Trekking Practicalities
These are notes to give some idea of what it’s like to go trekking in the Everest region, the practicalities of trekking life and what to expect alone the way. I trekked as an independent traveller, walking without a guide and carrying my own rucksack; which puts me in the minority of trekkers. Most people in this region are on organised tours with guides and porters doing the heavy lifting. On a tour or as an independent, I hope my comments will be useful to everyone planning a trip to the Everest region.
The route I took can be divided into two parts, Below Lukla, the route from Jiri to Lukla; and Above Lukla, everything to the north of the village. The terrain is different but so are the trekkers, as the majority of people fly into Lukla and begin their treks there.
Below Lukla. You can see the mountains in the distance but on this part of the route you will be walking through rural Nepal, past houses and farms where the people still live by subsistence farming. As soon as you leave the road, it’s very peaceful (apart from the planes going to and from Lukla) and there is not much traffic on the trails. Although porters use these paths, you won’t see Mules until you get to Ringmo. There are also not many trekkers and although there are some with guides and porters most are walking independently. I didn’t encounter any groups. Catering for tourists is the secondary industry after farming but all villages will have a lodge of some sort. With most people starting at Lukla, this route has gone into decline and you will pass lodges that are now shut up, or places that rarely see visitors; so some of the lodge facilities can be quite poor. There is no internet or phone coverage along most of the route. The trail itself can be in a pretty poor state, and it is sometimes difficult to follow. I was often told by people coming the other way that this leg of the trek was tougher than anything in the National Park, and I agree with that. Certainly if you walk the Jiri to Lukla leg you will certainly be fit and acclimatised when you reach Lukla, as most of the route is between 2000 and 3000m, and you will have climbed the equivalent of Everest.
Many people I met thought this leg was the highlight of their trek, a sense of ‘Real Nepal’; and I met several (mainly younger people) who having returned to Lukla from Everest, were going to walk back to Jiri, as they enjoyed it so much the first time. It’s also easier going on the return journey.
Above Lukla. Arriving in Lukla if you’ve come from Jiri is quite a shock, Irish pubs, cafes, and shops selling outdoor kit all set the scene for what’s ahead; basically despite the remoteness of the area there is a lot more of everything on the trail ahead. There are a lot more people for one thing, lots of groups getting off the plane from Kathmandu and heading down the trail to Namche Bazar. These trekkers will also tend to be somewhat older, than the Below Lukla crowd and will all have guides and porters, but a lot of kit is also carried on the backs of Yaks. Very few people make a living from agriculture in this area, most of the crops being grown are for lodges further up the line and pretty much the whole economy is based around tourism. Most ‘villages’ will in fact be nothing more than a collection of lodges, some of them very large; and will have better facilities than those below Lukla. Namche Bazar is a major stop, a very large village where you can buy just about anything, there are banks and wifi/internet is widely available. Above Namche, facilities are still pretty good all the way to Gorak Shep.
The trails are better made above Lukla with paved sections and steps with handrails on some legs. They are also a lot more crowded not only with trekkers but with porters carrying very large loads, and with mules and Yaks carrying goods and trekkers kit. Although there may not the long ascents found below Lukla, but altitude will start to be a factor and this could make things hard going.
The route I took can be divided into two parts, Below Lukla, the route from Jiri to Lukla; and Above Lukla, everything to the north of the village. The terrain is different but so are the trekkers, as the majority of people fly into Lukla and begin their treks there.
Below Lukla. You can see the mountains in the distance but on this part of the route you will be walking through rural Nepal, past houses and farms where the people still live by subsistence farming. As soon as you leave the road, it’s very peaceful (apart from the planes going to and from Lukla) and there is not much traffic on the trails. Although porters use these paths, you won’t see Mules until you get to Ringmo. There are also not many trekkers and although there are some with guides and porters most are walking independently. I didn’t encounter any groups. Catering for tourists is the secondary industry after farming but all villages will have a lodge of some sort. With most people starting at Lukla, this route has gone into decline and you will pass lodges that are now shut up, or places that rarely see visitors; so some of the lodge facilities can be quite poor. There is no internet or phone coverage along most of the route. The trail itself can be in a pretty poor state, and it is sometimes difficult to follow. I was often told by people coming the other way that this leg of the trek was tougher than anything in the National Park, and I agree with that. Certainly if you walk the Jiri to Lukla leg you will certainly be fit and acclimatised when you reach Lukla, as most of the route is between 2000 and 3000m, and you will have climbed the equivalent of Everest.
