A Review of Sea to Summit Cookware

Sea to Summit are the masters of lightweight backcountry cookware. For those who love to cook up a storm at camp whilst minimising the size and bulk of their camp kitchen, Sea to Summit’s collapsible cookware has long been a worthy solution. S2S has been selling their collapsible range for some time now, with the Detour and Frontier series recently replacing the long-standing X-Series. The new collapsible range now enables camp cooks to choose cookware depending on their activity: the Frontier Ultralight series is more suited to backpacking and hiking, and the sturdier Detour series is perfect for overlanding and camping. The range includes everything you might need for an ideal backcountry kitchen setup, from pots and pans, to mugs and kettles, and even a collapsible pour over for the coffee snobs among us. Let’s face it though, the Frontier range looks a little flimsy, and you’re bound to be wondering whether silicone really is tough enough for repeated backcountry use and exposure to extreme heat. I decided to put the range to the test on a backcountry adventure using some key pieces from the Frontier Ultralight range. Read my thoughts below.

How Tough are the Sea to Summit Collapsible Cookware Sets?

I was certainly a bit dubious about how sturdy this rubbery contraption was going to be. So I did a bit of further digging. Whilst at an Outdoor Retailer Australia trade show in Sydney a few years ago, I was fortunate enough to have a chat with Tim – one of the designers who took the original collapsible X-Series technology and turned it into something more. He was able to answer a few of the questions I had about the products. Firstly, like most people I was sceptical about the durability of the flexible silicone construction. He pointed out that silicone cookware has been used for many years, in both domestic and commercial kitchens, so the experimental period and questions of quality are a thing of the past.

The other obvious point of concern was the strength and durability of the bond between the aluminium base of the pots and the silicone sidewalls. There’s more to the designs than this, but essentially, Tim told me, it’s a combination of a physical bond (the two materials ‘link into each other’) and a chemical bond (a really robust and heat resistant glue). This satisfied my initial concerns, but I was, of course, keen to test it for myself!

Sea to Summit Collapsible Cookware Tech Specs

The Frontier and Detour X-Series are all constructed from flexible food-grade, heat resistant silicone and various metals, with the Frontier series sporting anodised aluminium whilst the Detour series utilises stainless steel. The cooking surface or base of the Sea to Summit Frontier series camping cookware is made from hard-anodized aluminium, whilst cups and bowls are constructed using glass-reinforced nylon. The products collapse and nestle inside each other to further minimise packed volume. The included lids use a durable plastic, which shortens boil time and allows for finer temperature control and monitoring.

Cooking with the Sea to Summit Frontier Set

I’ve used the Frontier Ultralight Collapsible Pouring Pot now a bunch of times, mostly on camping or hiking trips where carrying the gear wasn’t necessary, but also on some overnight hikes. The 2.2L capacity of this Sea to Summit pot makes it the perfect size for two people. Having a big pot that takes up so little room in my pack is really great. For those looking to boil a decent volume of water fast, this might not be the best option (hello, Jetboil). But for cooking meals for small groups, and lesser volumes of water, this is a pot you can count on.

When it comes to the design, every aspect has been considered, with some really simple yet useful features like a Click-Safe handle lock and LidKeep which allows you to clip the lid to the side of the pot. Given that it’s made with flexible silicone, the pot was slightly unstable with a full load of water – just make sure that you place it down and pick it up with two hands. By and large, this pot is great to cook with (and even better to pack away!).

Going Ultralight with the Frontier Range

When my travel options were open and endless, I spent three weeks on the South Island of NZ alpine climbing and hiking with all of my Sea to Summit cookware. For the first half of the trip I was climbing with two mates, then afterwards I spent a week hiking solo. My requirements were minimal – I simply needed the ability to boil water to rehydrate my food and make tea/coffee. The Frontier Ultralight Kettle seemed like a lighter solution compared with my usual high-powered canister stove setup, so I left the Jetboil behind to pack the following:S2S Frontier Ultralight Kettle (201g)

S2S Frontier Ultralight Kettle (201g)
S2S Frontier Ultralight Collapsible Bowl (62g)
S2S Frontier Ultralight Collapsible Cup (54g)
Soto Amicus Stove (75g)

I used this set-up throughout the NZ trip, from windy cold bivvies, to seeking refuge in my tent when the sandflies were eating me alive. I also cooked using the kettle whilst staying in back-country huts, at times boiling water by placing the kettle on top of the coal-burning stove. Beyond using it solo as a lightweight option, the Frontier Ultralight Kettle would make the perfect addition to your existing backcountry kitchen cookware setup. It’s super lightweight and simple to use (and also means that you will no longer suffer the misery of finding chunks of last night’s freeze-dried curry floating around in your morning coffee). The recommended ‘safe boiling capacity’ is 0.8L, Which is plenty to prepare both dinner and a hot drink from a single boil. The boil time is, of course, slower than some integrated, flux-ring equipped pot/stove set-ups, but with that being said I still found it surprisingly quick.

Sea to Summit Collapsible Cookware Conclusions

After overcoming my initial scepticism, I’m glad to have given the Sea to Summit collapsible cookware a chance. It is now firmly integrated within my outdoor cooking setup and will continue to be my first choice of cookware for many trips to come. Sure, it’s not suited to extreme cold weather or rapid boiling bulk volumes, but that doesn’t happen very often in my adventures anyway. Durability is still my primary concern, but so far even with my fairly rough treatment, the Frontier vessels are going strong!