Practical Tips For Your Everest Base Camp and Annapurna Treks

The Fishtail

Without a doubt one of my travel highlights has been trekking in the Himalayas – the tallest mountains in the world. Amongst spectacular scenery and an awesome sense of scale is a mountain culture with quaint villages, temples, strings of prayer flags and friendly locals. The most popular treks in this vast mountain range are the Everest Base camp trek (in the north of Nepal) and trails around the Annapurna Himalayas (in the west of Nepal) – either the Annapurna Base Camp trek or the epic Annapurna Circuit.

I’ve recently been writing articles about trekking to Everest Base Camp and Mount Kilimanjaro for AlienAdv; an adventure holiday booking site, in conjunction with owner Kshaunish Jaini. If you’re thinking about doing Everest Base Camp or Kilimanjaro, or just interested about the mountains, check out the newest articles there, including:
The Classic Everest Base Camp Trek
Alternate Routes for the Everest Base Camp Trek
Deaths on Everest (facts, causes and precautions).

Looking down from ABC

With mountains on the brains recently I thought it would be cool to write an article sharing some of my Himalayan trekking tips, gained the best way – through my own mistakes and hardships! Of course there’s a ton of my photos from the region to enjoy too. Let’s get into it!

1 – Use a Walking Stick!

When I started mountain trekking, I scoffed at all the people using walking sticks. For the older trekkers I could understand, but I didn’t really think they were necessary for younger folk. How wrong I was! What I’d never understood about walking sticks is how much they help in every aspect of mountain trekking. Basically what they’re doing is distributing the work from just your poor overworked legs and instead sharing it out over the rest of your body.

Eat it Potter!

What does that mean? Well, when you’re going uphill, the stick is giving you a boost forward, you almost use it like a lever to propel yourself upwards. This is great, but I actually found the stick most useful when going downhill. Although you might think you’re constantly going uphill when climbing to the Himalayan Base Camps, in fact you’re going up and down steep valleys all the time. Downhill segments might seem like a god-send, but soon I started dreading them. They put a big strain on your thighs and worst of all, your knees – a lot of people on these treks get knee pain and problems as a result. My dad even wrecked his knee doing the notorious Ulleri steps at Annapurna many years ago. Using a stick really helps to reduce the impact when you’re going up and downhill and it really reduced the pain and aching for me on my trek.

On top of that, you just save energy overall using a stick. For Everest Base Camp and Annapurna Base Camp, you don’t even need a fancy expensive pole – you can often buy cheap wooden ones from stores on the trail. On one trek I simply used a bamboo pole that my guide hacked off in a bamboo forest on the trail – and I kept it for months, it was both light and strong! One final tip about sticks – using two sticks is even better than one. If you don’t mind having both your hands full, it’s really gives you a boost. Sticks for the win!

Two of my favourite things, pizza and the highest mountains in the world, together at last!

2 – Food, Food, Food!

First of all, be prepared to eat – a lot! You’d be amazed at how hungry you get when you are walking 8 or more hours a day. You burn an insane amount of calories when you’re climbing. Make sure you bring enough money for big meals and snacks throughout the day. Also be aware that prices for food and accommodation rise the further you get from civilisation, as everything is brought up via porter or mule. To give you an example, I was paying over double the amount for meals near Annapurna Base Camp as I was in the first few days of the trek!

Portions sizes are usually big, and the cheapest is the famous dahl baht – rice and lentil soup with various sides. This can be really tasty and it gives you loads of energy. My guides and porters refused to eat anything else for ten days even when I offered to pay for a change in their diet!

