When you’re taking on some seriously high-altitude, extreme conditions, you need a stove that can handle the worst of weather and cold. Smaller, ultralight burners are great, but often can’t hold up to the heavy winds and You need the MSR XGK EX. This camping stove – or should we call it, an expedition stove? –  is our choice for the best fuel stove for high-altitude trips. It has a large, heavy-duty pot support, with a Bell-shaped burner cup that helps it burn more effective in cold temperatures and at high altitudes. The large feet also lift the burner further off the ground than most stoves. It also has a Self-cleaning shaker jet, which uses a built-in needle to push out ash and debris from the burner simply by shaking it.

This multi-fuel stove burns white gas, low-grade kerosene, auto fuel, diesel #1 and a few others, so you have your choice as to what you prefer burning and having available. It features a Fiberfax priming pad, which serves to make priming the burner and lighting easy and simple and cut down on any spillage. The fuel line is designed to be large and let a large amount of gas through for a consistent, even burn. An aluminum windscreen is included, supporting cookware up to 10” in diameter, as is a heat reflector.

And when it’s time to put it away, you can stuff it into the stuff sack and place it in your bag. At 13 ounces, it’s not the smallest camping stove by any means, but still quite light. And it doesn’t really take up much room in the pack.

But even then, this thing is designed for extreme expeditions and not ultralight jaunts. This is the stove you reach for when you’re camping out at 16,000+ feet and need something that can handle the cold, wind and thin air that high up. If that’s what you’re looking for, the MSR XGK EX Stove is a dependable workhorse that you can rely on. (But hey, you can still use it for weekend jaunts, too).

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MSR XGK EX