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Water & Health

What you drink, and what you carry for when it goes wrong.

About the links on this page.Some go to Amazon, and as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases — at no extra cost to you. It does not change what we recommend: every card here also says who the item is not for, and a few things we think you should simply rent in Kathmandu or Pokhara instead, which earns us nothing.

Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter — Bacteria and protozoa out, for the whole trek, for the price of two lodge bottles
Best overall

Bacteria and protozoa out, for the whole trek, for the price of two lodge bottles

Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter

0.1 micron hollow fibre, ~85 g

Effectively unlimited water for the cost of a couple of bottled waters, and it threads straight onto a standard bottle — it does NOT remove viruses, so pair it with chemical drops on trails below villages.

Removes giardia and cryptosporidium, the two that actually ruin treks

No batteries, no waiting, no taste

Lasts years if you backflush it

Viruses pass straight through

Ruined permanently if it freezes with water inside — sleep with it

Flow slows unless you backflush

Not for you if: Anyone treating it as complete protection. Below the last village, add drops or a UV pen.

Check price on Amazon
EVERLIT Ultralight Waterproof First Aid Kit — The starting point you then add toBest base kit

The starting point you then add to

EVERLIT Ultralight Waterproof First Aid Kit

A sensibly stocked kit in a genuinely waterproof shell, which matters more than the contents list — no commercial kit contains what you actually need in Nepal, so treat it as a bag to add to rather than a finished answer.

Skip it ifAnyone expecting a complete solution. Add blister care, rehydration salts, and whatever your doctor prescribes.

Check price on Amazon
Fingertip pulse oximeter — A trend to watch, not a number to trustUseful with caveats

A trend to watch, not a number to trust

Fingertip pulse oximeter

Useful for spotting a trend across several mornings, and actively dangerous if you treat a single reading as a verdict — cold fingers alone can drop a reading by several points, and consumer devices are not calibrated for 5,000 m.

Skip it ifAnyone who would use it to overrule how they feel or what a guide says. Symptoms decide; the number does not.

Check price on Amazon
Biodegradable body wipes — Above 4,000 m, nobody is showeringThe honest necessity

Above 4,000 m, nobody is showering

Biodegradable body wipes

Hot showers above Dingboche cost money, use a lodge’s scarce fuel, and leave you cold for an hour afterwards — a wipe wash is the realistic alternative, and "biodegradable" still means carry them out, not bury them.

Skip it ifAnyone unwilling to pack out used wipes. Then take fewer and use the shower.

Check price on Amazon
Prescription only in most countriesNot ours to sell

The one thing on this page you cannot buy from a link

Acetazolamide (Diamox) — a conversation with your doctor

Acetazolamide is genuinely effective for acclimatisation and it is also a prescription drug with real side effects and real contraindications — sulfa allergy among them. Have that conversation at home, not in a Thamel pharmacy.

Skip it ifAnyone hoping to skip acclimatisation days. No drug replaces walking high and sleeping low.

Prescription medication. Ask your own doctor — we are guides, not clinicians.