Field notes on Nepal trekking gear, tea houses and the trails that connect them

PB Nepal is a small review desk run by former trekking guides and gear repairers. We write only after a season on the trail, so every note comes from boots that got soaked, jackets that spent ten days in a duffel, and sleeping bags tested in cold lodge rooms. Readers planning from South Africa and elsewhere usually start with the same questions, and that is where we begin too.

No paid placements, no score inflation. Just what held up, what leaked, and what we would carry again on the next departure.

Read the field reviews See route-by-route notes

Planning a trip and unsure where to start? Send us a note before you pack.

Gear after two monsoon seasons, Annapurna foothills

Next step

Start with the route notes before you pack anything.

Most of what goes wrong on a Nepal trek is decided in the weeks before you fly, not on the trail. Read the Langtang and Annapurna write-ups first, then match your gear to the season you are actually walking in.

Read the field reviews See how readers plan trips

Why readers keep coming back to this desk

We are not a shop and we do not sell placement. Everything here is written by people who guided, repaired or carried the gear in question, and the notes only go up after a full season on the trail.

No paid rankings

Nothing is bought into the index

Brands do not pay to appear, and no lodge gets a better write-up for hosting us. If a jacket lost loft around the shoulders after a second monsoon, that goes in the notes exactly as it happened.

Tested on real routes

Annapurna, Langtang, valley trails

Boots get worn down wet stone steps between Ghorepani and Chhomrong. Down jackets sleep in cold rooms above 2,800 metres. The conditions are the test, not a lab bench or a weekend walk.

Written after the season

Monsoon and winter, not first impressions

A jacket that feels warm in a shop tells you very little. We wait until it has been stuffed into a duffel for ten days, rained on, and dried out twice before we publish anything about it.

Who writes here

A small group of former trekking guides and gear repairers, most of whom still spend part of the year in Nepal. Between us we have patched baffles, re-soled boots, and eaten a lot of dal bhat in lodges that never appear in glossy guides.

How to start reading

If you are packing for a first trek, begin with the seasonal gear index and the route-by-route notes. Readers arriving from South Africa usually want the same answers first: boots, warmth ratings, and what actually survives a wet October.

See how travelers use these notes · Read the full field tests

From the desk

Field notes worth reading before you pack

Three write-ups we keep coming back to. Each one came out of a real trek, not a press trip, and each one lists what failed as plainly as what worked.

Updated after the last post-monsoon season

Gear test

Down Jackets After Two Monsoon Seasons in the Annapurna Foothills

Three mid-weight jackets rotated between a guide and two porters sleeping above 2,800 metres. One lost loft around the shoulders and needed a re-fill before the next October departure.

Read the field test

Tea houses

Teahouse Kitchens Along the Langtang Trail

Eleven lodges between Syabrubesi and Kyanjin Gompa, two seasons. Dal bhat was the safest bet almost everywhere; the larger lodges were the least consistent.

See the route notes

Water

Tablets, Filters and the Cost of Getting It Wrong

Chlorine dioxide, a pump filter, a gravity filter and a UV pen, tested across three routes. Two units froze and cracked on a December night in a lodge dormitory.

Compare the options

New to the desk? Start with the full review archive or browse the seasonal gear index before you commit to a packing list.

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