Team-BHP - Food and Stove for Indrahaar pass trek.

Hi,

I am planning to trek from Dharamsala to Bharmour and them to Manimahesh with a friend. We are a bit confused about the food to carry and the stove to cook/heat it. The trek will require us to camp and cook for atleast four days. Need inputs for the following:

Food: what food can we carry for four days. We plan to cook ourselves.

Stove: What kind of a stove will be good for altitude? There are oil and campher stoves available.

Regards
Rajnish

I use the MSR Dragonfly which has a knob for low and high flame. YOu can also try the whisperlite.

MSR® DragonFly™ multi-fuel camp stove.

Rations are a challenge. One good food I can recommend is beaten brown/red rice (poha). Dry roast it at home before the trip and pack it. In the morning no need to cook - just soak it in your chai and scoop it into your mouth. Very very healthy and great slow release energy food with a complex of B vitamins that calms the stomach.

Ready foods like MTR upma or Aashirwad and Kitchens of India are best. My bet is none of these foods will satisfy an exercising person's calorific needs but you need to taste the spices to feel good so carry it anyways. Maggi Atta noodles is next. Chicken soup cubes are also recommended. Dry fruits also a must esp badam and anjeer and dates. I also see nowadays modern bread factory's ready chappaties that only need a tawa to heat. They last a few days. But the roti's are very thin. Before your trip, you should do a local one day trek and eat out of the packs to understand how inadequate they are so you are prepared with additional alternatives and know how many packs to carry.

Don't carry Blue kerosene - I suffered badly and repeatedly with body tremors and quakes due to it while on treks ( I thought it was tiredness and hunger). Recently I found the blue additive is a deadly toxin that the government has finally decided to (or is contemplating to) stop using. Get the white kerosene.

And lastly forget carrying 4 days worth of water. You need waypoints or campsites with running water else forget it -with the utensil washing required it wont last. Unless you have ponies to carry large water bags. 4ltrs is almost 4kg. You wont reach anywhere if you try to carry 8ltrs of water. Else live off dry fruits for a full day or two.

HTH
--Ragul

Thanks for the info Ragul, We are trekking by ourselves and so not have poters or guides, We have done some treks in the past and are pretty comfortable with the envirenment as both of us belong to Himachal. I will try and look for the stove here in Delhi. I guess the best thing will be to have a mix of MTR, Maggie and soup, as they are eazy to cook and good to eat, We are not planing to carry rice etc as that will add to the weight.