How much you need to carry depends on how much and what you cook surely. It's just arithmetic plus a bit extra in case. Also, how many camps. Some people only cook once a day, some brew up 3 or 4 times.
Some camp every night.
Some use hostels.
I get across with 500 ml but that's me. I use a Vargo meths bottle, light plastic, not one of those hefty great things.

Reliability and safety are important factors to consider.

Twice, in consecutive trips with different gas stoves, I had problems. First I had a blockage on a Primus. Ok - not the end of the world and was able to fix it as my buddy has a set of pliers on a leatherman and we found some wire in a bothy to use as a prod. If using gas I would now ensure I had the means to clear such a blockage and carry a spare o ring too. Second time was with a Fire Maple. When screwing on the canister it wouldn't tighten and just kept turning and gas started escaping. The thread of the stove itself had come away from the housing. Imagine if I hadn't noticed and attempted to light it. So, on me own with a broken, useless stove. Luckily found a army style hexy burner in a bothy to see me out until the end of my trip.


I know a fella who was using a gas stove whilst night fishing in a tent. Something wasn't right, maybe a cross thread, and on lighting he was engulfed in flames. He was lucky to escape quickly but not before his shelter was alight and he had molten nylon burnt on his head, face and arms. He was rushed to hospital and was fortunate in that he was left with no visible scarring.

Gleann Dubh-Lighe bothy was burnt to the ground due to a faulty gas canister.

http://tracksterman.tumblr.com/post/21769003488/gleann-dubh-lighe

As most of us cook in the vestibule of our shelters in the middle of nowhere I'd rather put up with the fumes of meths than have the potential issues of a gas stove. I use a home made titanium cone which is a stable, reliable, compact and light set up with nothing to go wrong.

I've had stove failure (blocked jet)but my main problem with gas stoves has been the gas canisters.Either not sealing or not being able to get gas out of the ****ed things at all when new.
Flat Cat/Stormin ethanol for me now.

So alongside Brexiters and Remainers, we now have Heavies and Lighties, Trailies and Booties, Tenties and Tarpies, Filters and Dirties - do we really need Gassies and Methies? But I guess what else would we have to talk about for the downtime between TGO's ?

:innocent:

(BTW this was off the top of my head, please feel free to start another thread on the best names to use for each of the types)

I've used meths, gas and a liquid multifuel stove. All have their advantages, in my experience:

Gas is fast and convenient but expensive vs if you have a failure you're likely stuffed

Multifuel: Not as fast as gas but reliable and generally field serviceable vs heavy and a bit of a faff to set up and therefore slower than gas, fuel not always the easiest to source (petrol / white gas etc)

Meths / Bio-Ethanol: Lightweight and reliable vs perhaps a little bit of a faff setting up but that's about it. Norma's stoves are good (I've got one of his very early models) as are the Caldera Cone stoves - although they ain't cheap. You've also got the option of making your own (penny stoves etc).

One interesting point Roger Caffin made about gas stoves is that he was very wary of stoves that had aluminium rather than brass threads as they are easier to damage, prone to wear and vulnerable to cross threading. Fortunately my Snow Peak GST100 has a brass thread. :innocent:

Care needs to be taken whatever stove you are using particularly in a tent porch. I’ve seen stories of accidents with alcohol stoves spilling and setting light to flysheets or people burning themselves because they can’t see the flames.

Personally, I can’t stand the smell of meths. It turns my stomach. I’ve used bioethanol which is much nicer but difficult to resupply unless you can find a B+Q. :upside_down_face:

I'm with you Robing re: the smell. I struggle to eat on the Challenge as it is, the smell of meths *for me* would be a disaster!:joy:

GREat to read the helpful comments. I have been trying to experiment with my titanium caldera cone combined with the pocket rocket as well. Thanks for the mentions of backup with a couple of esbits. With a tri-ti there is always the option of using old fashioned fire. I look forward to some stove cackling on this year TGO. Anyone interested in coming up the CWT afterwards? I hope to go to Ft. WILLIAM after Montrose then CWT North.

It's just not right to carry alcohol that you don't intend to drink ....


I will actually try meths with a little multi-fuel stove I have. I've not used it since the days when my parents used a Trangia and climbers used primies.

I stick to my stripped down jetboil Titanium. 7.5 oz for stove and pot isn't too bad, and way less futzy than alcohol stoves. Not interested in those. I always boil cook water, just to be safe.