Preparation

Three months of preparation is the baseline for most treks. Six months is better. A twelve-month preparation period is ideal for Manaslu Circuit or a full Annapurna Circuit with Thorong La.

3-month baseline (Mardi Himal, Langtang Valley, or a comfortable EBC). Weeks 1–4: two walks per week of 1.5–2 hours on flat or gently hilly terrain. One strength session per week. Weeks 5–8: two walks per week at 2–3 hours on hilly terrain, carrying a 5 kg daypack. One strength session. One cardio session 30–45 minutes. Weeks 9–12: one long walk per week at 4–5 hours on varied terrain with a 5–7 kg daypack, plus strength, cardio, and two shorter walks.

6-month plan for EBC, Annapurna Circuit, or Gokyo Lakes: same structure, extended. The critical addition is practicing multi-day back-to-back walking on weekends two consecutive 4-hour days minimum.

12-month plan for Manaslu Circuit: adds altitude-specific preparation (if you live near any 2,000m+ elevation, train there regularly) and includes one practice multi-day trek in a mountain environment during months 9–10.

If you live at sea level and have never walked on altitude before, the Kathmandu Pre-Trek Altitude Preparation Session is where we introduce you to the altitude-adapted breathing techniques that help you acclimatize faster.

Footwear: broken-in hiking boots with ankle support (the most important single item bring boots you have already walked 50+ km in). Trekking socks (merino wool, 3–4 pairs). Camp shoes or sandals for the lodge in the evening.

Layers (critical at altitude): base layer top and bottom (merino wool or synthetic cotton is dangerous when wet). Mid layer fleece or light insulated top. Insulated jacket rated to at least -10°C. Waterproof / windproof outer shell jacket and pants. Trekking trousers and shorts.

Head, hands, small gear: sun hat with a brim. Warm hat. Buff or neck gaiter. Glove system (liner gloves plus an insulated outer glove). Sunglasses with UV400 / category 4 at altitude. Trekking poles. Headlamp with spare batteries. Daypack 25–35 liters.

Other: water bottle (we provide one in the Welcome Kit) and a LifeStraw or SteriPen as backup. Personal first aid additions (blister care, ibuprofen, prescription meds, Diamox if your doctor has prescribed it). Sunscreen SPF 50+ and lip balm with SPF.

What we provide: the professionally cleaned -20°C sleeping bag with silk liner, the pulse oximeter, supplemental oxygen, and the comprehensive first aid kit. You do not need to bring a sleeping bag.

Can you rent gear in Kathmandu? Yes. Kathmandu's Thamel district has dozens of gear shops offering rentals for trekking boots, down jackets, sleeping bags (though we provide ours), poles, and more. Quality varies our pre-trek documentation includes a vetted list of shops we recommend and rough rental prices. Boots are the one exception do not rent boots. Bring broken-in boots from home.

Diamox (acetazolamide) is a prescription medication that helps the body acclimatize to altitude faster by accelerating breathing. It is effective for preventing acute mountain sickness (AMS) but is not a substitute for proper acclimatization, and it has side effects.

This is a medical decision between you and your doctor not a decision LHJ makes for you. We cannot prescribe it, we cannot advise whether it is appropriate for your specific medical profile, and we will never pressure you one way or the other.

What we can tell you honestly: Diamox is commonly prescribed for trekkers going above 3,500m, especially for those with no prior altitude experience. Side effects include tingling in hands and feet, increased urination (plan for night bathroom trips), altered taste (carbonated drinks taste flat), and occasional fatigue. Diamox is a sulfa drug if you are allergic to sulfa medications, do not take it. It does not replace descent as the treatment for altitude sickness.

If you decide to take it, your doctor will prescribe a typical regimen: 125mg twice daily starting one day before ascent above 3,500m, continuing through the high-altitude portion of the trek, tapering off during descent. Bring enough for the full duration.

If you choose not to take it, that is equally valid. Proper acclimatization slow ascent, rest days, hydration, the altitude-adapted breathing techniques from our Kathmandu Pre-Trek Session is the foundational strategy.

Yes. Our B2B product is called Journey-Plus a fixed logistical chassis with modular programming slots, designed specifically for retreat leaders, studio owners, men's group facilitators, corporate wellness coordinators, and adventure coaching businesses.

The structure: LHJ controls the trek route, lodge sequence, safety protocols, and porter logistics the operational chassis that cannot be negotiated because it is built around altitude acclimatization and client safety. You control morning sessions, evening sessions, rest-day programming, menu preferences, and group framing the modular slots that let you layer your own retreat product on top of the chassis.

Wholesale pricing for The Journey tier starts at $1,600 per participant, and retreat leaders typically sell their retreats at $3,500–$5,000 per participant with their own programming layered in.

We protect your client relationships with a written non-solicitation clause we do not market to your clients, ever, during or after the trek.

The first conversation is a 30-minute Zoom call with the CEO and the CSO. Qualified prospects are invited on a Familiarization (FAM) Trek a subsidized trip where you experience the LHJ product firsthand before committing to a partnership. FAM Trek qualification criteria are published on the /partners page.

A half-day session in Kathmandu the day before your trek begins. It is included on every tier and it is not optional.

What it covers: the altitude-adapted breathing techniques you will use on the trail and in the morning sessions; a walk-through of the Two-Tier Altitude Protocol, so the thresholds and the language are familiar before you are at altitude rather than during; a gear check, which is where we find the boots that are not broken in and the missing glove layer while there is still a Kathmandu shop open; and the trek briefing itself, including the day-by-day plan and where the acclimatization days sit.

