Readers of our blog should note that I’ve made a few changes to my last what-to-drink-on-the-trek post, dated August 23rd.

Regulations concerning the use of iodine are changing from the 1st October this year from which time you will no longer be able to buy iodine tablets for water purification. Chlorine-based products will be available instead. Please read about more about it in the relevant Everest Experts section.

Hope that’s helpful,
Cheers,

Kirsty

Hi all,

There was an interesting question recently asked by Jez in the comments to Rosanna’s “kit list for the everest base camp trek” post. I thought I would reply to it thoroughly and post the answer for all to see. Jez asked about how many iodine tablets he would need for the Everest Base Camp Trek, and how much water he can expect to get through.

If you are trekking with a responsible local crew and leader you may well find that you don’t need to treat your drinking water as they should ensure that all water you drink in the tea houses is boiled for a sufficient length of time.  However, it is a good idea to take additional precautions to be to be absolutely certain of avoiding waterborne bacteria and viruses.  It is also a useful to have a supply of purification tablets handy for the occasions where you want to top up your water bottle from an untreated source.

Generally, your water bottle/s will be filled each night with boiled water and this will cool overnight and become your main source of drinking water for the next day.  It is up to you whether you carry one large bottle or two smaller ones or even use a water pouch instead.  Metal water bottles do have the added advantage of doubling up as hot water bottles overnight which can be very welcome!  How many tablets you need to take with you will therefore primarily depend on the size of your bottle/s, the length of the Everest trekking route and the make of tablets or drops you are using (read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully). Please note that from 1st of October iodine-based tablets and drops will no longer be available and you should look to use chlorine dioxide products instead. 

It is very important to remain hydrated whilst on an Everest trek so don’t ration your water intake and take full advantage of the seemingly endless flasks of black tea (or instant coffee) that are available at every tea  house stop along the route.  You are likely to drink as much tea as you do water.

Other general advice we give regarding food and drink is:

• Do not drink tap water or use it to brush your teeth.
• If there are jugs of water in your hotel room, we advise you to purify this.
• Avoid ice cubes, milk and ice cream.
• If possible, wipe your plate and cutlery with a paper napkin.
• Carry a small bottle of anti bacterial hand gel.
• Do not buy cold food from street vendors - only eat in town if it is cooked in front of you.
• Eat only fruit that can be peeled.

Hope this is helpful, Jez - have a great trek in October.

Kirsty

Whilst we are waiting for Rosanna’s story to resume, it’s a good time to tap into the resource of the Everest Experts.
I’m gonna post the second installment of the advice Rosanna received from Kirsty at Mountain Kingdoms. Kirsty is an expert on the Everest Base Camp Trek, so it meant alot to Rosanna to speak to her as part of her preparations.

Your general health when trekking is your responsibility so I think it’s important that you help yourself by physically preparing for your Everest Base Camp trek.

Make sure you are taking regular exercise before you leave, which should include both some general fitness and plenty of walking. Not only will the additional muscle strength help reduce your levels of fatigue but you will also enjoy your trek more.

I would also strongly advise using trekking poles to help reduce the impact on your knee joints – you should try them out before your trek to make sure you are comfortable using them.

If you have any pre-existing medical conditions visit your doctor before you leave and make sure you carry any medications you need with you, including antibiotics. It is also a good idea to carry some painkillers – the ones you would normally use at home – as well as some cough sweets and rehydration sachets. You should make sure your trek leader is aware of any conditions you have and medicines you are taking before you set out on your trek.

As I mentioned the other day, I’ve been getting advice about my trip from an expert in trekking holidays in the Everest region. The advice I’ve received from Kirsty is so good, I’ve had a chat with her and asked her permission to share some of it on the blog for the benefit of others who are interested in the Everest Base Camp Trek.

Here is the first part of an email she sent me:

 - - - - - -

Dear Rosanna,

I’d like to offer some information and reassurances to put your mind at ease.

Firstly, although most people trekking at high altitudes will suffer some mild symptoms of altitude sickness such as headaches, nausea, loss of appetite and disturbed sleep, relatively few people actually develop anything more serious.

Acclimatisation is the key to preventing symptoms developing and, at Mountain Kingdoms, the trekking company I work for, we ensure that our trekking itineraries have plenty of time built into them for acclimatising to higher altitudes. These include rest days and ample time for steady, gradual ascent.

