Status Update

Posted by Stevo W on September 26, 2013 @ 4:18 pm

It’s great to see a successful couple of days.
However I think you have all missed an opportunity for some additional science work for the benefit of mankind; the brewing of a perfect cup of tea at high altitude! It did get me thinking about solutions though.
1. An actual solution – of sugar. Unfortunately you would need a solution of about 60% sugar to raise the boiling point by a measly 5C so unless you have a very sweet tooth then that one is out. (maybe keep it in mind for dig-out days though)
2. Make your tea in a pressure cooker. Did someone bring one for the long winter on the plateau? Preheat the water to 90C, pop in the tea and quickly get the tea up to the desired temperature. Downside is that it would have to cool before you could get to the brew. I’m curious as to whether tea made at an even higher temperature would be even better.
3. Just fling in more tea. That would help make it stronger but I suspect the flavour would still not fully develop. Besides, resources are scarce down there.

Has the altitude caused any other problems with cooking pasta, rice, boil-in-the-bag etc or other issues outside the kitchen? We’ve heard about the fuel pumping problems and extra fatigue doing physical exercise. Did the Cats need retuning with the change or does the engine management take care of that?