thoughts on stoves

Wed, Jan 30, 2008

I’ve been using a low profile gas stove for years now. It’s the kind with the legs as opposed to the ultralight ones that screw into the top of the canister as I’m not a fan of those at all at all. The ground is always too rough and my pan too full of food for it to be safe in the tent door. Lately though I’ve started using freeze dried meals from Turmat (which are superb) and Expedition Foods which are just as good. They do a superb porridge and strawberries which I used on my ML assessment. The upshot of this is I just end up boiling water instead of cooking which is great on a cold morning camp high in the mountains where I boil enough for the porridge bag and a cuppa. So I thought I’d change my stove system to make it lighter as I’ve no need to simmer any more.

The first option was going back to my Trangia days when I used to bring the stove into the tent on cold winter nights (we’re talking 3 feet of snow round the tent) and put the simmer ring on for a peep of a flame that kept the inside warm. You need good ventilation for that though, or you’ll turn blue and keel over due to carbon monoxide poisoning. I wouldn’t do that any more as I’ve got a good warm sleeping bag these days. The Trangia is a bit heavy for mountain camping though so I had a look at what else is available but before I delve into that, here’s a video of a Trangia in action:

I had a quick look at the JetBoil. Well I didn’t actually look at it. I didn’t take it out of the box as the picture looked like a very top heavy stove and I could hardly lift it!

The next option was the Bushbuddy, which everyone seems to be talking about but watching the video it’s pretty obvious it’s not a mountain stove. There are no trees nor wood in the Scottish mountains, other than conifers, which don’t burn very well. I’ve heard of people carrying wood with them but the attraction of the bushbuddy seems to be when it’s used in a wooded environment. You stop where you like, pick up some fallen twigs and get cooking. Not here you won’t! You can’t cook in the tent porch either, for obvious reasons, one of which is the 10 foot flame leaping out the top and licking round the pot. You can presumably spot the bushbuddy user in the hills. He’s the one sitting outside in the pouring rain/sleet/snow barely visible through a dense cloud of damp conifer smoke with 10 million midges crowded just out of reach of the reeking plume, waiting for it to subside before they go in for the kill!

The next video does show a good use for a variant of the bushbuddy by J Falk, as a shelter for a meths burner!

So I’ve made a trip into wood stove land and come back unconvinced as to their practicality in the more mountainous parts these islands. When I bimbled over the Clee Hills at new year I had the notion that sleeping out under a tarp and using a bushbuddy would be really nice, in that environment. It wouldn’t be very nice in my normal environment of the Cuillin. A rock burning stove would be more handy! So it’s back to meths, with the Trangia a wee bit heavy for wild camping.

The esbit stoves get good reviews but going from the video I don’t know if I could handle the gas mask:

So I’m undecided at the moment. The Trangia is just so practical. For me it would be ideal if it was a tad lighter so I’m off to have a look at the lightweight version. While I’m at it, I’m going to check out the Caldera Cone: