How to Prepare for Trekking in Nepal: 7 steps guide

How to Prepare for Trekking in Nepal: 7 steps guide

Trekking can be easy as a pie or it can be hard as diamond. It all depends on your effort. It all depends whether you’ve done your homework or not. If you want to trek to the land of Himalayas – Nepal, you have to trade off all your western privileges and pay off to see most untouched, pristine and jaw-dropping scenery with your sweat.

Are you willing to Man up/Women up to be on the top of Everest Base Camp? Are you willing to trek to Nepal with no extra effort? Pre-preparation is the key.  Here, you will find seven preparations you need before trekking in Nepal.
 
1.    Know the Place You are Going

Knowing the site you are going is the first key when preparing to trek in mountains. Especially in Nepal, land-structure changes within an hour of travel and one time you walk plain flat land and the very next, you have to climb steep 60-degree slant. So, knowing the terrain is the first thing to be aware of. You can contact your tour operator to know about the trekking area. And always look for local tour operator because they are local and they know better.
 
2.    Make Clear Route Plan

Making a clear route detail on your starting point, a resting point, accommodating point, and distance to cover, transportation required, etc is very helpful. Though, it is easier when going with a guide because he’ll give you details on what you need and don’t need. And for solo travelers, these preparations always help. To make more detailed and clear plan by yourself; try asking those who’ve been to the place you are going. You can get professional help but they charge high (and its worth the price) and if you have relative who’ve done that – ask them.

3.    Right Footwear Can Save Your Most Precious Asset For Trekking- Feet

Most beginners don’t care about footwear because they don’t realize that trekking in Nepal means walking a minimum of 4 hours a day, which sometimes stretch up to 8 hours. Long hours of walk means, lots of friction with shoe and choosing wrong sets of shoes can do serious damage to your foot. So, be very careful when choosing trekking shoes & hiking socks to go with it – it protects you from injuries, cold, frost bites and supports your posture. This should be your first priority when coming to clothing. ----------Tip – when shopping for trekking shoe, go at night because your feet have expanded slightly and you get correct size shoes.

4.    Start Easy

What I meant is that; don’t shoot for 5545 meter Everest Base Camp (EBC) Trekking for the first time. Start slow, do some short hikes like Ghorepani Poonhill Trek (max: 3210 meters) or Annapurna Base Camp Trek (4130m), which is also the best trekking destination in Nepal after Everest Base Camp. If you really want to do EBC, then the best advice for beginners is that don’t take a direct flight to Lukla; rather go by land. This gives your body time to acclimatize to high altitude because statistics say that most deaths occurred to those taking a direct flight.

5.    Watch what you eat/drink

Proper diet helps your body to stay active and give your focus on trekking. High altitude also demands you to stay hydrated and for that, you can drink the fresh water of mountain – mineral water in the mountain is expensive but they taste way better than your filtered one at home. You can take jerky, dried fruit, oat bars, nuts, and chocolates, which are all good source of energy and protein. When on trekking, don’t stuff your stomach with too much food; eat periodically to keep your digestive system smooth.

6.    Don’t forget your camera

What is a better way to capture your wonderful moments than a high-quality camera? You can take wonderful memories your home because Nepal looks nothing like your western country or any other.  Some people forget their digital camera and bring their cell phone only, it is ok but why stuck with those low-quality photographs when you can take yourself high-quality ones. So, make sure you bring a camera that everyone notices and makes you proud to look back to all those snaps, once you return back to home.

7.    Exercise

I left the best part for last. While preparing for trekking in Nepal, many people ignore exercising. It is crucial to exercise when trekking in Mountains of Nepal because you have to walk for 4 to 8 hours on a normal day. Your exercise should include you walking in difficult terrain with heavy bags (your backpack should come with adjustable chest and waist straps to position it correctly and extra compression straps on the back to tighten the loads) and focus on leg exercises like leg press, weighted squats, lunges and body weight squats.