Many people I met thought this leg was the highlight of their trek, a sense of ‘Real Nepal’; and I met several (mainly younger people) who having returned to Lukla from Everest, were going to walk back to Jiri, as they enjoyed it so much the first time. It’s also easier going on the return journey.
Above Lukla. Arriving in Lukla if you’ve come from Jiri is quite a shock, Irish pubs, cafes, and shops selling outdoor kit all set the scene for what’s ahead; basically despite the remoteness of the area there is a lot more of everything on the trail ahead. There are a lot more people for one thing, lots of groups getting off the plane from Kathmandu and heading down the trail to Namche Bazar. These trekkers will also tend to be somewhat older, than the Below Lukla crowd and will all have guides and porters, but a lot of kit is also carried on the backs of Yaks. Very few people make a living from agriculture in this area, most of the crops being grown are for lodges further up the line and pretty much the whole economy is based around tourism. Most ‘villages’ will in fact be nothing more than a collection of lodges, some of them very large; and will have better facilities than those below Lukla. Namche Bazar is a major stop, a very large village where you can buy just about anything, there are banks and wifi/internet is widely available. Above Namche, facilities are still pretty good all the way to Gorak Shep.
The trails are better made above Lukla with paved sections and steps with handrails on some legs. They are also a lot more crowded not only with trekkers but with porters carrying very large loads, and with mules and Yaks carrying goods and trekkers kit. Although there may not the long ascents found below Lukla, but altitude will start to be a factor and this could make things hard going.
Trekking Company Stickers
Lodges If you’re in a pre booked group, no need to worry the trekking company will have booked your accommodation, and even with treks arrange in country, the guide will usually go ahead to ensure that you get somewhere to sleep. Below Lukla, independent trekkers should have no problem finding a place to stay but do get recommendations for people coming the other way or from lodge owners, as in most places there are often only one or two places that are really geared up for visitors.
Nearly all rooms are double rooms but they do allow single travellers to occupy the whole room. If the rooms are full, single trekkers can end up sleeping with the porters where the levels of cleanliness are very low. There are no sheets so you will have to use your own sleeping bag. Every place will have blankets which you will need higher up, so make sure you have them. The beds are made of 2-3cm of foam mattress, which can be tough on the hips.
Lodges used by groups tend to have better facilities so one way to chose a lodge is to see how many trekking ‘stickers’ there are on the windows. If it’s popular, then it should be OK. Most lodges are much of a muchness anyway particularly above Lukla. Below Lukla try and get recommendations, as only a few lodges in each place are actually geared up to produce meals for lots of people at the same time; in smaller places you might find the options limited. I always avoided the ones that look too agricultural, goats and chickens wandering in and out, or too many very young children about.
In most lodges there is one communal dining room which will have a stove in it, fed on wood and Yak dung, which normally get’s lit at sunset. This should be the warmest place in the lodge (apart from the kitchen) and is where most people will spend their time at the end of the day. Unfortunately, the Nepalese haven’t worked out that keeping doors shut keeps heat in, and will happily walk in and out leaving the outside door open, using scarce and expensive fuel to heat the mountainside. The dining room often doubles as the guide/porters sleeping area.
Up as far as Namche you should be able to rely on having a hot shower if you want one. These are powered either by bottled gas or by solar power, and of course there’s a charge for this. The higher you go the worse the washing facilities, as there is no running water and the best you may get is water out of urn to wash with. In some places you can buy bowls of hot/warm water for washing with. Above a certain height most people just let go on cleanliness as it is just too cold and difficult; I like most men stopped shaving. The better lodges will have Western toilets, some of which even flush, but the majority will have squat toilets. Water for flushing toilets is in large plastic containers. You can’t put toilet paper down them so used paper goes in a container in the toilet, which never seem to get emptied.
