Winter gear guide: packing warm and light for a month in the Himalayas

Packing light but packing warm is going to be essential for my next journey, a month in Nepal in January 2010. Here are a few things I am hoping to take with me. Dell Mini10V Hackintosh: I want to be able to jot my thoughts down or look for a wi-fi connection in Kathmandu. As difficult as it was dealing with Dell customer service, I am happy to be taking my Mini10V with me so I don't have to lug my MacBook with all its data around. By the way, the Hackintosh is working great — I was having problems with the trackpad and the sleep function, but after some Googling and some Blam magic, it works wonderfully. A portable water filter: Exposure to unclean water is the number one cause of traveler's diarrhea. There are a lot of ways to purify water, but one of the most handy, reusable ones that I've found is the pocket-sized Steripen's JourneyLCD handheld water purifier. It decontaminates a liter of water in about a minute and a half using ultraviolet light, which alters the structure of viral and bacterial DNA and stops them from reproducing. A warm puffy jacket for rain, city, and snow: Sierra Designs Flex Down jacket is big and puffy with 750-weight goose down — the kind they use in good winter sleeping bags — but looks decent enough to wear out on a night on the town. It also has pockets within pockets, so you can stick your hands in your pockets and not lose your keys. It's a small detail that I know I will be grateful for when I'm on the road. Mountain Hardwear's Napali backpack: I reviewed this pack for Boing Boing Gadgets a while ago, and absolutely love it. At 3lb 7oz, it's lightweight, has a mesh backpanel to prevent sweatiness, and has lots of extra pockets for compartmentalizing gear. My favorite part of the design is the dry sack-style roll top, which prevents water and dust from entering the bag, but also makes the whole thing a lot more compact to carry when there's less inside. A super compact midlayer: I get cold really easily, but I also hate carrying a lot of bulk. The Patagonia Nano Puff jacket weighs just nine ounces but is remarkably warm — I have one that I wear over everything in San Francisco, and it's almost too hot. It stuffs itself into its own chest pocket and has a carabiner clip so you can hook it onto your luggage. Waterproof hiking shoes: The North Face's Hedgehog GTX XCR uses Boa lacing and Vibram rubbersoles, two of my favorite technologies for high performance athletic shoes (climbing!). Keen has this awesome hiking boot called Summit County that has an outsole that hardens under cold weather and added insulation at the toes to prevent frostbite. Therm-a-rest's Ventra Down comforter: Parf of Therm-A-Rest's sleep system, the 650-fill down Ventra Down comforter has the warmth equivalent of a 40-degree sleeping bag without the mummified feeling. It weighs about 2lbs and packs tightly into a little stuff sack — the system also comes with a self-inflating mattress pad and a fitted sheet so you can essentially pull out a bed where everyone else might be strapped into a sleeping bag. Warm but lightweight base layers: My current favorite is Spyder's new X-static series, which is made of multi-layered textiles that are bonded with silver — a highly conductive metal that transfers heat evenly across the body. Also, it makes you look like Spiderman.

• [Anonymous]

  If you are going on treks, forget the netbook.

  As for the Steripen, it too was a bit overkill. In my two months there, and on 3 different treks, I found it to be a pain to use. If you are going on the more popular treks like Annapurna, Khumbu, or Langtang, the New Zealand government has sponsored osmosis water distribution locations in most towns along the trek routes. You pay about a dollar for a liter of water. It’s a great way to help their economy and to promote more tourists.

  Granted, I was using an older Steripen that took 4 AA batteries, but I found that it just plain doesn’t work. Iodine drops are so much easier, and with the love affair with Tang drink mixes they seem to have, you can add a flavored powder to cover up the iodine taste.

  I also still managed to get sick 3 different times, most likely from the food. My practice has been to tough it out the first time and get your immune system strong.

  The rest of your recommendations seem fine if you plan to hire a porter, otherwise downsizing is never a bad idea. You can get almost anything you need in Kathmandu(internet cafe’s included)

• [Anonymous]

  In terms of base layers, nothing is better than Merino wool. Lightweight, durable and _warm_.

  In response to #6, the reason it doesn’t smell is because it’s naturally anti-bacterial (due to the structure of the fibre and weave). I wear baselayers made by 2 british companies for trekking, cycling (offroad/onroad) and snowboarding :

  http://www.howies.co.uk
  http://www.finisterreuk.com/

  Howies use NZ merino stock and produce as ethically as one can when the sheep stock are on the other side of the world to their main market.

  Finisterre use NZ merino stock but are culturing a herd of Merino sheep in Scotland!

