time if you use a high power jet stove or cook frequently over an open fire. Nonstick coatings on most aluminum pans will also peel or flake off if used over a fire. I've seen it many times. But this little stainless fry pan just works! The pan is generously sized in diameter (7-5/8" at the flared top; 6-1/2" on the bottom), which is very nice since most lightweight fry pans are obnoxiously small. One side of the pan rim has a slight v-shaped crimp to allow liquids to be poured off smoothly and/or directed precisely into a container. The wire handle is removable but locks on very securely and handles heat well. If cooking for an extended period over an open fire, however, you can easily remove the handle while the fry pan sits on the fire. It's so easy to attach/detach that you can use it like an ultralight pot grabber instead of leaving it in place to get hot. You may also be interested to know that this pan nests perfectly around the bottom of the large MSR 1.6L Stowaway Pot. If you want a solid piece of gear for frying food, this is your best bet. Highly recommended! Note: If you're inexperienced at cooking with stainless, frying is much easier if you "season" the pan first. Heat the empty pan over medium-high heat for at least two minutes until it is good and hot. Then add a dash of your favorite cooking oil and swirl it around to coat the pan. When you see the oil smoke, remove it from the heat and let it cool completely. The oil will be drawn into the "pores" of the cooling stainless steel. Once cool, buff it with a paper towel. If done correctly, you should see a mirror-like reflection in the seasoned pan. Now the pan will be essentially "non-stick" when you cook with it, and will usually stay that way for a few uses or until you clean it with soap/detergent. Hope that tip helps you get a better cooking experience!

Loved this pan. Worked well for our trip into the BWCA in northern MN. Big enough to cook a good quantity of food, packs away nice. Light weight. Durable, easy to clean, handle was adequate for the pan and packed away nice as well.

This is a very nice little frypan that I have used a couple of years before writing a review. The only thing keeping it form 5 stars are the handle is a little flimsy and there is no easily found lid... An 8 inch pizza pan from American metalcraft found here for under 3 dollars works well for a lid. I use this pan mostly over wood fires either stick stove or on a grill over coals at the edge of a camp fire. I also use it over an alcohol stove to cook things like eggs or more "delicate" foods. I have not used it over any of my forced fuel stoves, like the pocket rocket or the omnifuel, so I cannot say how the bottom holds up to the intense heat that such stoves put out. Overall this skillet is very good for camping if you are like me and not real worried about weight and NOT a fan of titianium. I do not like how all of the titanium pots and pans I have ever bought always seem rough... That is just asking for food to stick it seems like. .....TIP...... I have discovered that if I use any (decent quality) new camping pots, pans and skillets in my kitchen for a winter, They have a better chance of Not warping when used out in the field. You do need to season this skillet to get the best results and please, heat new pots and pans up GRADUALLY untill the metal has a chance to "set".

This is by far the best fry pan I have seen available for outdoor cooking. I love going to outdoor stores and especially checking out their selection of cookware for hiking, backpacking, and camping. Along with my wife, kids, and several of my brother-in-laws, we have accumulated a pretty good variety of mess kit-type cooking supplies, and MSR, in my opinion, has the best all-around selection. I have found success in purchasing individual components and compiling my own "mess kit", instead of purchasing a pre-assembled kit. Along with MSR's Stowaway pots, their Alpine series stainless steel cookware is great. I have had my pan for a couple of years now and have just purchased two more for my family. Along with cooking eggs and meat, I have used this pan several times to make bannock, a camp bread, over a fire, and it turns out great. The pan is about 8" in diameter and will make enough bread for 4-5 people to have with a meal. 2 cups of flour and other ingredients bake into a loaf that fits very nicely into the pan. The handle is detachable, and fits nicely into my other mess kit pots. When locked in place, it would be hard to tell the handle isn't part of the pan itself - it's very solid. One distinct advantage this pan has over others it the aluminum base that disperses heat over an even area instead of the flame being exposed to just one area of the steel. There is spout for draining oil, also. I value the durability of stainless steel over the lighter weight, smaller pans. I wouldn't consider using a different pan - even if it saved space and weight. The pan cleans up nicely by using an SOS pad. If it's real grimy from the fire, it takes some elbow grease, but can be cleaned up to be shiny again. I'd snap one of these up in a heartbeat if you're serious about cooking over a fire.