Typical trekking snack shop

If, like most trekkers, you’re going to be eating at the village teahouses, be aware that the meal variety is going to be quite basic, although some larger places have German bakeries and other niceties. Expect a lot of Nepalese basics, Italian and Chinese dishes. The biggest thing to note is that you will be ingesting a ton of carbohydrates and protein such as rice, bread, pasta and meat. What does this mean? It means it’s really easy for your digestive system to get clogged up, especially if you don’t usually eat that many carbs! Ok, you don’t want to hear this, but it’s important – I’m not joking when I say I was constipated for over 5 days during one of these treks. That was a total nightmare. I couldn’t even sleep properly because of it. So how do you deal with this? Make sure to mix up your diet with plenty of fruit or dried fruit, which you can usually buy in the villages. Try not to eat too much meat and drink lots of fluids (you should be anyway). If you can’t go to the loo, speak to a local or a guide, it’s a common problem and they should be able to point you in the right direction for good food or medicine to take. Don’t be embarrassed, they’ve heard it all before!

I decided to stick with tradition and ate veggy only from this point.

Finally, be aware of the local mountain culture and their attitude towards meat. This is similar on both the Everest Base Camp and Annapurna treks. They believe that eating certain meats above a certain height is a religious offense, essentially angering the mountain spirits. You will see signs warning you of this. Of course, in the reality of commercial tourism, you can still buy meat above these altitudes, but really, it’s in poor taste to do so. Respect local custom and go without for a few days. There’s other reasons for forgoing meat the higher up you get – often it has been brought up by porter/mule from lower climbs and its quality/safety can’t be guaranteed. I’ve heard some nasty food poisoning tales from mountain meat, and you really don’t want that when you’re so close to your final goal! Also, meat gets super expensive the higher you get. Stick to dahl baht and eat like the locals!

3 – Drink and Heat

On the subject of drink, make sure you drink lots of water, often. It’s very easy to become dehydrated through sweating from all the hard work you’re doing, and also the often hot mountain days. The thing about dehydration is that it’s easy to not realise it – you get tired, then when you’ve had a big drink you suddenly get a burst of energy – that’s why! Refill your bottle where-ever possible and always try to reuse your own bottles. It’s heartbreaking to see the amount of plastic bottles that either get burned or buried up there, or even ferried back down the mountain on porter’s backs.

Be aware it’s quite possible to get heat exhaustion up on in the mountains too, even if it feels cold. The wind can deceive you about hot you are getting under the intense sun in these exposed environments. Keep drinking, bring a hat, t-shirts, sunglasses and sunscreen. Many of the villages have communal taps that you can use for free water – most are fine to drink from, but check if it’s safe with a guide or local first, and that it’s ok for you to use it. If you are unsure about the water quality, use purification tablets or a purifying device – a few tablets is always a good idea to put in your pack and they weigh nothing..

4 – Get your Beauty Sleep

This sounds like common sense but there’s some specific things worth knowing about sleep on your trek. If you’re doing long days, make sure to get a good night’s sleep. You usually start trekking early, 6-8am, to get good distance before the punishing midday sun arrives. Get to bed early if you can, you aren’t guaranteed a great sleep – hotel/teahouse beds can be hard and uncomfortable in Nepal and your body will probably be aching from the phsyical work. I usually bring some Paracetamol or Ibuprofen to take at night to ease muscle aches and pains. Once you get to higher altitudes, it gets very cold at night, so be sure to bring thermal under-layers you can wear to bed. On the plus side, many lodges have huge woolen or feather blankets at these heights, and don’t be afraid to ask for another if you’re getting cold. Sometimes you may even want to downgrade your blanket, as the huge ones can get so hot!

Earplugs are a good idea to protect against noisy late-coming trekkers and the inevitable morning barking, rooster crowing and general bustle. Sometimes interior walls are no more than the thickness of plywood. I also recommend an eye mask as sometime blinds or curtains are thin or ineffective, and the sun rises early. Bear in mind that many lodges are right on the trail, so even if you want a lie-in, you’ll often be hearing porters, mule bells and trek groups passing as early as 6am in the morning! So, go to bed early, and allow yourself extra sleeping time in case you have a restless night. Nothing hurts a trek day more than a poor night’s sleep beforehand!