• [cinemajay]

  What’s the total showcase retail value Bob?

• [Anonymous]

  Best advice I got was to be sure to have the warmest jacket you can. That allows you to get outside more, just to admire the surroundings. Mornings and evenings can get pretty cold but very beautiful. (Warm sleeping bag is good too!)

  A cheaper way to go is to rent gear in Kathmandu. (What I did back-in-the-day, 1980′s)

  That said, I met one guy doing the Annapurna Circuit with only a wool blanket. Earlier in the season. But it was the Yanks that stood out with all their high tech gear. AKA “yuppies on parade”

  But, oh to spend some time in Nepal again…

• [ShortBus]

  You might want to look into something called “ECWCS” which is the US Army’s Extreme Cold Weather Clothing System. It’s a laying system that’s used by Army Rangers romping through the mountains in Afghanistan this time of year.

  The official issue stuff is generally restricted to military sales only, but there’s a few companies out there that make versions available to the public that are very close to milspec.

• [Ito Kagehisa]

  I long ago switched over to silk and wool rather than synthetics for outdoor clothing. The only thing that has ever tempted me to switch back was the invention of goretex semi-breathable fabric. Silk is just the best base layer there is, and wool is the best top layer – it stoutly resists fire, water, ice, and abrasion. You can put whatever you want in between.

  Good luck on the Roof of the World! I am envious!

• [emilydickinsonridesabmx]

  Not to be crass…but bring baby wipes. Trust me, you will be very thankful. I’m not squeamish by any stretch of the imagination, but the bathroom situation anywhere outside of Kathmandhu is roughneck.

• [gstott]

  also, the better shape you are in now, the more enjoyable the trip will be.
  you can also get a scrip for diamox for altitude. there are climbing shops throughout Kathmandu if you forget anything, even along the trail.

  mentally and physically prepare for trailside outhouses!

• [monkey]

  diamox is a must if you’re not use to the altitude. baby-wipes/hand wipes/ in small packets are lifesavers. they can be used for everything from tidying your hands to bathing (warm under arm pits to take the chill off if need be). if you are the slighted but fussy about toilet paper (fussy = you like to use it) than bring a sufficient supply. (i vacuum packed mine before heading to tibet to save on space)

  enjoy! send me a postcard!

• [ma’iitsoh]

  For water treatment check out Aquamira

  http://aquamira.com/consumer/aquamira-water-treatment-drops/product-description

  I am an outdoor professional and have used Aquamira through out the world with great results. Its better then iodine and cheep.

  Have a safe trip.

• [Ernunnos]

  Brynje makes the best base layers ever.

  • [Anonymous]

    Brynje is poly. Poly is not a good use of petroleum fractions and is unsustainable. There are apparently toxic qualities to poly that are just being quantified now after 50 years of use. Poly gets utter nasty stinky with use so Brynje uses odour prevention chemicals which may well be worse than the stink, and they don’t entirely work anyway.

    May as well wrap yourself in plutonium, that’ll keep you warm too.

    • [Ernunnos]

      For the cranks out there, Brynje still makes their original cotton garments. Absorbs more moisture, but since net is mostly air, it won’t absorb nearly as much as a cotton t-shirt, dries more quickly, and if you use a good wicking mid-layer (say, wool), won’t absorb all that much in the first place.

• [Anonymous]

  The steripen will be useful, but I recommend using it sparingly. Rely on boilded water (when you have the time) and iodine pills. The pen can go through a pair of batteries in no time and the temperature will shorten their life even more.

• [Mr. Protocol]

  Double what the guy said about hard drives. The heads are held above the surface of the platter by a cushion of air. If there’s way less air, there’s way more likelihood of a head crash. At base camp below Everest, hard drives are extremely likely to fail. Admittedly you’re probably not going that high, but Kathmandu is high enough to see an uncomfortably high chance of a head crash in the one hard drive you have with you. SSD FTW!

• [theclimbergirl]

  Got back from a month’s trek in Nepal in early November, and most of my feedback on this post has already been said (especially — beware wet down, and plan to be very cold). I slept in a -20 synthetic sleeping bag up to about 17,000 feet; at 17,000 feet and up, it was a -40 down bag. I was not, at any time, TOO warm.

  I used my steripen liberally, even on boiled and treated water. As folks in my party got sick, they also used my steripen liberally. Reliability went way down above about 15,000 feet, but I was able to use it off and on when I kept batteries warm and when I kept the unit warm.

