It seems that last month's item regarding the relative methods of Trangias vs MSR stoves has ignited(sic) a further debate. As a result of this spat Steve Melvin was heard to make an idle boast that his cooker as more powerful than Nick's ageing Coleman stove. This challenge was taken up by Nick and so Stove Wars was born.

The protagonists under the orders of Clare (starter) and Simon (referee) carefully filled their stoves with fuel and primed, lit and pumped them to a maximum of power. Meanwhile Clare and Simon provided each of them with a carefull drawn and measure litre of water in pans of comparable dimensions.

Then on an order from Clare the pans were simultaneously placed on the stoves and the contest began.

Initially things looked very close with the gentle hiss of Nick's stove complementing his quiet confident demeanour contrasting sharply with the brutal roar of the MSR and Steve's brash bluster.

Eventually, by a very sort head Steve's pan was brought to the boil and was adjudged the winner by Simon.

So it was proven that the MSR is more powerful than the Coleman stove on full tilt, however when one adds in the time to get the stove going, the simmering ability of the Coleman and the noise of the MSR the whole issue again becomes less clear cut.