Everest Base Camp & Chitwan Safari

Clair, hi I have booked for this trip too and am very excited. Have never been to the area before so like you would welcome any advice from anyone who has. Will see you in Kathmandu as I am joining the trip from New Zealand.

Patrick

Hi Patrick,  Nice to hear from you, I was getting worried that maybe there wasn't many people coming on this trip.  We haven't done a trip like this before, but have been gathering lots on info and advice from people who have, lots of wet wipes and water purification tablets/drops seem to be a must.  Some comments have been "I have never been so cold before" and to bring Diamox in case of altitude sickness, my partner Paul is reading the Bear Gryls book Facing Up, on his experience of Everest which has lots of information in it although probably a bit dated now, still I am hoping he will finish it soon so I can have a read of it before we travel to!

Clair

 

Hi Clair and Patrick, Am booked on this trip too with my mother! Very excited as we are fulfilling a life time ambition but also very worried as have never done anything like this before. Am concerned about AMS and if anyone has any helpful hints could they let me know. Have read a lot but I think this makes me more worried!!!!Linda xxx

Hi Linda,  Nice to hear from another fellow traveller.  From what we have read on AMS there is not much you can do, it just affect some and not others. Paul is still on the "Bear G" book and says he suggests swimming under water to get the body used to exercising in reduced oxygen, still waiting my turn to read the book, guess Paul won't need much reading material to keep him going for the whole holiday!  Are you doing the Chitwan safari too? and where are you travelling from?  We live in Bognor Regis and are leaving from Heathrow on 22nd Feb.  Clair

Unfortunately we are only doing the Base Camp trek due to lack of annual leave and other family commitments!! We too, are leaving from Heathrow on 22/04 so I'm sure we'll bump into each other on route!! I live in Kent at the moment and my mother lives in Lincolnshire so she'll be down with me before we leave. Am trying to be organised and getting a few bits together. Is there anything Bear G thinks is essential to take???? Linda xxx

Hi 

Don't worry too much about AMS, everybody will have an off day. Key is to drink plenty of water (4 litres a day) so make sure you have either a camlbak or water bottles that are  easy to get too. In a group of 16 all of us got to Base camp. If you do start to feel off, talk to the Exodus guides they carry plenty of medication and probably have a better understanding of AMS than your local GP.  Take different types of headache tables, paracetamol is better for headache but ibuprofen was better for aches and strains

Also take loads of throat sweets as you will get a Khumbu cough which is a sore throat and dry cough due to dry atmospere and the amount of dust that is around. Take a thin neck scarf \snood that you can put over you mouth to cut out the dust. You can get one for a couple of pounds in Kathmandu.

Take trousers that can be zipped off as it is warm enough for shorts at the lower levels but will be cold as you get higher. Can get cold at night in the rooms so take a warm jumper to go over the other layers and warm tracksuit trousers. Would suggest you take enough underwear to get through the trip as there is not enough time to wash and dry them.

Don't take too much, you will all wear the same clothes for days, if you haven't got something then you can buy it in Namche Bazaar and it will probably be cheaper than UK.

One thing i would take from the Uk is snack chocolate bars - Mars bars can get as much as £3.50 near the top. 

Have a good trip

Hi Linda,  When we called to make our final payment the Exodus lady suggested taking a pillowcase to use over the pillows provided and plenty of sun screen, she also said a metal water bottle can double up as a hot water bottle at night (I rather liked this idea), other people have said head torch and a wee bottle so the toilets don't need to be braved at night and lots of wet wipes and hand sanitizer!  Paul and I now have quite a pile of kit mounting up, including snacks, going to have to a weigh in soon as its difficult to tell how much of it we can actually take.  I understand there is 13 in our group at the moment, so lots of new people to get to know.  Clair

 

 

 Take a look at this web link, looks mighty cold at base camp, hope it warms up before our trip......

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/fourteenday/npxx0004/table