Everest Base Camp

Now that we’re here, a PANGAEA rep will be waiting outside the airport gates to take us to our hotel. Depending on when everyone arrives, we’ll plan to have our briefing meeting once we’ve settled in.

The schedule may change according to circumstances out of our control.

Good morning! We’re transferring to the airport to board one a stunning 45-minute mountain flight through the Himalayas. From Lukla (2,652 m), we trek downhill toward the Dudh Koshi (Milky River) – a raging river that flows from the glacier of the highest mountains. This fairly easy and well-marked trail meanders around the fields of potatoes and wheat, passing through many traditional villages to reach Phakding. After about three hours of trekking, we’ll spend our first night in Phakding.

The schedule may change according to circumstances out of our control

trek after breakfast, passing through pine forest, rhododendron, magnolia, and cultivated terraces to get to Sagarmatha National Park in the mountain capital, Namche Bazaar. Spectacular mountain peaks like Nupla (5,885 m), Kongde Ri (6,093 m) and Thamserku (6,808 m) rise majestically above us throughout most of the day.

The schedule may change according to circumstances out of our control.

HIKING PACK

Your hiking pack should only contain in it your water, your extra sweater/gloves/sunglasses/etc., waterproofs, and camera, snacks. Everything else will be in your main duffel bag, which will be carried by the porters. You wont even see your duffel bag as the porters are much faster and they will get to the lodge probably before you. 

DUFFEL BAG

Upon your arrival in Kathmandu, you will be reciving a duffel bag, yes that’s our gift to you. While packing your stuff in the duffel bag, please note that all of your items in the duffel bag cannot exceed 15kg as per regulations or else the porters will not carry them. Everything needs to fit in your duffel bag – the only items that should be in your hiking day pack are extra layers of clothing for the hike in case you get cold or feel hot, camera, snacks, medication, etc. – and that’s all! You don’t want it to be any more than that or else it will be too heavy for you since you will be walking for long hours. Don’t over pack! You will not be changing your clothes as often as you think! Especially the last few days you will be cold and tired so some have slept and woken up and hiked in the same clothes for 2 days straight and it was all good! Just bring what is necessary and if you follow the checklist you should be okay

PACKING TIPS

The trick here is to minimize the amount of time you need in the morning and before you sleep. So you want to make sure you pack in a way that helps you find what you are looking for as fast as possible without having to dig too hard into your bag. The best way in our experience is to place everything in Zip Lock Bags according to their category. The good thing about zip lock bags is that they are see- through so you can see what’s in them right away. Another good thing is that they are waterproof so in case it rains it will keep your items dry. For example, you can place all of your toiletries in one zip lock such as: soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, facewash, toner, cotton pads, etc. Then you can place all of your underwear in another zip lock, your passport and any important documents in another, your medicine and any medical supplies in another, your socks together, etc. That way you can always find your items quickly and it will also keep them dry

SLEEPING BAG

This is important because even though you will be sleeping in lodges – they are not insulated. So, you will feel the cold especially as we go higher up. You will be placing your sleeping bag on top of the bed to sleep in. If you are the type that likes a pillow – there are a few tricks for that. You can either bring an empty pillowcase and stuff it with clothes to sleep on, or you can bring the inflatable airplane pillows. The beds in the lodges come with pillows, so you can also bring a scarf to place over the pillow so you can feel more comfortable resting your head on it.

HIKING SHOES

We hope you are wearing them daily! Make sure they are high enough to support your ankles and made out of an insulated material so that they can keep you warm and they also need to be waterproof. They also need to be a half size bigger as sometimes you may feel the need to wear at least 2 socks to stay warm -so its important that your hiking boots have room for that. It’s important to wear them early on so you can loosen them up before the hike, especially if they are brand new.

GLOVES

This is a tip for gloves: What keeps your fingers warm is actually the air pockets between the gloves so make sure that buy your gloves a bit bigger than normal so that when you wear them on top of each other there is still room in between them. If they are all too tight you wont feel warm – so you need to make sure the air pockets are there.

SOCKS

Your socks need to be made out of wool’ish material absolutely no cotton! — They call them 3 season or 4 season socks, kind of like the ones you would wear for skiing. 

CAMERA

Since this is a super awesome trip, you definitely want to bring a camera with you. Some of you if you are photo enthusiasts will want to bring your SLR. You can but we don›t recommend it, as they are heavy and bulky. A normal digital camera will do. In the case of batteries, make sure you bring extras! The trick with camera batteries is to bring extras and always keep them in a warm place, like inside your socks in your duffel bag – as the cold makes the battery life deplete a lot faster. Also, interchanging the battery is believed to be better and also makes it last longer than using one full battery till it runs out and then switching to another one. 

