Presidential Traverse
Cooking System


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Introduction
Gear Selection
The Clothing System
The Food System
The Sleeping System & Miscellaneous
The Route
The Whiteout Navigation Plan
The Escape Routes
Camping
Emergency Strategies

The keystone of the Chauvin Guides traverse is its cooking system. We use a compressed gas fuel stove that hangs inside the tent. The fuel is usually a butane/propane mix. A number of companies make fuel and stoves; Coleman, Primus and MSR seem to be the most common around here. Bibler, owned by Black Diamond makes the most commonly available a hanging stove kit in the US. At Chauvin Guides we have lighter weight homemade hanging systems that uses the lightest weight MSR or Coleman burner heads with the Trangia kettle. There are numerous articles and opinions out there that will tell you that these stoves do not work well in cold climates. My mind was changed when I realized that virtually every Everest expedition used compressed gas hanging stove set-ups at the highest camp, the South Col, which is at 7960 meters. Arguably the South Col has temperatures at least as cold as the Presidential Range! There is no question that the cold has an impact on the output of the stove, but with some experience and ingenuity you can keep the stove cranking so that it will melt snow and bring water to a boil as fast or faster than the liquid fuel stove that are more popular.

The reason that I say that the hanging stove is the keystone of our system is because of its impact on the clothing, food and sleeping systems.

© Chauvin Guides International, P.O. Box 2151, North Conway, NH 03860 Voice: 603-356-8919