Trekking Wardrobe and Supplies

What to pack for a 14 day trek to Everest Base Camp in the Himalayas

Sooo when you read that I did the trek to Everest Base Camp, I totally know what you were thinking…what did Jami wear and how did she pack? I want to make our readers happy, so here’s how to pack for a 2 week trek under multiple weather conditions during shoulder season, especially knowing that some poor soul, a hired sherpa, will have to lug all your shit up the mountains for 14 days.

I made this list, as I had done for myself anyway as a prep pack guide via google doc: what I had and what I needed. In this post, I italicized the items I bought/rented while in Kathmandu, otherwise I had it.

First, I carried my day bag/backpack. My small day bag had all my essentials. Essential clothing items were really important as within a flash, the temperature could drop or raise 15 degrees. I was always getting in there to put something on because I was cold or put something away because I was hot. I also wanted to make sure I had my first aid and medicine at hand. And every now and then a granola bar or a piece of gum pepped me up.

Here’s the list of what went in my DAY BAG/BACKPACK:

Things to keep me well:

First aid/medicine:

• Asprin
• Diaherra tabs
• Cipro (RX)
• Zithromax (RX)
• Diomox (RX)
• Cold medicine
• Scizzors
• IB Profin
• Benedryl
• Immodium
• Bandaids
• Kleenex
• Hand sanitizer lotion – it is dirty, you eat with your hands
• Throat lozenges

Things to keep me energized:

• Gum – takes some of the concentration away from how tired you may be
• Snacks – Granola bars and Snickers

Things to keep me clean:

• Toilet paper – obvious reasons (no tp anywhere – it is a BYOTP kind of place)
• Antibacterial/Sanitizer wipes
• Nail kit – a file and sharp tooth picks to get out dirt
• Aquafer – for when your skin/lips get dry
• Compact hair brush

Extras:

• A kindle – for those long days in the airport and early nights before bed
• Headlamp – or head torch as the Brits would say
• An extra ziplock for wet things
• A chico bag- expandable bag just in case, which has come in handy a lot this trip

Essentials: keep me clean, well, energized, etc

Things to keep me warm:

• Himalayan hat and gloves – bought on the mountian
• Fleece headband
• Gloves (2): an inner layer, a thicker for when scaling icy rocks
• Neck warmers (2): one thick, one thin which doubles as a headband

Things to shield me from the rain:

• Umbrella
• Raincoat
• Daypack “shower cap” – backpack cover
• A pair of dry socks

Things to shield me from the sun:

• Baseball/Sun hat
• UV/polarized sunglasses

Daybag/backpack: essential to keep me warm, dry and shaded

I also used my MONEY BELT as a very easy to get to “fanny pack” – it worked amazingly! It held my minute by minute essentials.

• Sunscreen – 50 SPF
• Sunscreen chapstick – 45 SPF
• More sanitizer wipes in single form
• Regular wipes (you honestly could not have enough)
• Throat lozenges
• Some money
• An emergency whistle
• A whisp – love these one use toothbrushes, no paste needed with a floss end
• Body/Hand Lotion
• Hair band
• Camera – mostly around my neck

My money belt that operated as a fanny pack

The BIG BAG – clothes and toiletries. I was pretty proud that I wore/used everything I took, well except my waterproof pants I bought in Kathmandu and I think that was a good thing.
I brought 2 small Ebags, 1 big Ebag and 3 air tight space bags I kept the ebags in and 1 toiletry bag.

All I brought in the big bag

1 small Ebag for socks:
Socks are important for obvious reasons. You are walking up and down through various weather conditions for 6-12 hours a day. Your feet being comfortable and happy is crucial. I brought:

• 2 pair of wool socks
• 2 pair of med – thick padded socks
• 1 pair of cool max socks
• 2 pair of sock liners 
• 1 pair of down booties – these I bought on the mountain and were great for the tea houses to keep my feet warm indoors

*This is just me, but I also packed a small bottle of massage oil and a small bottle of foot powder which I stuffed into the booties – every night my feet and legs got a personal massage by me and it felt great. I would use the oil all over my legs, then the powder on my feet and then slip into my booties. It was a treat.