 

5 – Showers and Toilets

Be prepared to accept that once you get into the mountains, the “luxuries” you take for granted at home don’t really apply up here. First of all, showers are not that common. If you can find them, you usually have to pay, and the water supply is limited. And your shower might well be a freezing cold one! You can find hot showers in a few lodges, but they cost extra. After days of trekking though, sometimes you’ll want to splash out! Get used to being smelly – don’t worry, everyone else is too! Don’t waste your valuable weight limits on unnecessary toiletries like shower gel and beauty products. Village stores on the mountains sell little shampoo and soap sachets which are great. Do some research though into environmentally friendly options that you could bring – remember that in a lot of places, your soap goes right into a drain and then straight out into one of those lovely mountain rivers!

Toilets are a mixed bag on these treks. Western toilets are present in many places, but in others you will find the classic Asian squat toilet. Cleanliness varies and be prepared for some smelly ones! Do your homework so you know how to use a squat toilet, and be prepared for aching thighs – it really kills, especially for guys! Usually you flush and clean using a bucket of water you can fill from a tap inside the booth. Bring your own toilet paper, biodegradable if possible, though you can also buy it in the stores along the way. Or wipe Nepalese style, with your hand (you better wash it well)! Always the left though – read up on it! Because toilet hygiene can be quite poor in Nepal, always wash your hands thoroughly before handling food, and I also recommend a little bottle of antibiotic hand gel – if you get sick up there, it’s really not fun!

Every Little Helps

I hope these have been handy for you, it’s these little things you won’t learn about in the guide books which can make a big difference in the quality of your trek – so now you know what to expect. If you’re heading to Annapurna or Everest Base Camp, I wish you safe and happy trekking! Check out the AlienAdv blog for more practical mountain info articles, and until next time, folks!

Leaving Jomsom and Last Days in Nepal

View from Mustang, down the valley we would take towards Ghasa and ultimately Beni

View from Mustang, down the valley we would take towards Ghasa and ultimately Beni

04/01/13

We got up early and after a quick breakfast went onto Jomsom’s main street to catch the 8am bus, only to find it had left early. We waited 45 minutes for another one. We hopped in and paid an extortionate price to go all the way to Beni, over double what we’d paid to get up here! Despite our protests the ticket man wouldn’t budge and Sophie made him dig out past tickets to show us. It’s a set tourist price, what a joke! Anyway, as we’d been in the dark on the way up it was good to see the views, passing many barren orchards and stopping in the next little town for a while. It had a huge Tibetan temple in it, looking almost like a castle with multiple layers – it looked like photos I’d seen from Tibet.

The mighty temple at Mustang

The mighty temple at Mustang

The bus bumped its way all down the mountain over the next 8 hours. It was horrendously dusty, so bad we had to cover our faces to breath. My Kindle acquired a thick layer of dust. The ride was extremely uncomfortable, with only one short stop for lunch in the bus park in Ghasa. We were sore and thankful when we got off in Beni (where we’d started our trip) at 4pm. Immediately I started asking around for buses to Pokhara just in case we could still get one. We got lucky, there was one just leaving and we somehow got a seat despite most of the bus standing. This was another long 5 hour ride, and we were delayed waiting for some big rock trucks to unload their cargo on the way. It was dark as we crossed over the hills and in Pokhara we caught a taxi to Noble Inn in Lakeside. We were exhausted after the most uncomfortable day travelling so far, grabbed some dinner and got an early night, glad of a real hotel after the basic comforts of the mountains!

A very Tibetan looking girl watched us from the roof of this house in Mustang

A very Tibetan looking girl watched us from the roof of this house in Mustang

05/01/13 – 12/01/13

We had a day free to chill out before Sophie needed to go to Kathmandu, so we spent it relaxing by the lakeside. The next day we caught a tourist bus to Kathmandu, which took all day, checking into a hotel in Thamel. The following day Sophie’s mum Ellen arrived, they were going to do some travelling together. We went out for dinner once she’d arrived. On the way back we encountered the ladyboy prostitutes of Nepal (I had no idea there were any!), who took great delight in trying to chat us up! Sophie’s mum didn’t even realize they were boys! Apparently there was a scandal not too long ago when a prominent politician had been caught picking up ladyboys in this hot-spot.

