Trek Guide
Cold and thin air do not break trekking gear, they stop it working. What fails above 4,000m, at what altitude, and the four items to rent instead of…
By Prakash Tamang · Sep 5, 2026
Eight seasons carrying other people's bags taught me one thing about gear, and it is not the thing the shops tell you. Kit almost never breaks. It quietly stops doing its job, somewhere above 4,000 metres, and the person carrying it assumes they did something…
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Everything in this article is one of four forces. Cold takes your gas pressure and your battery capacity. Thin air makes fuel vaporise badly and stops anything drying. Dryness works on skin, lips and glue. Ultraviolet climbs about 12% for every 1,000m, per…
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If you carry your own stove, this fails before anything else. A canister works because the liquid inside boils into gas. Straight n-butane boils at −0.5°C. Isobutane at about −12°C. Propane at −42°C. Below its boiling point the…
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Lithium-ion loses real capacity in the cold. Published work puts it at roughly 20—30% of rated capacity, with the steep drop below about −10°C. So the bank that reads empty at 6am and half full by lunchtime has not failed. It was never empty. It was…
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Best rechargeable
Petzl Actik Core
The hybrid design is the honest compromise: charge it off your bank most nights, drop in AAAs when the solar has failed for three days — you pay more than either single-format lamp costs.
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The hybrid design is the honest compromise: charge it off your bank most nights, drop in AAAs when the solar has failed for three days — you pay more than either single-format lamp costs.
Not for: A short low-altitude trek. This is a two-format solution to a two-week problem.
Check price on Amazon Read the full reviewIf you buy through that link we earn a commission. It costs you nothing and it does not change what we recommend — the rental and advice-only entries in our gear guide earn us nothing at all.
Here is the unprofitable bit, early, where it belongs. Down works by trapping air in its loft. Damp flattens that loft, and above 4,000m nothing dries — the air is cold, the pressure is low, and the moisture coming off you each night stays in the jacket. By…
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Rent, do not buy
Expedition down jacket (−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…
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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.
Not for: Anyone who trekks or climbs regularly. If this is your third Himalayan trip, buy your own.
Rental shops in Kathmandu and Pokhara carry this — about USD 1-2 per day in Thamel or Lakeside. We take nothing from that.
Read the full reviewBuy this even if you rent
Sea to Summit Reactor Thermolite Liner
The one sleep item everyone should own: it solves the rented-bag hygiene question and turns a borderline bag into a warm one — the warmth claim is optimistic, so treat 8 °C as nearer 5 °C…
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The one sleep item everyone should own: it solves the rented-bag hygiene question and turns a borderline bag into a warm one — the warmth claim is optimistic, so treat 8 °C as nearer 5 °C in practice.
Not for: Nobody who is renting a bag. This is the item that makes renting work.
Check price on Amazon Read the full reviewIf you buy through that link we earn a commission. It costs you nothing and it does not change what we recommend — the rental and advice-only entries in our gear guide earn us nothing at all.
Uppers almost never give way. Soles come apart, because the adhesive holding midsole to outsole is what dislikes cold, dryness and being flexed over rock all day. The classic is a good pair that has sat in a cupboard for three years — the glue has aged…
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Socks are the one item worth real money and the one nobody budgets for. Two or three pairs of merino, rinsed in a bucket, beat six pairs of cotton, because merino keeps insulating while damp and cotton does the exact opposite against your skin. It is a…
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Best overall
Darn Tough Hiker Micro Crew Cushion
Take three pairs and you can wash one, dry one and wear one for a fortnight — the price per pair is high enough that people talk themselves into cheaper socks and regret it around day four.
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Take three pairs and you can wash one, dry one and wear one for a fortnight — the price per pair is high enough that people talk themselves into cheaper socks and regret it around day four.
Not for: Nothing, honestly. If the budget is tight, buy two pairs of these rather than five of anything else.
Check price on Amazon Read the full reviewIf you buy through that link we earn a commission. It costs you nothing and it does not change what we recommend — the rental and advice-only entries in our gear guide earn us nothing at all.
Hollow-fibre filters — the type in nearly every squeeze and bottle filter — are destroyed by freezing. The fibres crack, the filter still looks completely fine, and it now passes precisely what you bought it to remove. There is no way to see it and no way to…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
In plain words, because it is the whole article: rent the down jacket, the sleeping bag, the poles and the duffel. Buy the boots, the socks, the headlamp and the sun protection. Leave the stove at home. We run the 14-day Everest Base Camp trek from $1,850pp —…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Never the exotic failures. It is a three-year-old boot letting go on the descent, a power bank that reads empty at dawn, and a bag rated for a cold nobody on that itinerary will ever meet. Three problems, none of them solved by spending more money, and all…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Buy the four things that touch your body and have to fit — boots, socks, headlamp, sun protection. Rent the four bulky things that only matter for a fortnight. Sleep with anything that holds a charge. Assume nothing dries above 4,000m and pack a system that…
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Tell us the trek and the month and we will send back an honest list — including what to leave at home and what to rent when you land. No obligation, and we will say so if a cheaper trek suits you better.
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