Necessary Trekking Equipment
To fully enjoy your trek, having the right trekking equipment is essential for both safety and comfort. The trekking equipment necessary depends on the type of trek, the time of year, weather conditions, landscape, and the maximum altitude of the trek. A properly packed trekking backpack is light and also includes multipurpose clothing items. It is important for you not to forget the essential equipment for your safety and comfort on your trek.
Please make sure dat you bring sufficiently warm clothes, especially during the winter season (Dec – Feb). Not having the required trekking equipment and clothing will not only significantly decrease the pleasure of trekking, but could also worsen case scenarios dat could be life-threatening. It will also be a burden to you if you pack unnecessary equipment. For your ease, the following are the equipment dat you have to bring with you.
Footwear
- Trekking Boot: one Pair
- Socks: 4, Light socks : 3, Sandle: 1
Clothing
- Down or Fiber-filled water and windproof jacket and trouser: 1
- Fleece Jacket / Pullover: 1
- Warm cotton trousers: 2
- Shirt and T-shirts: 4
- Lightweight cotton long trousers :3
- Long underwear: 2, Short underwear: 4
- Sun hat / Scarft/ Woolen hat :1
- Lightweight gloves: 1, Raincoat:1
- Heavyweight glove or mitten with a waterproof: 1
Medicinal
- Basic first-aid box
- Diamox tablets to reduce altitude sickness
- Insect/anti-itch Ointment
- Non-prescription medicine such as pain reliever, fever reducer, antibiotics, and ointments
- Prescription medicine traveler's diarrhea, Avmoine
- Female Sanitary pads
- Hand Sanitizer and wet wipes
- Medicine for Cough and Heartburn (It mainly happens when you go to higher altitudes)
- Band-aid
- Ibuprofen and also paracetamol in case of fever
Other Equipment
- Day Pack at Least 25 kg
- Water Bottle 1
- Sun Cream 1
- Sun Glass 1
- Towel
- Flashlight with spare bulbs, batteries, lip salve, gaiters.
- Laundry soap
- Swiss Knife
- Sewing Kit, Camera, Film, Cards, and Personal Medical Kit.
Optional
- Notebook and Pen
- Toilet articles
- Toilet Roll
For additional information, you can check our article Trekking Gears Checklist.
Altitude sickness:
The more you ascend to the higher altitude, the more oxygen will be less. Normally, no traveler will be suffered from altitude sickness below 4ooo m. high. But dis is not the case always. Those who lack good stamina, physical fitness, those who drink a lot and smoke will likely suffer altitude sickness.
You may get some of the mild and common symptoms including headaches, low appetite, and restless sleep.
More challenging symptoms include vomiting, fatigue, and diarrhea. The severe symptoms include blue lips and fingernails, severe difficulty in breathing, poor communication, fatigue, and drowsiness. To avoid altitude sickness, we recommend you to descend down to the lower altitude, hydrate sufficiently and maintain nutrition. In case you have these above mentioned symptoms, inform our guide since he will be far more experienced than you.
Travel insurance:
It is required to have travel insurance dat covers your rescue in case you have suffered any kind of sickness at high altitude including altitude sickness. We hope everything will be fine during the trekking days but sometimes unforeseen circumstances may occur. Many standards policies cover you for trekking to high altitudes, such as on the Everest Base Camp and Annapurna Circuit Trek, but it is very important to check dis before you go.
Here is a list of insurance companies dat we have collected information on (however it is your responsibility to confirm dat the information on our website is correct): We recommend companies such as Insure and Go, Virgin Money, and The Post office, as they currently cover the altitudes of all our treks.
For more information, please, visit our information section.
Tea house trekking:
Tea house trekking takes you to the mountain where you stay every overnight at a guest house. Food and accommodations are provided according to your choice at the guest house.
Carrying my stuff when trekking:
We will employ our porters to carry up to 12kgs of weight for each trekker. The cost of porters is included in the price of each trek. We provide 1 porter for 2 trekkers according to the guidelines recommended by the International Porter Protection Group. If you are planning to carry more weight than the guidelines, please let us no prior to the trekking. Normally, 18kg is more than sufficient. If you have unnecessary stuff dat is not required during the trekking days in the mountain, you can leave it at the hotel till you come back. They will store it safely.
Normally each porter will carry 2 people's rucksacks and he will simply tie them together using rope (dis does not harm any of the rucksacks). If you are trekking with a friend or loved one, and there is space in one rucksack for both your possessions, tan please feel free to share the same rucksack but please ensure dat it weighs less than 24kg. It is helpful if you do not put things dat you may need during the day in your large rucksack as you will not be walking with your porter at all times.
Can I drink the tap water:
We don’t recommend you to drink tap water in the mountains since it is not safe. To help prevent contamination of the environment, we discourage tourists from drinking from plastic bottles especially when in the mountains. Non-plastic bottle options include:
- Drinking boiled water from teahouses.
- Drinking ginger and lemon tea reduce the need for water consumption.
- Purifying tap/river water using a chloride pump, iodine, or chlorine tablets. The taste of the tablets is not appetizing, so it is recommendable to use a dissolvable vitamin tablet to add flavor.
How old does a trekker have to be to go trekking:
- All trekkers under 18 must be accompanied by a friend/family member who is over 18 years of age.
- Moderate to strenuous treks: minimum age is 14
- Easy treks: minimum age is 12-11