New Gear: DIY Alcohol Stoves

I've been a white gas stove user for my entire mountaineering life. It is where I'm most comfortable cooking. Despite generally agreeing to the virtues of alcohol stoves, I have not given up my love for those ornery heating contraptions in my pack.

But I wouldn't say no to these ingenious, and very affordable--and "green"--alcohol stoves that my fellow UP Mountaineer Boyet fabricates with passion.

Check it out! Visit Kusinilya Munting Kalan's Facebook Page and get your own stoves!

In my pack

I remember the time when my old Bomika pack (actually my brother's) seemed to be on the verge of breaking down from the weight of the stuff I put inside it. At once instance, a little over a decade ago in Daguldol--a time when money was scarce, nalgene bottles were the craze, and gears were huge--I was severely over-packed and lugging two tents, several nalgene bottles, cookset and stove(s?), a whole frozen chicken, and a big-ass emergency lamp running on D batteries. Mid-trail I suffered cramps, and needless to say, my ego was bruised, right in front of the girl I was "making porma".

Times have changed. And since joining UPM, I've become a "smarter" packer. Camping equipment have also changed drastically; shaving off volume and weight tremendously. So comparing how much weight I was carrying, I might look like a ninny now compared to my "younger" years.

The typical gear pile before being stuffed into the pack