HYGIENE

We will always do our best to provide rooms in lodges with attached bathrooms. However, not all of the rooms come with bathrooms and not all of the bathrooms will have showers – so its time to embrace the funk! 🙂 In the chance that you do shower, please make sure you bring your own mini shampoo, conditioner and towel. Alternatively, you can ‘rent a towel’ but it’s best to have your own. Also, please make sure to get a towel that is made out of a quick dry material, and not the normal towels you find at home as they take longer to dry.

HYGIENE (continued)

The best thing to bring with you is Dettol wipes or baby wipes. These will be your new best friends on the mountain! So you can use them for obvious reasons and you can also use them in what we like to call «Dettol Showers» and just wipe yourself down in your room to freshen up. Some people have also taken with them Dry Shampoo, so you can do that as well. Or you can just hide your hair under a hat that works as well! Please also make sure you bring your own toilet paper. As for other elements, sometimes the hot water in the bathroom is not as reliable so for the days where you are too tired or cold to wash your face, we find that its great to bring a face toner so you can just wipe it down in the morning and at night to stay fresh. You can also bring with you a body spray to feel fresh and nice smelling

NAILS

Make sure you cut your toe nails really short. This is important especially on the way down from the mountain, as the pressure on your toes from the boots have caused some people to lose their nails when they get home. It’s not fun so if you keep them short you should be okay.

BLISTERS

Some people get them from the long hours of walking. The last thing you want on a trek is a blister as that can seriously make your life miserable when you are there. The trick we find best for this is «PreEmptive Behavior». That means you wrap your sensitive spots, like your heels, certain toes, etc. with gauze and medical white tape as soon as you start the trek. This will protect those areas from extra friction and save you from blisters. So you wrap them up like you already have a blister – before you get the blister. It works for us!

PHONES

You will get very little reception on the trail, so feel free to bring your phones if you like but keep in mind that not all networks work roaming in Nepal. Some people take this as a chance to completely disconnect from the world and unplug but some of you have moms and dads who need that update so it’s ok. If you want to be absolutely connected, then please feel free to purchase a local sim card in Nepal. The battery trick here is the same as the camera one so keep your phone in a dry and warm place so it lasts longer and keep it turned off when you are not using it. In certain villages like Namche Bazaar (day 3 and 4) you will have access to cyber café’s where the internet is reliable – so you can use that time to get connected or to update family. The plug in Nepal is a 3 hole one like the picture on the right.

CAMP SHOES/CLOTHES

Once you get to each village you’re going to want to take off your hiking boots and get into something comfortable. We suggest bringing something that’s easy to slip on and off – versus something with laces. Since if you have to go to the bathroom at night the last thing you want to be doing is fumbling in pitch-black darkness with laces and the likes of. You may also want to bring comfortable lounge pants like sweat pants or something to keep you warm

GEAR LIST

Everything on our gear list is mandatory so we can’t stress enough that you should go over it again and again and make sure you have everything, every little thing counts! 

POCKET MONEY

You can take with you around 150$ USD for the whole trip as pocket money but keep in mind that this is just an estimate- everyone is different when they travel so make sure to take with you what will make you comfortable. Nepal is not the best place for Visas or Mastercards so remember that CASH is KING.

SNACKS

The best snacks to bring are DATES – as they are small and packed with energy. We prefer these over the usual energy bars as sometimes they have not so friendly effects on your stomach and that’s the last thing you want on the trail. Nuts are also a great option.

BRING AN AWESOME ATTITUDE

Trekking to Everest Base Camp is 90% mental so make sure you start visualizing yourself there – and bring with you a flag or a picture or whatever you want to take your photo with when you reach Base Camp!

TRAVEL INSURANCE

 You have made a significant investment in your travel plans and while in most cases everything will run smoothly, situations may arise on or before your trip that are outside of our control and for which we cannot be held responsible. Travel insurance may help to make your trip more worry-free by protecting your investment and yourself. Travel insurances can cover expenses resulting from situations such as: • Trip Cancellation and Interruption due to sickness • Emergency Medical Transportation • Trip and Baggage Delay • Lost or Stolen Baggage • Doctor and Hospital Payments • Travel Accidents • Weather delays There are plenty of options when it comes to travel insurance providers. We highly 

recommend World Nomad’s single trip travel insurance. You can buy it here.

 * make sure you go for the Explorer package as that covers a higher altitude