Nearly all rooms are double rooms but they do allow single travellers to occupy the whole room. If the rooms are full, single trekkers can end up sleeping with the porters where the levels of cleanliness are very low. There are no sheets so you will have to use your own sleeping bag. Every place will have blankets which you will need higher up, so make sure you have them. The beds are made of 2-3cm of foam mattress, which can be tough on the hips.
Lodges used by groups tend to have better facilities so one way to chose a lodge is to see how many trekking ‘stickers’ there are on the windows. If it’s popular, then it should be OK. Most lodges are much of a muchness anyway particularly above Lukla. Below Lukla try and get recommendations, as only a few lodges in each place are actually geared up to produce meals for lots of people at the same time; in smaller places you might find the options limited. I always avoided the ones that look too agricultural, goats and chickens wandering in and out, or too many very young children about.
In most lodges there is one communal dining room which will have a stove in it, fed on wood and Yak dung, which normally get’s lit at sunset. This should be the warmest place in the lodge (apart from the kitchen) and is where most people will spend their time at the end of the day. Unfortunately, the Nepalese haven’t worked out that keeping doors shut keeps heat in, and will happily walk in and out leaving the outside door open, using scarce and expensive fuel to heat the mountainside. The dining room often doubles as the guide/porters sleeping area.
Up as far as Namche you should be able to rely on having a hot shower if you want one. These are powered either by bottled gas or by solar power, and of course there’s a charge for this. The higher you go the worse the washing facilities, as there is no running water and the best you may get is water out of urn to wash with. In some places you can buy bowls of hot/warm water for washing with. Above a certain height most people just let go on cleanliness as it is just too cold and difficult; I like most men stopped shaving. The better lodges will have Western toilets, some of which even flush, but the majority will have squat toilets. Water for flushing toilets is in large plastic containers. You can’t put toilet paper down them so used paper goes in a container in the toilet, which never seem to get emptied.
The trekking day starts early with most people up and about at around 0630. The lodges gear up for breakfast about 0700 and most people are on their way by 0800. I being very slow in the mornings usually hit the road later than this. I did hear of porters getting their groups up and out of door at 0630 but I can’t see why. I stopped for some tea at convenient places and tried to stop for lunch at around 1300 but this wasn’t always possible, and it was often a quick meal dependant on how behind schedule I was. In November when I trekked, dusk fell around 1700. I would consider six to seven hours of walking to be enough for most people so I always tried to get to my destination around 1500 or 1600 at the latest, although on a couple of days I did walk longer than this. Arriving mid afternoon means you have a couple of hours to sort yourself out as there is not much of the day left. Lodges will be trying to get you to order your dinner almost as soon as you arrive and will certainly want to know by 1700. Most people are eating or have eaten by 1800 – 1830. This leaves a couple of hours before bedtime at 2030 to 2100. Most people will be in bed and trying to sleep by 2100. In one lodge I was in all the guests were ordered to bed at 2000, because the dining room was used as a sleeping place by the porters and guides and they wanted to go to bed! With the amount of work your body is doing, particularly if you are carrying your own kit, you will find that you need nine hours sleep.
A Typiclal Menu.
Food and Prices All the lodges have pretty much the same menu, which is based on what’s grown locally, and what is cost effective to carry up. Pancakes, Rice and Noodles are also a standard and usually the only vegetables on offer are spinach or cabbage. This is not the place to come if you are on the Atkins diet. Of course you’re working pretty hard with all that climbing especially if you’re carrying your own bag if you add to that the cold as you ascend and your body will be craving all those carbs. You’ll start to feel almost permanently hungry, so don’t feel bad about eating. It is however very bland and you’ll soon get tired of it.
The stable dish here is Dal bhaat, which does appear on most menus and it is a nice dish. I never ordered it unless I saw other people eating it, as it is time consuming to make as it comprises of three parts, rice (usually cooked in a pressure cooker), veg or potatoes and the dal. It’s best made in bulk and I did have a great one in Junbesi, at a place where the porters ate, piles of food and the cook came out with refills. It’s suited to mass catering and not ordered in a lodge for just one person.
