Guide 3 min
How many gas canisters for a wild camp?
40 g of gas per person per day, x1.6 in winter. The calculation in grams, the gas canister to pack, and the 500 g net ceiling not to cross.
The right answer isn't 'a small one or a big one': it's a weight of gas. Count 40 g per person per day. In winter you need more: multiply that figure by 1.6. You don't pick a gas canister on a hunch, you work it out from a number of grams.
Once you've fixed that figure, you convert it into gas canisters and you always round up. One guardrail closes the calculation: past 500 g of net gas per person, you don't set off with the lot on your back, you resupply along the way.
How much gas do you need for a wild camp?
You need 40 g of gas per person per day, times 1.6 in winter. The starting point is a mass, not a number of tins. The formula fits on one line:
need = 40 g × people × days, then × 1.6 if it's winter.
It's gas that adds to what you're already carrying, just like food and water (see how much your bag should weigh). As long as you think in grams, you don't overpack 'just in case' and you don't set off short either.
How many gas canisters do you need?
Divide your need by the gas canister size and round up. Two sizes cover most trips. The gross weight is what actually lands in the bag, gas plus the canister:
| Gas canister | Usable gas | Gross weight |
|---|---|---|
| 100 g | 100 g | 200 g |
| 230 g | 230 g | 394 g |
The number of gas canisters is your need divided by the size, rounded up: a need of 240 g (three people, two summer days) with 100 g gas canisters makes three tins, not two and a half. Between two sizes, take the one that covers the need in the fewest units: fewer tins, fewer valves to screw on, fewer things to keep track of.
Five people, three winter days, five 230 g gas canisters
Take a group of five, three days, in winter. The need:
40 × 5 × 3 × 1.6 = 960 g of gas.
With 230 g gas canisters: 960 ÷ 230 = 4.2, so 5 gas canisters of 230 g. That's 192 g of gas per person, well under the ceiling. At the other end of the scale, a solo trip of two summer nights is 40 × 2 = 80 g: a single 100 g gas canister covers it.
Past 500 g net per person, you resupply along the way
The ceiling is 500 g of net gas per person. Past that, the logic changes: you're carrying a lot of pressurised gas for a single trip, and it's better to plan a resupply point than to load everything at the start. Gas is also the item most often forgotten when you close the bag: keep it on your first-night checklist, forget a gas canister and your stove is useless.
Related guides
- Wild camp checklist: what you're missing for night one
- Gas canister 100 or 230: which one weighs less?
What to remember
- 40 g per person per day, × 1.6 in winter. The need is a mass, not a number of gas canisters.
- Convert to gas canisters and round up; take the size that covers it in the fewest units.
- Ceiling of 500 g net per person. Past that, you resupply along the way.
A stove with no gas is dead weight in the bag. The right number of gas canisters depends on who's going, for how many nights and in which season: those three are enough to settle it. Describe your trip, and watch the need in grams turn into gas canisters to pack.
Written by Thanaël Fontaine. Published .