This is basically an 8" pan, it just has a funny handle. That's exactly what I was looking for. I looked at a lot of pans, but this is the only one that really fit the bill. There is aluminum, but aside from the potential Alzheimer's link, it doesn't hold heat, and warps easily. There is titanium, but it is thin so doesn't heat evenly, and is crazy expensive. So then that leaves steel. As usual, that pretty much means MSR or GSI, both offer nonstick is offered from both brands, but Teflon is the devils work. GSI does not have a stainless pan, and aside from those tiny lids that supposedly are also pans, nobody else seems to have an offering. That alone made the decision easy. But it doesn't stop there. The handle is amazingly sturdy, once you lock the slider down that sucker isn't moving. The aluminum disc stuck on the bottom is great for adding thermal mass to the thin stainless without adding weight. And there is a crimp on one edge that creates a pour spout for grease and such. Now if you know cooking, you don't have problems with things sticking to your pans because you grease it and keep the heat even. Attached is a photo of my test, I was actually testing several products at once. I paired this with the MSR folding spatula to fry an egg over a fire, perfectly done, I'm looking forward to a future of pancakes, bacon, and eggs in the woods with this bad boy. I understand this pan is supposed to nest under the alpine 3L pot, but what kind of madman would be taking a pot that size anywhere space is an issue? You'd just use a normal pan, no? So I just "nest" it to my stainless steel plate that happened to come in a mesh bag big enough to hold them both.

I purchased this for backpacking with my sons, who are scouts. It has worked great. It is light weight, and yet at the same time has almost enough weight to evenly disperse the weight to keep your food from scorching. I said almost, you still need to watch your food. I had some slight scorching on my hash-browns, but every other meal turned out ok from there on out. Alittle more weight on the bottom would help keep your food from burning and evenly disperse the heat. But then that would just mean more weight in your pack. The handle disconnects from the pan body. While this is a great feature, where do you stash the handle? If you do not have it attached to the pan in some fashion, you risk losing it. That could really ruin your backpacking trip if you could not find the handle out in the wilderness. I just attach the pan to one of the outside straps on my pack. No searching for it in camp. No risk of misplacing the handle. No awkward shape to try to fit in my pack with the handle attached. I am pleased with my purchase of this pan, and would not hesitate to purchase another one in the future. The price is not too bad, the quality is pretty high, and it does a fantastic job of cooking my food out on the trails.

As others have said, the sticky tape that is used to hold the handle in the pan for boxing is genuinely hideous to remove and a folding handle would be a definite improvement, but this is a quality pan. Incredibly impressive sturdiness. Heats up quickly and evenly. I think the size is just perfect for your camping cook kit needs. If it were any bigger you might as well haul a skillet from home. Any smaller and it would be about useless. The crimp style pour spout on the lip of the pan is quite handy. I love MSR products and own several, and I can attest to their durability. Buy once-cry once. These are built to last. My MSR 1.6 liter stowaway pot sits inside this pan and I store the handle inside the pot so I don't lose it. Great combo. Why buy cheesy, unhealthy aluminum when you can buy this? I seasoned mine with a little bacon grease on the stove and it's non-stick and slick as a whistle. You'll love this pan as long as you're not expecting it to be humongous.

This is a good pan overall. The heat distribution is good, the handle is sturdy and detachable. It has a very useful pour spout on the side. The weight is probably not what an ultra-light backpack would want but I'm not ultra-light so it's good. The main problem is that the body is not steel. The handle is, but not the body. So I don't know how long it's going to last and I can't use it on my induction stove at home. At first I thought the aluminum disk attached to the bottom to spread the heat more evenly might be interfering with the induction stove, but a magnet relieved me of that misconception. I'm not sure if previous versions were steel but I'm down rating it because I didn't get what they advertised.

Great also has a rough base providing less slip on camping stove

Excelente sartén de acero inoxidable con base de aluminio, el mango se le puede remover para facilitar su transportación.

Will fit my MSR Alpine 2 and 4 Stainless Steel Cookset.

Excellent fry pan.

Love this fry pan. It fits/nests well within our MSR cook pots. The pan itself is thick enough to cook foods and bannock really evenly. Sure, it is not an ultralight option, but we found the weight to be negligible for canoe camping. We found the removable pan handle to be a great feature and simple in design. Highly recommend :)