Essential items on your Everest Base Camp Trek

A blister on your heel, chapped lips, or a sunburn from a high-altitude mountain day.

Altitude sickness.

These are the main concerns when embarking a trek to the base of the world’s highest mountain. This article will prepare you for those and other unforeseen issues.

First Aid kit

If carrying first aid for yourself, a small standard kit will suffice. While you may never open it, especially if you better prepare for some of the more common ailments, it is still a must-have. You are more likely to need it for someone who came on the trek less prepared.

Foot sores / blisters

The most common problem and one to come over prepared for. The typical moleskin or bandaid in a first-aid kit is not enough!

I recommend a roll of medical tape. I’ve hiked with a strip of this tape on my arch for 5 days and still had to peel it off, whereas moleskin wouldn’t have made it a few hours.

Chapped lips

If you don’t care for your lips on this high-altitude trek with variable weather, you will likely regret it as you peel the dead skin away in your lodge on the 5^th day.

A simple tube of $1 Chapstick is plenty. This is an item I carry in my front backpack pouch and apply every time I think about it. It is not a once a day application! Every hour is not too much, you will be thankful the first time you see someone with red, splotchy lips.

Sunburn

The back of the neck or the nose. Don’t let these parts of your body go without protection. This is another item I keep close, either attached to the side of my backpack or in a pocket I can easily reach. It doesn’t take much and unlike Chapstick, a once a day application is usually enough.

Headaches, stomach ailments

Ibuprofen for joint pain, Acetaminophen for headaches, and don’t forget the Imodium for that bit of unsterilized water.  I also took Prilosec OTC everyday as a precaution against that bad bit of food that I might get from a lodge, though I’m not sure if I needed it.

Another item that may be overlooked are a good set of glasses. In high-altitude, especially in snow fields, your eyes can be damaged without proper protection. Ever hear of snow-blindness? Common among mountaineers and a threat to trekkers. Cheap knockoffs will suffice but a good pair of mountain glasses is recommended.

Altitude Sickness

For most trekkers, this will be the most unfamiliar ailment they may experience on a trek to Everest Base Camp. From personal experience, both myself, and others I trekked with, I will say: the threat is overhyped.

You need to be educated about the proper scheduling when journeying into the mountains, but otherwise, medicines have little advantage. Diamox can be picked up in Katmandu or gotten with a prescription in most Western countries. If you take it, you should start before you begin your trek. Keep in mind, it is a diuretic, so make sure to drink extra water. And by the way, drinking extra water is a must anyway. That headache you get after a long day… probably because you didn’t drink enough water.

Key to avoiding altitude sickness: After ascending past 9,000 feet (2800 meters), don’t sleep more than 1,000 feet higher than you slept the night before. If possible, hike higher than you will sleep that night, this will encourage your body to produce more red blood cells. 1,000 feet is the minimum and will vary per person. Ascending more than 2,000 feet per day is dangerous.