How the weight actually works
On a supported trek you carry a daypack; a porter carries the rest. That arrangement comes with a limit, and the limit exists for the porter's sake rather than yours.
The usual arrangement is one porter per two trekkers, carrying up to about 20 kg total — so roughly 10 kg each in your duffel. Your daypack holds water, layers, camera, documents and snacks, and lands somewhere around 5–7 kg.
Porter overloading is the ugliest problem in Nepali trekking. If an operator is relaxed about weight, they are being relaxed with somebody else's spine. Anything above your allowance means hiring an additional porter, which is a cost we'll quote rather than quietly load onto someone.
Anything you don't need on the trail stays in Kathmandu — every hotel stores luggage free while you're walking.
Layers, from the skin out
Temperatures on an Everest or Annapurna trek swing enormously: you may walk in a t-shirt at midday and sit down to dinner in a down jacket at −10 °C. Layers solve this; a single warm coat does not.
- Base layers — two sets, merino or synthetic. Never cotton: it holds sweat and chills you the moment you stop.
- Mid layer — fleece or light synthetic insulation.
- Down jacket — essential above 4,000 m, mostly for mornings and evenings. Hireable in Kathmandu.
- Waterproof shell — jacket and trousers. Even in dry season, weather at altitude does what it likes.
- Trekking trousers — two pairs, quick-dry. Leave the jeans.
- Underwear and socks — four to five pairs of proper wool trekking socks. This is not a place to economise.
Boots, and the one mistake to avoid
Mid or high-cut boots with ankle support and a stiff-ish sole. Nepali trails are long descents on uneven stone, and it's the downhills that punish your feet and knees.
Wear them in first. Weeks in advance, on real hills, with the socks you'll actually be wearing. Brand-new boots on day one is the single most reliable way to spend a fortnight managing blisters. Pack a lightweight pair of trainers or sandals for the evenings too — taking boots off at the lodge is one of the day's genuine pleasures.
Sleeping and warmth
Teahouses provide a bed, a mattress, a pillow and usually a blanket. They do not heat the rooms — the dining room has a stove, the bedrooms have nothing.
- Sleeping bag rated to −10 °C or −15 °C for the higher routes. Hire in Kathmandu if you're not a regular camper.
- Sleeping bag liner — adds a few degrees, keeps the hired bag clean.
- Warm hat and gloves, plus a lightweight liner glove for taking photos without freezing your fingers.
- Buff or neck gaiter — dust on the lower trails, wind higher up.
The small things that matter more than expected
- Headtorch with spare batteries — lodge power dies, and you'll be walking to a toilet block in the dark.
- Sunglasses, category 3 or 4. Snow glare above 4,000 m is genuinely dangerous, not just uncomfortable.
- Sunscreen SPF 50 and lip balm with SPF. UV climbs about 10% per 1,000 m and the burns are memorable.
- Water treatment — purification tablets or a SteriPen. Buying bottled water on the trail is expensive, and the empties have nowhere to go.
- Power bank, 20,000 mAh. Charging is metered by the hour and gets pricier the higher you go.
- Personal first aid — blister plasters, painkillers, rehydration salts, any prescriptions in original packaging.
- Trekking poles. Optional going up, transformative coming down. Your knees will file a formal thank-you.
- Cash in small rupee notes. There are no ATMs past Namche, and none at all on most routes.
What to hire in Kathmandu
Thamel is full of rental shops, and for anything you'd use once, hiring beats buying comfortably.
| Item | Typical rental | Worth buying instead? |
|---|---|---|
| Down jacket | ~$1–2 / day | Only if you trek often |
| Sleeping bag | ~$1–2 / day | No, unless you camp at home |
| Trekking poles | ~$1 / day | Cheap either way |
| Duffel bag | Often included | No |
| Boots | Available | Yes — always bring your own |
Prices move with season and bargaining. The one thing never to hire is footwear: unfamiliar boots are how a good trek becomes a painful one.
What people carry and never use
From years of watching duffels get unpacked at the end of a trip:
- Too many clothes. Everyone wears the same three things and washes occasionally. Nobody on the trail cares.
- Full-size toiletries. Decant. You are carrying grams up a mountain.
- Heavy books. You will be asleep by 8:30 pm more often than you expect.
- A second camera body. Bring one, bring more batteries — cold flattens them fast.
- Jeans, towels, hairdryers. All spotted. None useful.
Lay everything out, then remove a third. The most common review we get afterwards isn't about missing something — it's that people wish they'd carried less.