  I’d also second the “bring sandals” input. After day after day in your trekking boots, your feet crave anything but trekking boots (and specifically, air). I wore my sandals quite a bit.

  Enjoy your trip… reading this post and all the comments made me homesick for Nepal…

• [Anonymous]

  Remember, down won’t keep you warm if it is wet. Nothing sucks more than being wet & cold.

• [paulatz]

  From a reportage on high-mountain blogging, linked a long time ago here on boingboing, I’ve learned (although, never tried) that hard-disks use a cushion of hair to keep the head at the right distance from the disk.

  Up in the Himalayas the air pressure may be too low to sustain the head causing the disk to damage and fail. Take the SSD model of the Dell Mini, if you want to be sure.

  And don’t forget a bottle of brandy, it warms you up when you’re back in your shelter and it helps to consolidate new friendships.

• [hadlock]

  I’m about to leave for a 5 week trip through central and south america. I looked real hard at a sterilite pen, but in the end went with a good old fashioned ceramic filter by MSR. I’ve used them before on 12 day backpacking hikes and know they work beautifully. Plus it screws right on to my nalgene bottles and doesn’t require batteries (older sterilites use AAs but the on-sale sterilite at REI needed a hard-to-find CRxxx lithium battery — good luck finding that in northern Panama or 8 hours from Manaus, Brazil!

  As for lightweight base layers, I use Patagonia’s Capilene exclusively. I have all my original base layers from a 3 day iglooing trip back in 1996 on Mt Ranier, and will be taking those along with me on my most recent trip. The stuff does. not. wear. out. I bought an extra two shirts for my trip, but I fully expect to get 10 years out of the stuff. I don’t think you could ever get me to take a down-anything on a trip longer than overnight. Once it’s wet–it’s wet. And you’re wet and cold until you can find a dryer for that thing.

• [Screnonyma]

  http://www.nunatakusa.com/

  Sleep “systems” and outerwear.

  Pricey, but high quality and they customize to fit. I’ve had my Arc Alpinist for about 8 years now and I still love it.

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  ♥ Nepal ranges from tropical forest to Mount Everest. Without knowing exactly where you’re going, it’s like asking how you should pack to go to the Western Hemisphere.
  ♥ Even in the Khumbu Himal, you stay pretty warm when you’re hiking 30 miles a day on vertical terrain.
  ♥ Please tell me that you’re hiring locals to carry your stuff. Not doing so is like bringing your own food into a restaurant so that you don’t bother the waiters.
  ♥ You need a small metal bottle with a screw top. You boil water at night, take the bottle to bed to keep you warm, and then drink the bottled water the next day.
  ♥ Yak tastes like wet dog fur. Bring some powdered soup packets.

• [Anonymous]

  Damn, I feel like an idiot, I did two months there including a 28 ish day day combined Annapurna Circuit and Sanctuary trek in early December with only a stick, crappy leather boots, an old backpack, one pair of canvas pants and some chinos, a 8 dollar fleece and a two dollar hat I bought in Kathmandu, and admittedly a 4 year old 150 dollar northface jacket. The stuff was fine even at 5400m, on the laptop I did have an MP3 player is I remember correctly, but this was 5 years ago.

• [Anonymous]

  In KTM right now – a friend forwarded your post. Huzzah for Nepal! As someone else pointed out above, though, you’re really only going to need the warm layers at night (when it is legitimately cold, since no one has central heating), when you’re inside (restaurants, even during the day), or if you’re trekking a full circuit with mountain passes. KTM is in the 50s/60s mid-day in December, Pokhara the same. Even at 16,000 feet, above Muktinath (Annapurna circuit), it’s warm in the light of day. Layers that breathe (wool and silk) and button/zip from mid-layer up will keep you from roasting. A long, warm scarf will reveal its million uses here.

  If you’ve got sandals that are comfy with socks, bring these for the city – unless they are super-comfortable, hiking boots get old, quick. Wi-fi has turned up at most of the restaurants around the stupa (in Boudhanath, where I’m living), and my guess is that it’s much the same in Thamel. Other recommendations:

  A good thermos – .5//75 L. Hot mint tea, milk tea, ginger and lemon… hell, plain hot water. Best way to get through the day.

  Do yoga? Bring a mat. Best way to beat travel ick, easy to tie to the outside of a pack.

  Know a couple of basic phrases in Nepali. Everyone here speaks English, but when you can say more than just Namaste (Namaskar for older folks/v. important persons) and Danyabad, people are really just delighted.