Like other companies, our treks are led by highly experienced local guides who are all trained in identifying and managing the symptoms of altitude-related illness. They will ensure that trekkers in their care walk very slowly, keep hydrated and advise on medication and the correct course of action to help alleviate symptoms before they develop into anything more serious.

It is essential that you let your trek leader know if you are feeling unwell; hiding or ignoring your symptoms is potentially very dangerous. I am delighted to say that as a result of our carefully designed itineraries and expert trek leaders, Mountain Kingdoms have experienced very few cases of acute altitude sickness in the 21 years we have been running treks in the Everest region.

However, if symptoms do persist or get worse, then your guide would make sure you descend quickly to an altitude where you will very soon start to feel better. In the worse case scenario, where emergency evacuation is required, a helicopter can be called by radio communications.

You should follow advice from your guide about what to eat, stay hydrated, avoid alcohol and use a high factor sunscreen. Prevention is definitely the key to avoiding illness at altitude so, if you follow a common-sense approach both before you depart and during your trek, you should find that you stay fit and healthy and enjoy your Everest Base Camp trek to the maximum.

Best Regards,
Kirsty

I spoke to Kirsty at Mountain Kingdoms on Thursday. She cleared up a few worries I had about going out to Nepal. She gave me tonnes of great advice, so I’ll only post the highlights right now:

Altitude Sickness

We talked a bit about altitude sickness. She explained about the necessary built-in rest days set in the Everest Base Camp Trek itinerary so that our bodies can acclimatise to the high altitude and decreased oxygen in the air. In these rest days we will either rest in the place we’ve stopped in, or we’ll have the opportunity to do a small walk up the mountain nearby and then come down to let our bodies adapt to the high altitude.

Altitude sickness usually brings on symptoms such as - headaches, loss of appetite, nausea and restless sleep and most people will get it to some degree. To prevent it as much as possible, I have to take full advantage of the rest days and drink lots of water and the black tea which all the Sherpas drink. Normal painkillers such as paracetamol and aspirin are fine to take. It’s also important that I don’t hide it if I’m feeling unwell.

 

The Weather in Nepal

We also discussed the weather. We’ll be going to Nepal just before the monsoon period and so Kirsty told me not to expect clear blue skies every day; sometimes it maybe grey and drizzly. Generally, in the day the temperature will be very warm - in the mid-late 20s however, as soon as the sun goes down the temperature drops rapidly and it becomes very chilly. The best thing to prepare for the weather and temperature changes is to layer up and always have your waterproofs handy!

As we get higher the air gets thinner so the sun gets stronger therefore it’s important to have good sunglasses – I’ve got some ones I use for skiing which are fine, it’s also essential to carry a very high factor sun cream and lip protection.

Kit for the Base Camp Trek

We also discussed kit – apparently what I have is very good and appropriate for the trek, but I need to get some T-shirts and a sun hat as I’ve not really prepared for any warm weather. I should also get a duvet/down jacket for the days when we’re closer to base camp, but they’re pretty expensive in England and you can buy them much cheaper in Kathmandu so I‘ll have a look once we’re out there.

Snacks!

Kirsty said that I should have a snack supply before setting off on the trek, although food supplies are sold in the tea houses we’ll be stopping in. The sort of snacks to bring are anything with a high energy content, that’s not bulky and will keep for the whole time. Nuts, raisings, biscuits, Kendal mint cake, sweets and flapjacks are all good. Chocolate will melt! It’s also good to bring boiled sweets/cough sweets as the air will be very dry and it’s common to get a sore throat.

I also found out that there will be electricity most of the way up the mountain which I fantastic and means that my camera won’t run out of battery.

I went out last night with some friends, but I had to leave early because I felt so ill. I was really dizzy and I found it difficult to focus, my arms were also aching from the jabs and countless people bumping into them throughout the evening.

I don’t know whether it was the cocktail of injections I’d had which made me feel like this, or perhaps I had heat stroke, but I had to leave. Feeling loads better today though!

I’ve just had my appointment with the nurse to have my jabs. I think I mentioned in an earlier post why I got them all together in one go – diphtheria/tetanus/polio, hep A/typhoid and meningitis.  

I have plasters all over my arms, and they’re aching quite a bit. The worst by far is the hep A/typhoid which is making my arm feel very heavy and there’s a constant dull ache.

I’ve just seen Monday’s episode of Everest ER which I downloaded off iPlayer. It’s a good show and it was great to see the BBC’s film of the place where I’ll be trekking.