The next few days I spent chilling out in the city whilst Sophie took her mum out to the sights. I’d already booked a flight back to Thailand so I just relaxed, caught up on the blog and met the others for meals. We enjoyed some live Nepali music in a courtyard restaurant and we discovered a good pizza place called Fire and Ice, and a really nice western-style café with sofas and great coffee which we hung out in a lot. At night it was incredibly cold, thick blankets were needed. In fact the news said it was a new low for Kathmandu in over 50 years.

Road from Mustang to Beni, pictured is one of the jeep taxis which ferry locals around the area

Road from Mustang to Beni, pictured is one of the jeep taxis which ferry locals around the area

On the last day I said my goodbyes to Sophie and her mum. They were going to go up to Karmidanda, the village up in Langtang, to stay with Jabraj, and then see more of Nepal before going to India for a month. I caught an early plane from Kathmandu airport, unfortunately not getting a chance to get rid of my Nepali money – for some reason they don’t have exchange counters once you’re through customs! And I couldn’t change it in Thailand either, grrr! Consider yourself warned!

The flight to India had some incredible views of the Himalyas (I’m sure you could see Everest too), but I was gutted because I was on the wrong side of the plane and could hardly see it. On my side were endless jungle hill ranges with seas of mist hovering below them, good, but not as great as the jagged peaks I could glimpse on the other side.

A shale field up near Jomsom

A shale field up near Jomsom

After a change-over in New Delhi, I arrived in Bangkok, Thailand at 5pm. I decided to make use of the local transport and walked to the BTS station, the “sky train” which travels on a suspended railway above the roads. It was very easy to use with computer terminals and announcements in English. In half an hour I was in the centre of Bangkok and caught a taxi through horrendous Saturday night traffic to Khao San Road. I stayed in Sawasdee, a hotel I’d frequented last time, and went out for food and drinks. It was strange to be back in Thailand, it’s so different to Nepal and even Khao San Road seemed chilled out compared to the madness of Kathmandu’s streets. This was my fourth time back in Thailand!

Looking out over a Nepali town as as I fly towards India

Looking out over a Nepali town as as I fly towards India

Jomsom to Thini Ghaon

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A yak and mule train haul wood up the valley near Jomsom

Day Location: Jomsom, Nepal

03/01/13

We had a good sleep and we were feeling a bit better, looks like we had been suffering from altitude sickness after all. We decided as we still had a few days before Sophie would need to go back, that we would do some exploring of the Jomsom area. On the advice from the hotel lady, we set off after breakfast across the river, towards a village to the south up on a hill, visible from our hotel.

Bridge over the river at Jomsom

Bridge over the river at Jomsom

A passing mule train

A passing mule train

We soon realized we were on the wrong path when it terminated at a house, forcing us to climb a wall into some terraced fields. It was very windy and bitterly cold with it – but as soon as the wind dropped it was scorching forcing us to add and remove layers like Russian dolls! The path in the fields led us up into the village. It was very Tibetan with narrow streets, whitewashed buildings stood with flat roofs and flagpoles with colourful prayer flags stuck out of the roofs. Firewood was stacked on every wall and roof. Cows and yaks were tethered and chickens pecked around. The place seemed almost deserted with padlocked doors everywhere. Either we were about to be ambushed or the start of the zombie apocalypse. But then we did see a few locals who said hello and pointed us in the right direction. Sophie tried to make friends with a horse at the top of the village, the temple was closed there but the views across the mighty valley were impressive.

The deserted village

The deserted village

Stacks of firewood on walls and roofs

Stacks of firewood on walls and roofs

Sophie's favourite horse

Sophie’s favourite horse

A scraggly baby yak pummeled by the wind

A scraggly baby yak pummeled by the wind

These interesting ladders can be found in this area, carved from one piece of wood

These interesting ladders can be found in this area, carved from one piece of wood

We descended past skeletal orchards along the stone trail. A penis carved into a slab of concrete on the path confirmed that genital humour crosses all culture boundaries! We were half-way up the hillside and the trail led on to a steep drop topped by a stone shrine. The wind here was strong enough that we had to brace against it to avoid being pushed off the edge of the path!

