There have been many climbing debates over the years such as did Mallory get to the top? What grade should Three Pebble Slab be, sport climbing vs Trad but one debate seems to transcend them all and polarise people on almost obsessive grounds. This is of course the debate as to which kind of stove is best. No other topic seems to raise as much ire, vitriol and competition that the preferred method of raising the temperature of a pan of H20.

We can dismiss quite quickly the gas cylinder stove. Any true climber will regard this as the preserve of the novice or parvenu. It is too simple and reliable and is deeply unsound from an environmental point of view due the non refillable cylinders that it devours with gusto.

This leaves us with two stove types of such different characteristics that they may fairly be seen to sum up their owners' characters more accurately than their choice of car, dog or library. In the blue corner (as blue is the monicker by which the fuel is used by the substance dependent members of our homeless community) is the Trangia, a simple meths burning soul from the gentle Swedes. In the red corner (as they are nearly always painted red) is the pressure stove, nearly all of which are made by MSR (Mountain Safety Research) in our former transatlantic colonies.

The Trangia (a mellifluous word that slips easily of the tongue with no harsh consonants to mark its passing) comes as a self contained cookset which runs exclusively on methylated spirit. It has no moving parts and nothing to go wrong. All the user does is dribble some meths into a burner and chuck in a match and wait for the water to boil.

The MSR (a punchy little acronym bristling with spitting sibilants) comes with a fuel bottle cum pump, a burner attachment and a crinkly foil windshield. The user in this case pumps up the fuel bottle, primes the burner unit, heats up the generator tube and then finally unleashes and explosive mixture of hydrocarbons that, with any luck, spark up with an aggressive roar. Then having put the pot on the owner will unfold the windshield with the care and reverence of a Masonic novice handling a sacred vestment for the first time and wrap it around the bottom of the stove.

Naturally the MSR with all its complexity is not as reliable as a Trangia and so the Trangia owner will look smugly upon his stove while the MSR owner wrestles with a temperamental pump or washer. As a riposte the MSR owner will extol the virtues of his (and it invariably a he) stove's multifuel capability and remind Trangia Man about all the cold food he was forced to endure due to the lack of meths in Italy. In order to score a quick point Trangia man is then asked when he last ran it on diesel, kerosene, chip fat or any of the other multifuel options supposedly available. MSR man then mutters something about always using Coleman fuel because it burns more cleanly and goes for a quick rejoinder about how embarrassing it must be to have to pop down to the hardware shop for 5 litres of meths every few weeks, well what does the shopkeeper think you are doing with it?

Finally when MSR man has coaxed his stove to life he will extol about the power of the stove and how much quicker it is than the Trangia. Trangia man then asks how good the MSR is at simmering and points out archly that the MSR may be more powerful but the time spent setting it up offsets this advantage. MSR man then determinedly sets out to show how the stove can simmer with judicious jiggling of various fuel and air mixture valves, while muttering about the ideal fuel blend of a 5:2:1 ratio of Coleman fuel, nail varnish remover and turpentine for the best cooking results.

The safety of these stoves is also a factor to consider. Trangia man can wake up of a morning and calmly set a kettle boiling in his tent porch without having left his sleeping bag. Thus he prepares a stimulating and warming brew while still enjoying the warmth of his bag, a pleasure made doubly satisfying in viewing MSR man scurrying about. The MSR is about as dangerous a piece of kit that can be bought without a licence and any attempt to light it in a tent porch is likely to result in a quick and absolute demonstration of the flammability of nylon. Even when the MSR has been set up remote from any tent with a bucket of water standing by it can still give grave cause for concern. Witness Steve Melvin in the Gower who managed to knock the supply tube of the fuel bottle which then turned into an incendiary bomb that would not be extinguished with water and eventually had to be gingerly turned off with scorched fingers and a lot of luck.

Ultimately each stove has its own advantages and disadvantages and an argument can be made for each. The actual stove buying decision is more about personality type.

The Trangia is smooth self contained package where the fire is held deep within. Once lit the slow burn quality will bring the apparatus to gentle bubbling climax that will inevitably be later than the MSR.

The MSR has a lot of exposed equipment with a blood-red cylinder that has to be primed with a vigorous wrist action. When it finally spits itself to life it burns with a fierce noisy flame that brings water to the boil very quickly, before the Trangia is even half done.

Maybe it is these fundamental different styles that essentially make the stoves decide the owners rather than vice versa.

The debate rages back and forth.