When you take on a challenge like hiking to Everest Base Camp you want to make sure you do everything you can to make the trip as enjoyable as possible. This comes from prepare for the trip, packing the right equipment and being mentally ready for the challenge. Below are our top 10 tips to making sure you not only complete the challenge but you also have a great time while you are there.
1) Dry Clothes, Wet Clothes
Top tip number one is to have two sets of clothes your wet clothes that you wear during the day and your dry clothes for the evening. You clothes during the day will get wet with both sweat and rain and if you hang around in tea house in them you will start to get cold and tired and miserable. As soon as you get into the tea house get changed into your warm fleeces and crocs or flip flops – air out those feet. You need to then hang out all your wet clothes and get your boots airing. This will make you feel comfortable and cozy and it will also give you a bit of a morale boost.
2) Face Mask / Buff
This is a well trodden path and the stones have all been ground down to dusk. This means as you walk along you get quite a lot of dusk brushed up into your mouth and nose and this is one of the biggest causes of infection out on the trail. Prevent this by wearing a face mask or a buff! It will also prevent the Khumbu Cough, this is really not fun and takes a long time to lose.
It’s also worth having some cough sweets to suck on on the way up to help keen the cough away.
3) Wear in your Kit
Don’t turn up in Nepal with shiny new kit!! You’ll get blisters, things won’t fit properly and you’ll spend the trek grumbling about your kit and missing out on the experience. Instead get anything you need months before the trek and wear it in. Anything you are buying new get from an expert who can check the fit and check the suitability for the trek.
4) Get in the Mountains.
When you are training you want to make it as close to the real experience as possible. So get in the mountain, test yourself on the hills and build up your mental endurance. It might not be possible to make this the main part of your fitness programme but you can as a minimum do a couple of weekends walking.
5) Take a Nalgene (or equivalent) bottle
This is a wide top water bottle. It’s great because at night you can fill it with boiling water, wrap it up and use it as a hot water bottle. In the morning you get fresh water to drink for the day. Buy this before you leave for the trip and make sure it is suitable for boiling water.
6) Really Good Sun Cream
The sun is hot up there!! Get some really good sun cream and protect your skin. You don’t want to be burning up on this trek. Make sure you have it in your day pack and enough for the whole trip.
7) Crocs or Sliders
When you get to the tea house you want to get those boots off. You also want to air your feet. A good pair of Slider or crocs are the perfect footwear to give those toes some air! Yes you won’t look super fly but let’s face it who really cares.
You’ll want to wear your socks with them so no flip flops you’ll just end up buying sliders when you get there.
You can get some lovely memory foam sliders here or crocks here
8) Wet Wipes
Trust me on this – bring the wet wipes! You will appreciate it.
9) Wifi Hacks
So we would love you all to leave your phone’s behind and fall in love with the mountains. We also know your families probably want to know how you are getting on. There is now wifi all the way up the mountain and it runs on specific codes. However the tea houses don’t always turn their wifi on if you haven’t paid them. So if we split the group up then some people buy at one tea house the next group at the next etc. Or be like us and forget the rest of the world and embrace the experience.
10) Go Slow
Don’t think this is a race to the top or you may never get there! Go slow, follow the advice of your guides ensure you have at least 2 acclimatisation days. This will give your body the chance to get used to the altitude and give you the best chance of making it up the mountain. If you can find your pace and stick to it everything will become easier. So don’t worry if you are the slowest, I was and you know what, in the end we all stood at base camp and we all achieved the same goal!