The stable dish here is Dal bhaat, which does appear on most menus and it is a nice dish. I never ordered it unless I saw other people eating it, as it is time consuming to make as it comprises of three parts, rice (usually cooked in a pressure cooker), veg or potatoes and the dal. It’s best made in bulk and I did have a great one in Junbesi, at a place where the porters ate, piles of food and the cook came out with refills. It’s suited to mass catering and not ordered in a lodge for just one person.
A side of beef being portered in.
Below Lukla you’ll see a lot of chickens about but they are mainly raised for eggs and chicken is seldom on the menu. In Namche you can get steak which is carried into the National Park as there is a ban on slaughtering animals for religious reasons. Overall meat is rarely eaten or available.
The lodges also sell trekking food, chocolate bars, packets of coconut biscuits, bottled water and fruity flavoured drinks. Booze is also available all the way up, foreign branded beer and local spirits. As alcohol is not recommended at high altitude you don’t see many people drinking but its there if you want it.
As is apparent, particularly above Lukla, almost everything that trekkers need is carried into the area. Everything from bottled gas to run those showers, paraffin to run the cookers, nearly all the food and other essentials from cans of beer to plastic containers. Yaks and Mules carry many of the loads but one of the sights of Nepal are porters carrying huge loads of goods up mountains.
One problem with all the traffic is that it throws up a lot of dust, it really is quite problem so many trekkers have a cloth or mask to cover their mouths, which are easy to buy in country.
Of course all this transport costs money and this is passed on in the cost of the goods and the prices steadily rise the higher you get. Some people have problems with this, and can’t accept that a plate of noodles costs twice as much after a few days trekking; but you always have to think where you are in relation to the nearest road, its simple economics. So a bottle of water that costs you Nepali Rupees (NR) 20 in Themal, will soon be costing you NR 200 inside the National Park. In fact one very good economy is to buy some water purification tablets either in Kathmandu or at home and use them to sterilize water, or bring a water filter with you. It seems crazy that men carry water up mountains in bottles when there is no shortage of the stuff all around but there does seem to be a market for it. There is often boiled water available, which is boiled in large kettles on top of the stove. Groups use it a lot but I always found it tasted of paraffin. I always used to drink black tea, with a ‘small’ thermos being more than enough for two people.
Lukla and Namche do break the rules a bit probably because there is more competition there. Namche is a good place to stock up on goodies for the days ahead with some very good supermarkets in town. Chocolate bars will cost you around NR 70, by the time you get to Gorak Shep you will be paying NR 400.
One thing that is very good value is the cost of accommodation, even where it was tightest in Gorak Shep I only paid NR 250 for a shared room. All along the route the nightly charge was around NR 100 to NR 200, with NR 150 being a good average, and for that I got a room to myself. The understanding is that you will eat all your meals in the lodge and you will see on menus the warning that if meals are eaten ‘outside’ the nightly fee jumps to NR 1000. In Namche I did eat some meals ‘out’ but always had breakfast and bought other bits and pieces in my lodge, and that was OK. Above Lukla, you can get en suite rooms but at a much higher fee.
The lodges also sell trekking food, chocolate bars, packets of coconut biscuits, bottled water and fruity flavoured drinks. Booze is also available all the way up, foreign branded beer and local spirits. As alcohol is not recommended at high altitude you don’t see many people drinking but its there if you want it.
As is apparent, particularly above Lukla, almost everything that trekkers need is carried into the area. Everything from bottled gas to run those showers, paraffin to run the cookers, nearly all the food and other essentials from cans of beer to plastic containers. Yaks and Mules carry many of the loads but one of the sights of Nepal are porters carrying huge loads of goods up mountains.
One problem with all the traffic is that it throws up a lot of dust, it really is quite problem so many trekkers have a cloth or mask to cover their mouths, which are easy to buy in country.
