Stove fuel in Tibet

it's easy to get them in Lhasa or Kathmandu. It's quite expensive in Lhasa indeed.

I would suggest you to buy a multi-fuel stove which burns gasoline as well. I think the Primus Omnifuel is the best stove on the market for outdoor use, it burns almost any fuel, and we had been using it quite extensively for 3 months, without any obvious problems.

YEP......pazu's advice is spot on.

I have used all sorts of stoves over the years and gone cold and hungry on many trips messing about with local kerosene in my multi-fuel stoves! ( I recommend highly against using kero in your stive if you can avoid it!) I then moved to using unleaded gas but struggled with quality here in Tibet and spent most meal times trying to filter fuel again and again to get rid of the paint flakes and other floaties in the fuel. Despite the environemental issues of butane/propane cannisters I have now unashamedly use them all the time. They are available here in Lhasa and work at altitude with few issues. In very cold conditions it is a good idea to keep the cannisters warm (in your sleeping bag) or they will not function so well. It is also suggested to position the fuel cannister near the flame to pre-heat it a little (This can be dangerous......but may also be essential if you are climbing or trekking in sub-zero conditions......be warned.....I have seen a graphic images of a climber minus most of his nose after over zealous preheating of a butane cannister!!

I also use the Primus Omnifuel stove (bought in Lhasa!) and have found it very reliable.

CJ

Chris, 'pazu' is suggesting to this dude that he use a multi-fuel stove, and mentions it can burn petrol/kero etc.
I agree with all of Chris' remarks [except the 'near the flame' silliness]. You can buy a propane/butane stove at the mountaineering shop nearly opposite the Kirey, on the same side as the Yak. I bought one last year for Y240, about $A40 at the time - cheap, and built so strong it makes any MSR look like a feeble, soon-to-be-broken toy! Standard size cannisters cost, from memory, Y20 each [2-3 bucks]. We bought eight and had to give away a couple in Pakistan - they lasted 2-3 days each, cooking 2-3 meals, soup, drinks. A buck a day strikes me as being cheap, but that is just me perhaps.

I absolutely loathe liquid fuel stoves and cannot imagine why anyone would use one, unless ordered to at gunpoint; yet the dopey outdoor mags keep rating these POSs highly, year on year...disinformation is what it is for any Himalaya traveller. I have carried these smelly, filthy, noxious contraptions in northern India, Zanskar, and here in Australia. I should add 'dysfunctional', since any fuel with less than aviation grade cleanliness or 92 octane chokes the hell out of them [which is why they all come with 'repair kits', hah]; and when the damn things are not blocked they expel acrid, black, poisonous smoke.

I have not yet mentioned 'dangerous' - any spillage of high flammability fuel avec flame, well, you have a serious fire; fire and mountain tents: they do not like each other. Now it is fact of life for anyone venturing into mountain environs that one sometimes has to spend many hours or days inside a small tent - you just have to cook in the vestibule, or risk hypothermia or frostbite. With a liquid fuel stove, I have seen people about to pass out from the fumes the things emit. I have not yet mentioned they are hard to light; upon light-up [called 'priming' by the makers], many of them spew forth cascades of flame 30-50cm up towards, yes, the roof of the tent vestibule.

Now the next myth - availability of liquid fuel in the region. All I got, walking aound the Barkhor's back alleys [where I had been led to believe I could find kerosene] was quizical looks - I eventually twigged that kero is not exactly the fuel of choice in Tibet, a fact demonstrated amply by the ready display of P/B cannisters in the several camping/outdoor shops, as well as the mountain/trek shop. So there you go, advice from recent experience.

Now, performance. I used the tiny steel stove at EBC [-5C], Kailash [-15C], and all other places up to 5600m. So when I read or hear that these stoves do not work in alpine conditions, there are not too many environments that exceed my use for most people...I keep cannisters inside the tent, which seldom gets below -5C - they light right up! You could warm them inside a s/bag if your one did not do as well. Clean, no vapours to speak of, safe, well-balanced, long-lasting, infinitely adjustable, hot and immediate are a pretty good set of characteristics.

Such stoves do not, however, like moderate+ winds, especially cold winds - as with most stoves, not using a windshield [even shaped aluminium foil will do] extends boil time a lot. The best next development would be re-usable cannisters. I often take just one 450g one for 5-6 days, and the things weigh very little when empty.

The multi-fuel numbers consume an amazing amount of fuel as well; why can't the Indians [maybe Chinese too] learn to distill kero, it can't be that hard]. I have had to 'borrow' kero from villages and horsemen, because the fuel is so low in energy you use 2-3 times as much. And the filtering chore that Chris mentions is more hassle...ahh, enough from me.

Forgot to mention the fragrant aroma you get anytime you dig inside your backpack when carrying say, kero...mmm mmm...the smell of the stuff never seems to go away..

Hey Phil.....I know which stove Pazu is using as I have the same stove.....you can also get the attachment for it for the butane cannisters. Which is why it is a truly omni-fuel stove and perfect for travel up here where you may want to use many different types of fuel. I often travel with all the differennt attachments andd fuel jets as you never know what you will find in remote Tibet. (and cooking on yak dung really sux!!)

If you are looking for unleaded gas for stove fuel in Lhasa don't waste your time in the Barkor......go to a gas station!!

As for the "near the flame silliness" I agree it is silly......but so is mountaineering or winter trekking here and that is likely the only time I would use this kind of sillliness!!

Happy cooking!!

Chris

Philip,

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<hr>Now the next myth - availability of liquid fuel in the region. All I got, walking aound the Barkhor's back alleys [where I had been led to believe I could find kerosene] was quizical looks - I eventually twigged that kero is not exactly the fuel of choice in Tibet, a fact demonstrated amply by the ready display of P/B cannisters in the several camping/outdoor shops, as well as the mountain/trek shop. So there you go, advice from recent experience.<hr></blockquote>

I use gasoline which is available everywhere within cycling distance all the way from Thailand to Tibet, so I can say that the availability of liquid fuel is definitely not a myth.

What I like about the liquid stove is the wide availability of the fuel, so I can cook whatever I like, camping next to a lake and had some hotpot was our biggest reward for a day of cycling. Sometimes we just open the fire for a continuous 3 hours (1L of gasoline), I don't think I can do the same if I use gas canister.