  Tapai-ko nam ke ho? (What is your name? Lit. Your name is what?)
  Mero nam Lisa ho. (My name is Lisa.)

  Sanchai cha? (Are you well? Typical response… Sanchai cha. ^_^)

  Tik cha? (ok?)
  Ramro cha. (It’s good.)
  Ramro chai na. (It’s not good)

  the all-important Mi-to cha! (It’s delicious!)

  Learning the numbers 1 to 10 is lots of fun with kids. Like anywhere else, they love to teach adults. Starting on your fingers with ech, dui, tin…

  Buy bananas (20 Rs for 6) and packets of biscuits if you want to have something on hand for street kids – there are lots of great charities to give to if you want to make donations in cash, e.g.
  http://www.carenepal.org/
  http://www.rokpa.org/

  …and with all respect to the poster who mentioned the KTM Guest House – get outside of Thamel. It’s noisy, crowded, and extremely overpriced. I’m partial to Boudha because it’s where I stay, but it’s got a lot of advantages – great day hikes, restaurants both tourist-oriented and local-oriented, lots of bodegas and a decent grocery shop, guest houses where 15.00-a-night gets you a pretty room with a view (and sometimes you can get the same for 4.00!)… mes two cents.

  Have a wonderful trip!

  Christine

• [dougrogers]

  Never needed our water filter. Every tea house – on the major routes, Annapurna, Everest Base camp – had water filters.

• [ADavies]

  flowerchild – Up vote for Icebreaker. Best long underwear ever anywhere.

  shortbus – I used to wear an ECWCS jacket. Very waterproof, extremely rugged. Not very light though.

• [willhopkins]

  I echo the comments about a backup water filter. Iodine tastes nasty, but it’s better than running out two days from civilization (happened to me due to poor trip planning by my hike leader and poor oversight by the rest of us). Even if the guest houses are well-stocked, having the ability to make your own can save your life.

• [Anonymous]

  Where are you trekking too? It gets really cold in Kagbeni and Mukhtinath – between -5 and -10 in January at night. You’ll almost certainly need a mummy rated to minus 10. The nights get very cold! Days are warm and sunny though.

  Also, I’d take some iodine or water purification tablets as a backup incase the Steripen breaks.

  Another tip: A few hundred dollars in small denomination US bills in case you’re 6 days walk from the nearest ATM machine and have run out of cash.. this happened to my friends in Nepal two weeks ago. They ended trekking 2 days without food before finding a place they could change money.

• [Anonymous]

  If you need to take Dell, for what reason are you going to Nepal? Have a ball, btw.

• [ADavies]

  Don’t forget your hat, gloves and socks!

  Hat – My favorite ever is a thinsulate/wool combination beanie.

  Socks – The synthetic stuff is good. But I also like silk liners with thick rag wool. They make some of the best wool socks in the world in Nepal – so you might want to buy extra pairs there.

  Gloves – Or better yet, Polar tech mitten gloves. Why choose from between mittens and gloves when you can have both at the same time! (Tip – Make sure you can get your thumb out).

  You’ll also probably want some liner gloves (silk or some thin synthetic).

  Anyway, sounds like a fantastic trip. Lucky lucky you.

• [Anonymous]

  get a pack towel…it’s amazing

• [monkey]

  i must respectfully disagree with antinious, fresh and dried yak is very tasty; kind of like beef or buffalo. yak jerky is handy to have with on a trek. there is, however, some sort commercially made mysterious dried cubes-o-yak that does, in fact, taste like wet dog fur. well, spiced wet dog fur. come to think of it, it kind of has the texture of wet dog fur…

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    I assure you that our quarter-yak was quite fresh when we bought it at Namche Bazaar and carried it with us for the next two weeks.

• [remmelt]

  Read here: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/01/time-in-nature-makes.html

  and dump the laptop. A month long in arguably the most beautiful place on earth, spent lugging a mostly useless laptop around? Nerd cred counts in NYC, not halfway up the K2.

  That said, very jealous.

• [MilesSkorpen]

  I was trekking in Nepal this past October (Annapurna Circuit), and I’d recommend bringing a bunch more cold weather gear if you are planning to go to higher altitudes. All the guest houses have stoves … but they only turn them on at really low temperatures or fairly late into the evening. They also have no sense of insulation up in the mountains—I was at one guest house that was missing a window in the dining hall, making the entire room impossible to heat.

  If you are going to be on snow (likely, in Jan), consider bringing trekking poles.

  And get a pack cover! I went in the driest season of the year … and got caught in three days of torrential rain which almost ruined all of my electronics.