Everybody can appreciate penis art

Everybody can appreciate penis art

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At the bottom of the drop was a rushing river, the side valley leading to the impressive triangular Himalaya above. Windswept pine trees covered the rocky landscape. We descended the hairpins into the valley being buffeted violently by the wind. At the bottom a yak and mule train passed us by, herded by men with sticks and making yipping sounds. They said hello and asked us where we were going. Friendly people up here.

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We crossed the river and climbed the path on the other side, leading us to a desolate sandy and rocky landscape. In ten minutes we emerged into another side valley with crazy bulbous rock formations made of what looked like sandstone. It was like another alien world (and I thought we had seen everything up here!). We were aiming to reach a lake and followed a track in what seemed like the right direction from the map. It turned out to head down into the valley which we didn’t need, but we did get to see the weird rock formations up close.

The strange undulating rock formations in the valley

The strange undulating rock formations in the valley

Sophie in her hole

Sophie in her hole

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The path continues around the edge to the next village

We backtracked to the main trail and followed it along the edge of the side valley to a crossing point. There was snow on some of the grass up here, and the terrain was a mixture of pine trees on the hillside and rocks. Across the side valley was another small village, some ladies there washing clothes at an outdoor tap pointed us in the right direction, but we couldn’t find the trail. Backtracking again led us to another dead end, so we went back to the village and tried again. The trail maps drawn on signs were just lines with named dots for the villages, giving nothing away about the terrain. It was already around 2pm and we needed to head back soon to reach Jomsom before dark, so we checked ahead in case it was up the trail. Sure enough, in ten minutes we reached the lake.

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The lake was fenced off to stop the animals contaminating it, and the strong wind blew swirling, pretty patterns of ripples on the surface. From here we could see a newly revealed, very craggy peak in the distance on our side. Satisfied and starving (none of the villages had amenities for trekkers, we hadn’t eaten since breakfast), we retraced our steps. Past the weird rock formations Sophie didn’t fancy climbing the steep hill to the village so judging from the map I figured we could do a shortcut down to the river in the main valley, and follow a path alongside to Jomsom. Although the drawn trail maps showed a path around where we were, we couldn’t find anything, so I led us over a rock field and over little streams heading down to the main river where I hoped we’d pick up the path. We came across some large square stone cairns placed in the rock field, some with writing on them. I later learned my suspicions were correct, they are burial cairns. Why this spot was significant I don’t know.

You can see the square cairns in the middle there

You can see the square cairns in the middle there

Writing on a burial cairn, presumably the person's name

Writing on a burial cairn, presumably the person’s name

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At the end of the rock field we entered some marshland and a young tree plantation. There was still no sign of the main path and the sun was going down. I was worried I’d got us into a mess but minutes later I found the edge of the river and we hit the main path. It clearly wasn’t a proper trail any more, the bridge leading to it was no longer there. We had been lucky. We followed it through the plantation, step-stoned over a side river and finally came to the edge of Jomsom, crossing a long suspension bridge over the main river. Before the road were some dead cars. Everything of use was gone, now they were just rusting away in the harsh environment. We walked into the town and found a restaurant catching the last of the sunshine and ate a much needed meal. Noodle soup never tasted so good!

Sophie crosses the rock field

Sophie crosses the rock field

The plantation we walked through

The plantation we walked through

The rippling cliffs beside Jomsom

The rippling cliffs beside Jomsom

Sophie on a mighty suspension bridge

Sophie on a mighty suspension bridge

I bought some apple brandy, a specialty of the region. Back at the hotel I tried it with some yak cheese. The cheese was great, I polished off two plates of it, but the brandy was nasty. We had a chilled out evening and got an early night, anticipating a grueling bus ride the next day, we were aiming to get as far to Pokhara as possible.

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Back in Jomsom

Back in Jomsom