It is also where you meet your guide, which is arguably the most useful part. The person who will be taking your SpO2 twice a day, and who has the authority to turn you around, is someone you have talked to for several hours before the trail starts.

Practically, this means being in Kathmandu at least one full day before the trek start date. Trekkers who plan to land on the morning the trek departs are the ones who miss it, and we would rather you built the day in than discovered that late.

Arrive at least one full day before the trek start date. Leave at least two days after the scheduled end date.

The arrival day is fixed by the Kathmandu Pre-Trek Altitude Preparation Session, which runs the day before the trek begins and covers the breathing techniques, the altitude protocol, the gear check, and meeting your guide. Landing on the morning of that session after a long-haul flight is possible but not sensible. Landing on the trek start day means missing it.

Many trekkers add a second day at the front, and we generally recommend it. It absorbs a delayed bag, it gives you a day to buy or rent whatever the gear check turned up, and it means you reach the trailhead as something other than jet-lagged.

The departure buffer is not optional in the same way. Lukla weather cancels flights routinely, and in high season a 48-hour delay is ordinary. Two buffer days between the trek end date and your international flight is the minimum we ask for, and your travel insurance should cover trip interruption as well as evacuation.

We handle airport pickup and drop-off in a private vehicle on every tier, so send us your flight details once they are booked.

This is a conversation with a travel clinic or your own doctor, ideally six to eight weeks before you fly, and it is genuinely not something we can do for you.

We are not a medical provider. We do not prescribe, we do not recommend specific vaccines for your particular history, and we will not tell you what to take. What we can do is give your doctor the right information about the trip: multiple days at high altitude, a maximum altitude that depends on your trek and can reach 5,545m, teahouse food and water, remote terrain with limited medical facilities, and helicopter evacuation as the realistic emergency option.

Two things are worth raising with them specifically. Routine vaccinations often lapse, and a pre-travel appointment is a sensible moment to check them; a travel clinic will also have current advice for Nepal, which changes. And if you want to discuss Diamox for altitude, that is the appointment to do it in. We have a full answer on Diamox elsewhere in this FAQ, and the short version is that it is your doctor's call rather than ours.

Bring enough of any prescription medication for the whole trip plus the buffer days, in its original labelled packaging, and carry it in your daypack rather than your duffel.

Our pre-trek documentation asks direct medical questions. Answer them fully.

It is handed to you on arrival in Kathmandu, on every tier, and it contains four things: a trail map for your specific route; a local SIM card with data already loaded, so you are on a Nepali carrier from day one rather than paying international roaming for the days you have signal; a reusable water bottle, which pairs with the purification method we ask you to bring and means you are not buying bottled water up the valley; and the Himalayan Altitude Kit.

The Welcome Kit is deliberately small. It is not a branded tote of things you will throw away at the end, and there is no larger version of it on a higher tier.

What is worth saying is what it is not. It does not replace your packing list. The gear that keeps you safe, broken-in boots, your layering system, an insulated jacket, gloves, category 4 sunglasses, is yours to bring or to rent in Kathmandu.

What we supply separately from the Welcome Kit is the equipment it makes no sense for you to buy for one trip: the professionally cleaned sleeping bag rated to -20°C with a silk liner, the pulse oximeter, the supplemental oxygen, and the trek first aid kit.

No. Most of our trekkers live at sea level, and the altitude part of the preparation is mostly not something you can do at home anyway.

What actually transfers is time on your feet. Consecutive long walks on uneven, hilly ground carrying a 5 to 7 kg daypack is the single most useful thing you can do, and none of it requires elevation. The three-month baseline builds from two walks a week to a weekly long walk of four to five hours by the final month. For Everest Base Camp, the Annapurna Circuit, or Gokyo Lakes, extend that to six months and add back-to-back weekends, two consecutive four-hour days, because trekking is a repeated-days problem more than a single-day one.

Stairs are the sea-level trekker's best available substitute. Not for altitude, but for sustained climbing and, more importantly, for the long descents that wreck undertrained quads.

If you live within reach of any real elevation, even 2,000m, train there sometimes. It helps a little. If you do not, you are not at a meaningful disadvantage, because nothing at 2,000m prepares you for 5,000m either.

The altitude-specific part is handled on the ground: acclimatization pacing built into the itinerary, the breathing techniques from the Kathmandu Pre-Trek Session, and twice-daily monitoring above 3,500m.

Boots are the most important item you bring, and the one place where renting is a mistake.

Break them in properly: at least 50 km of walking before you fly, on varied ground, in the socks you will actually wear on the trek. That is not a formality. A blister on day two of a twelve-day trek is not a minor problem, because you cannot rest it, you have to walk on it, and an infected heel at 4,500m is a genuine reason to descend.

Rent almost anything else in Kathmandu: an insulated jacket, poles, a duffel. The vetted shop list in your pre-trek documentation covers where. Do not rent boots.

For blisters, prevention is nearly all of it. Merino or synthetic socks rather than cotton, three to four pairs, changed when they get damp. And the discipline to stop the moment you feel a hot spot rather than at the next teahouse. A hot spot taped early is nothing. A blister ignored for an hour is your whole trek.

Carry your own blister kit in your daypack, zinc oxide tape and blister plasters, alongside the first aid kit your guide carries. Your guide holds a Wilderness First Responder certification and has seen a great many feet, so show them early rather than at the end of the day.