  Consider bringing an ebook reader. Light, pretty durable, and gives something to do in the long evenings.

• [flowerchild]

  I highly recommend Icebreaker merino wool base layers. Lightweight warm and comfortable – used by many polar cap venturers because you can wear them a very long time between washes without getting stinky (don’t know why but it’s true).
  Enjoy your trip.

• [Saxtor]

  You should take note that nanosilver-impregnated base-layer clothing has come under fire for causing problems to both human health, and the health of outdoor environments.
  http://www.foe.org/nano-silver-extreme-germ-killer-presents-growing-threat-public-health

• [trieste]

  Make sure your Hackintosh uses SSD as hard drives will not work above certain altitudes.

  • [scotfrank]

    Generally, hard drives can become prone to problems over 3000m, which if you are going hiking then you’ll easily hit this in Nepal. But why would you be taking a netbook with you there?

    I’ve lost two laptop hard drives at high altitudes above 4,000m but my SSD based version has not failed yet (knock on wood!)

• [Anonymous]

  I took two Diamox and within a week had the legendarily painful experience of kidney stones.
  It is an admitted side effect. The urologists denied that it would happen from such a small amount, but it happened in that order,and subsequently my glaucoma surgeon, a state of the art guy, agreed that it was indeed what happened.

• [Anonymous]

  I would really consider a gore-tex waterproof shell for your layering system. If you have the coin, arcteryx has quite a few top of the line options. The SV models are for severe weather, probably what you’ll be facing there in nepal. http://www.arcteryx.com

• [bigcrankyrabbit]

  The flex down jacket – is it waterproof? I don’t see any mention of that on the product page. Nice and warm until it rains, and then you have a heavy, cold, wet jacket.

• [IamInnocent]

  I must have some genes of a critic but since outdoors are my passion…

  There are better netbooks if one isn’t tied by the Apple. I favor Linux anyway.

  The steripen is genius yet… you need to carry batteries, disposable ones only. Also it works only in clear water so you may need a pre-filter anyway; used by itself it leaves no after taste which is not that great for the times when the water already tastes bad.

  Good backpack choice. There are others obviously but this one is really good.

  The compact layer seems impressive inasmuch as it is warm enough. I’ll give it a try. I usually wear lamb wool at camp since it is ultra comfy and so soft. But it is so bulky that you’d wish that you could give it back to the lamb when you don’t need it. Otherwise there are solutions made of technical fabrics which use combinations of thicknesses in different panels for optimum ‘breathability’ and other niceties like hoods, zippers, thumb loops. Still too bulky though.

  +1 for the Vibram: the boa can be trouble in snow and ice. I prefer low-tech laces.

  Down works only if dry. For sleeping, even your own sweat will diminish its effectiveness greatly and drying it out on an expedition… better technical solutions are numerous.

  I am sold to Merino wool as a base layer and cycling jerseys even, although it may make one end up looking like Spiderman auntie.

• [Lester]

  So what’s the budget like on this trip? You’ve got some pretty high-end clothing here.

  And yeah, I’m jealous.

• [Anonymous]

  - Skip the synthetic base layers, they still have a lot of catching up to do to match merino wool. On my last trip I also tried merino wool hiking socks, and even after several days they were nicer than fresh pair of synthetic hiking socks.

  - You might also consider getting pants. Long underwear for the base, warm and light for the mid, and durable and breathing for the outer layer. Plus, a waterproof outer outer layer when needed.

  - No waterproof gear? You really do want some lightweight waterproof (goretex paclite?) shell jacket AND pants. Lightweight because you’ll not be wearing them when it’s nice and sunny

  - Laptops are no good if you don’t recharge it every now and then. For jotting your thoughts down, use pen and a diary, and for internet, use a wifi-enabled smartphone.

  - A 40 degree sleeping bag usually means you’ll survive at 40 degrees until rescued. You might want to consider something warmer.

  - Repair kits for both normal and waterproof gear.

  - A windproof wool cap and a pair of waterproof gloves.

  - A good & long book.

• [absolutetrust]

  After you arrive and crash at the Kathmandu Guest House (I would!), go out and find a drug store and buy a bunch of packets of Jeevan Jal. It’s a dry electrolyte powder, sort of like Gatorade. If you happen (likely) to get some digestive trouble from the local bugs, it’ll be a lifesaver when you can’t keep any food down. Even when my body was saying No to water, it always said YES to Jeevan Jal.

  From someone who spent six months in Nepal, was careful with his drinking water, yet was sick 3/4 of the time.