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.
Trekking poles, rented in Thamel
Aluminium, adjustable, whatever the shop has
Some people find poles transform a descent and others find them an irritation to be carried; a dollar a day answers that question before you spend a hundred on your own.
Rental shops in Kathmandu and Pokhara carry this — about USD 1 per day per pair. We take nothing from that, and we would still tell you to rent it.
Do not buy this if: Anyone with a knee problem they already know about. Buy your own and set them properly.
Everything else we recommend in trekking poles, including the ones we think suit a different trekker.
Best overallBlack Diamond Pursuit Adjustable Trekking Poles
Aluminium bends where carbon shatters, and a bent pole still walks you down; you carry about 100 g more per pair than carbon for that insurance, and cork grips beat foam once your hands sweat.
Skip it ifGram-counters. Take carbon and accept that a fall on rock can end the pole.
LightestBlack Diamond Distance Carbon Z
So light and packable you actually carry them on the days you were not sure you needed them — they are fixed-length, so you must buy the right size, and carbon fails suddenly rather than gradually.
Skip it ifHeavy trekkers or anyone hard on kit. Snapping a pole above Thorong Phedi is a bad day.