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ktb46/Everest_ER_Episode_1/)

The programme follows the doctors at the Base Camp on the southern side of Mount Everest, and how they deal with the injuries and illnesses of the climbers tackling the mountain. They deal with climbers with frost bite and fluid on the lungs – even swelling of the brain – all “without the facilities of a modern hospital”.

And this is where I began to worry.

Next they showed a lone volunteer doctor in a small clinic at a village about 4240 metres’ altitude. She was waiting for a helicopter to collect a patient that she was unable to treat. Apparently, she has to deal with “hundreds of trekkers that fall ill on the trek to Everest Base Camp”.That could be me!The narrator (David Tennant – Doctor Who!) went as far as saying “even trekking here can be lethal”.

Lethal!

Perhaps the show was just exaggerating the dangers to make things seem dramatic, but now I can’t stop thinking about what might happen if things go wrong.

Rosanna

PostScript: 

Hi folks,

Just a note to say that since I wrote this I’ve had some reassuring advice from Kirsty at Mountain Kingdoms, and I’ve posted it for everyone to see:

http://www.mountainkingdoms.co.uk/blog/experts-corner-kirsty-on-altitude-sickness-part-1/

Check out what she has to say. It made me feel better.

R

I’ve started to research about Nepal and Everest. Dave gave me two books to read to start me off - Coronation Everest by Jan Morris, and Everest: A Trekker’s Guide, by Kev Reynolds.

Coronation Everest is a novel by a journalist for The Times who went on the first ever successful expedition to the summit of Mount Everest. Morris describes in detail the journey up the mountain. Recounting details such as where they stayed, what they ate and drank, the effects of the altitude, and the people they met including the company of the porters and Sherpas. It was interesting to read the journey told by someone who was not an experienced climber – like myself – and how he found the trek/coped with altitude and weather conditions etc.

Everest: A Trekker’s Guide is an informative guidebook explaining facts about the mountain, the routes and trails, the culture of the Nepalese and the people living on the mountain. How to go about preparing for the journey and what to expect on your travels are also explored and there are photos and maps of the mountain. The photos are particularly useful just to see what sort of clothing the trekkers are wearing.

It’s a really useful book to read and so easy to dip in and out of. I learnt things such as: we’re travelling up the mountain just before the monsoon season and the mountain will be infested with leeches! I am not looking forward to that at all! It was also useful to read that it’s important to get a dental check up before going out, as even minor tooth problems/loose fillings/decay will be badly affected by high altitude.

I’ve booked appointments for my jabs.

I’m getting the Hep A/ Typhoid, Diphtheria/ Tetanus/ Polio, and Meningitis at the beginning of June. I’ve decided against the rabies jabs as apparently we’ll have very good medical insurance so in the unlikely event that I get bitten by a rabid animal, I can get quick medical attention. Now I just need to sort out the malaria tablets.

My foot feels a little better now, but you should notice that the nerve barometer is set to panic.

 

I’m going to go on a jog this evening and see how it goes.

I’ve just come back from seeing the travel nurse. It seems that I’m going to have to get a fair few injections before heading off to the Himalayas. The nurse advised me to have a diphtheria/tetanus/polio booster and a meningitis jab, and also one for Hepatitis A/Typhoid. She gave me a map of Nepal and showed me how some of the country is considered to have high risk of Malaria, whilst in other parts there is a low or no risk at all. I need to see whereabouts in the country I’ll be travelling through as even if I’m on a train going through a ‘malaria zone’ I’ll have a high chance of catching it because of the crowded conditions.

She also told me that I should perhaps consider a rabies injection. I was told that the possibilities of me getting bitten by a rabid animal are very small, especially as I’ll be travelling with an organised group trek, but even so, it only takes one bite or scratch to get rabies and if there’s no advanced medical help within 24 hours you will die!! I’m not sure what to do as I’ll have to have 3 separate rabies vaccinations costing £40 each, and it may not even be necessary… I think I’ll have a word with the tour company/charity and see what they advise.

The nurse gave me a selection of leaflets to read with health advice for travellers, so I’ll have to get reading up on those. I haven’t had any of the jabs yet as I was told that especially with the Hep A/Typhoid my arm will get extremely numb and I’ve got a four hour music rehearsal to sit through tonight – I don’t fancy attempting to try to play the flute with a deadened arm/fingers. Apparently I can’t be injected into my bum as it’s not effective enough there!