Nepal is open for the autumn season, and glad you are coming.
Everest, Annapurna and Thorong La are open. Langtang treks stay paused while the Rasuwa road is rebuilt; Mustang and Manang roads are still being repaired.
Expedition down jacket (−20 °C)
Baffled 800FP down, rated around −20 °C
You need this for perhaps three evenings of an Everest Base Camp trek. Buying one costs several hundred dollars; renting one in Kathmandu costs a few, and the shops keep them in good condition because their business depends on it.
Rental shops in Kathmandu and Pokhara carry this — about USD 1-2 per day in Thamel or Lakeside. We take nothing from that, and we would still tell you to rent it.
Do not buy this if: Anyone who trekks or climbs regularly. If this is your third Himalayan trip, buy your own.
Not every route needs it. These are the ones where our guides would put it on your list.
Everything else we recommend in insulation & down, including the ones we think suit a different trekker.
Best overallRab Cirrus Insulated Jacket
Synthetic keeps insulating when it gets damp, which in a Himalayan spring matters more than the extra warmth-per-gram of down — it is noticeably less warm than a down jacket of the same weight, and that is the deal.
Skip it ifSub-zero evenings at 5,000 m as your only warm layer. This is the mid-layer under a down jacket, not a replacement for one.
Best down jacket to ownRab Microlight Alpine Down Jacket
Warm, well-cut and light enough to carry all day — but understand what you are buying: a rental shop in Thamel will hire you a warmer expedition jacket for a few dollars a day, and we earn nothing telling you that.
Skip it ifOne trek and then a wardrobe. Rent a −20 °C jacket in Kathmandu for a fraction of this and spend the difference on boots.