My sock bag

1 small Ebag for tops:

• 2 athletic long sleeve (yellow/nike) (blue/”northface)
• 1 quick dry/merlino wool long sleeve (black/icebreaker)
• 1 long underwear long sleeve (pink/jack wolfson)
• 1 athletic tank top (hot pink/reebok)
• 1 quick dry/merlino wool tank top (black/icebreaker)
• 1 quick dry/merlino wool t-shirt (black/icebreaker)
• 1 cotton long sleeve – for sleeping only – guaranteeing not wet
• 1 cotton long sleeve/sweatshirt – for sleeping only

***Important to keep a plastic bag to separate the wet from dry clothes – you sweat a lot, and nothing dries up there.

All my tops packed with a plastic bag to separate dry from damp

Tops unpacked

1 big Ebag for pants:

• 2 REI type pants – one lighter, one heavier – both quick dry, but certainly not water proof (grey/REI – light) (green//heavier)
• 1 crop athletic pant – (black/nike)
• 1 long underwear (pink/jack wolfson)
• 1 fleece pant for sleeping and all things tea house – super critical and they were always soft and warm (purple/”the northface”)

My pants

XXS bag:

• 6 pairs of underwear
• 2 sports bras

Jackets:

• 1 light Fleece (black/the north face)
• 1 light down (black/pantagonia)
• 1 gor-tex down – not shown (green+black/”the north face”) – rented

Others:

• Water proof pants – light blue (“the north face”) – had to buy, but we sold it back for almost as much as we paid for them, since they were not worn
• REI towel
• Sleeping bag – (“the north face”) not shown – rented

As far as the packing all of the clothes items in the BIG BAG were protected and shrunk by the sealed bags which I shared with Aaron. This made sure that our clothes were compacted as small as possible so everything could fit and that if a rain shower/snow storm were to happen all of our clothes would be dry.

Toiletries
I know, to some this may look a bit extreme, but those who know me well, know that I am a product girl. But I stuck to essentials, well my bare minimum at least.
Face wash (cetaphil)
Face scrub (natural himalaya) – this was for my extra dry days that required exfoliation
Day face cream (himalaya) – light and airy
Night face cream (himalya) – thick and moisturizing – it came in a tube but was able to compact it in an old lotion container.
Deodorant (Dove)
Toothpaste
Toothbrush
Floss
2 extra whisps
Tweezers
Chapstick – as a lip night moisturizer
REI compact towel
Contacts, plus an extra pair in case
Contact solution
Shampoo
Conditioner
Tiger Balm – I love this product! You know in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding when the father says Windex can heal/clean anything, well that’s kind of how I feel about tiger balm. You can use it to soothe your aching shoulders from carrying your backpack all day, to oiling up and moisturizing your cracked feet, to soothe a bug bite itch, or even to put some on your chest or inside your nose to make you feel better if you are feeling sick and to wake the body up.

My toiletries

All of this prep paid off as temperatures would rise and drop quickly. Also we sweat through our clothes and the wetness would remain damp and then get cold come night. Nothing really seemed to dry and so it was important to have options. A trick we used for those 6am mornings of frostiness was to choose our next days clothes the night before and stuff them in our sleeping bags trying to get them warm and dry. Sunshine was often scarce so if it came out, Aaron and I would become a human laundry line and hang our damp clothes from our day bags to get them dry. And another thing, my bags were hardly ever full because I was constantly layered up. (Shout out to K, as she explains that layers are everything.) Once we got into day 3 I was wearing 3-5 layers of shirts from tank tops, t-shirts, even two long sleeves and by day 7 I was wearing this plus my two light jackets.

We didn’t need most all of the first aid, but we did see people get sick and on our way I up I was thankful for the advil and at one point my tums. It was good to be overly prepared.