Of course all this transport costs money and this is passed on in the cost of the goods and the prices steadily rise the higher you get. Some people have problems with this, and can’t accept that a plate of noodles costs twice as much after a few days trekking; but you always have to think where you are in relation to the nearest road, its simple economics. So a bottle of water that costs you Nepali Rupees (NR) 20 in Themal, will soon be costing you NR 200 inside the National Park. In fact one very good economy is to buy some water purification tablets either in Kathmandu or at home and use them to sterilize water, or bring a water filter with you. It seems crazy that men carry water up mountains in bottles when there is no shortage of the stuff all around but there does seem to be a market for it. There is often boiled water available, which is boiled in large kettles on top of the stove. Groups use it a lot but I always found it tasted of paraffin. I always used to drink black tea, with a ‘small’ thermos being more than enough for two people.
Lukla and Namche do break the rules a bit probably because there is more competition there. Namche is a good place to stock up on goodies for the days ahead with some very good supermarkets in town. Chocolate bars will cost you around NR 70, by the time you get to Gorak Shep you will be paying NR 400.
One thing that is very good value is the cost of accommodation, even where it was tightest in Gorak Shep I only paid NR 250 for a shared room. All along the route the nightly charge was around NR 100 to NR 200, with NR 150 being a good average, and for that I got a room to myself. The understanding is that you will eat all your meals in the lodge and you will see on menus the warning that if meals are eaten ‘outside’ the nightly fee jumps to NR 1000. In Namche I did eat some meals ‘out’ but always had breakfast and bought other bits and pieces in my lodge, and that was OK. Above Lukla, you can get en suite rooms but at a much higher fee.
Porters and Guides If you are trekking on an organized tour then guides and porters (or the Yak equivalent) will come as part of the package. The guides working for the big international companies are probably the best of the lot, there to ensure you have a great holiday. Trekking individually, if you don’t want to carry your own bag I can see the point of having a porter but I’m not so sure about a guide. Most of the trails are fairly easy to follow and if you have the Trailfinders book “Trekking in the Everest Region” by Jamie McGuiness (easy to buy in Kathmandu), with it’s excellent maps and descriptions then you are very unlikely to get lost. For most of the way there are plenty of people about to ask directions from, or just follow the Yaks. The only place where a guide would be useful is if you are attempting any of the high mountain passes where you don’t want to lose your way or waste time. If you have a guide it is usually they who decide where you stay, so you don’t get a chance to shop around; and they call the shots on your trekking day, where you eat, time you get up etc. If there are only one or two of you in a group, consider that you will be stuck with the company of a guide or porter for maybe a couple of weeks. These are people with whom you won’t have much in common, and I heard some very stilted conversations in the evenings between trekkers and their staff, as they had clearly long run out of things to talk about.
You can arrange tours with trekking agencies in Kathmandu but quality of the guide/porter may vary so try and get recommendations from other trekkers. I met one trekker who had arranged a trek in Kathmandu, paying $1000 for three weeks, this got him a guide, who held the money and paid for the lodges and food as they went along. He was already annoyed that he’d paid so much as it was clear that guide was fairly superfluous, and he was having to carry his own pack. Later on higher up the route I met him again and he was alone. Halfway through the trek the guide had said that he didn’t have much money left as he’d had to give it to his son to pay his school fees and that he was now going back to Kathmandu; so he handed what cash he had and left the trekker to work the rest out for himself, which he did quite successfully, but minus a big dent in his budget.
If you’ve read this far I hope these notes have been useful. I’m happy to answer any specific questions people might have.
You can arrange tours with trekking agencies in Kathmandu but quality of the guide/porter may vary so try and get recommendations from other trekkers. I met one trekker who had arranged a trek in Kathmandu, paying $1000 for three weeks, this got him a guide, who held the money and paid for the lodges and food as they went along. He was already annoyed that he’d paid so much as it was clear that guide was fairly superfluous, and he was having to carry his own pack. Later on higher up the route I met him again and he was alone. Halfway through the trek the guide had said that he didn’t have much money left as he’d had to give it to his son to pay his school fees and that he was now going back to Kathmandu; so he handed what cash he had and left the trekker to work the rest out for himself, which he did quite successfully, but minus a big dent in his budget.
If you’ve read this far I hope these notes have been useful. I’m happy to answer any specific questions people might have.
