Kala Pattar packlist

You might explain your method for trekking there. Some people go on an organized trek led by a Sherpa, and lots of gear is provided along with meals. Some people go without any guide, and they stay in tea houses and buy the occasional meal there. Some people go without any guide, and they camp out in a yak pasture someplace and cook completely on their own. It also kind of depends on which point you are starting from. "Chlorine water treatment" is kind of ambiguous. Did you mean Chlorine Dioxide, or something else? Lots of the rivers up there are polluted, so that is why it is important to know the starting point. You also need to mention an approximate date since the weather changes a lot from season to season. I'm guessing that it is either the pre-monsoon season or else the post-monsoon season. A lot of stuff might need to go into your Doc Bag. Are you going solo or with a group?

–B.G.–

I will trek solo, starting at Lukla, between 13-26 March, without guide or porter. The trail has plentiful teahouses for shelter and meals. I will use those rather than a tent and my own stores. Most of the water I will use is boiled water from the teahouses. For emergencies I'll carry a chlorine treatment–something I fetch in Kathmandu–or iodine tablets.

On the first time I trekked up there, we were descending toward the Dudh Kosi River. We were pretty hot, and we wanted to splash some river water over our faces before we continued. The Sherpa guide told is not to, because it was a sacred river and bad luck would befall us if we dipped our hands into it. We did not want to disrespect the Sherpa, so we continued on our way.

Later on, I figured out what the truth was. That river is downstream from many villages that have no waste treatment at all, and "everything" ends up in the river. It was not bad kharma to dip into the river. It was simply a viral field. Without knowing what water treatment you intend to use, it is hard to say.

You want a sleeping bag good for near freezing temperature (inside the tea house), worst case, and some DDT powder for the lice or bed bugs.

The rhododendren forest ought to be nice at that season.

On one trek, all of the water that we drank had supposedly been boiled by the Sherpa cook staff. But then the majority of the trekkers got sick with Giardia by the end of the trek. The Sherpas might boil the water, but then pour it into an unclean vessel.

–B.G.–

Thanks, Bob. I trekked the Annapurna circuit in 1998 and discovered the same foul water you describe. I was using iodine and vitamin C to clear it up and improve the taste in those days. What's your suggestion for water purification?

My PHD bag is rated for -15 C. I hauled a 5-lb Marmot CWM MemBrain -40 C bag up to Gokyo last February and it was way too hot, so I'm banking on Peter Hutchinson's superior 900 fill-power down and the quarter zip to greatly reduce my load.

Iodine is fairly powerful as water treatment, but the vitamin C may be necessary as a follow-up since the taste is bad. Boiling the water yourself is also fairly effective, but then that requires a good stove and fuel. Chlorine Dioxide, I think, is less powerful, but it has less of a taste problem. If you are paranoid, then do some combination. A filter would have to be awfully good to work here.

I've trekked there twice, and I was super careful about water. Somehow I don't get sick from the water, but too many others have terrible luck.

Don't forget about the bugs.

–B.G.–