EBC Logistics

Money

Registration: $1,000 deposit to Murphy Expeditions due at registration.

Final trip payment to Murphy Expeditions: For Timmerman Traverse only. Remaining $4,000 balance due 60 days before departure, February 11, 2025.

Bring both a credit card and $1,200-1,500 USD cash. ATMs are available only in Kathmandu and withdrawals are often limited to $200 USD.

Credit cards are accepted at the hotel in Kathmandu, for larger purchases at shops in the tourist areas of Kathmandu, and at newer shops in Namche. Namche Bazaar is the best place to buy local artwork and clothes or to stock up on supplies like snacks, wet wipes, shower sandals, and so on.

You will want both U.S. dollars and Nepal rupees for the trek. Before leaving Kathmandu, we will help you change dollars to rupees. Money changers want pristine U.S. bills: they will not accept bills that are old, dirty, wrinkled, damaged, or torn.

The tea houses will charge extra for device charging, espresso, bottled drinks, snacks, showers, and internet. Allow $20-25 USD in rupees per day for extras.

Tips

Tips for Sherpa staff

$400 USD per person will be collected in Kathmandu. I will pool the cash, change some into rupees, and facilitate a tipping ceremony for the group.

Tips will be presented to the Sherpa staff at a group ceremony before we depart back to Kathmandu by helicopter. The ceremony will likely be done at base camp, but it could be earlier depending on team logistics.

Note that these tips will be significant source of earnings for each of the Sherpa, from the porters carrying duffels to your Sherpa guides.

Tips for your lead guide, Eric

Tips are appreciated (post trip). This is at your discretion and of course based on your overall experience, budget, and desire.

Tips for your team leader, Luke (Timmerman Traverse only):

Tips are not expected. If you would like to show your thanks, Luke would most appreciate you or your company subscribing to the Timmerman Report, his thought-leadership publication for the biotech industry.

FAQs

  • Trekkers are expected to be in excellent physical condition. Being physically prepared for the rigors of the mountains is one of the
    key aspects to an enjoyable, risk-aware, and rewarding experience for the entire team.

    You should be fit enough to walk slowly, with regular rest breaks and a light day pack, for 5-6 hours per day.  A slow, steady pace is how we walk at altitude.

  • Temperatures on the trek will be highly variable every day, based on weather and elevation. We need to be prepared for rain, snow, wind, and cold temperatures at any point in the trip. 

    The higher we get, the colder the nights will be. Days can be quite warm if we have good weather and no wind. It gets cold quickly at sunset and warms up quickly after 8 or 9 a.m. in good weather.

    The other variable is that a given temperature at 17,000 feet feels different than at sea level, if only because you cannot move around nearly as fast to stay warm.

    Expects temps while trekking to range from the low 50s F down to the low 20s F, and colder if it's windy or stormy up at higher elevations.

  • Tap water is not drinkable in Nepal.  At mealtimes we will provide hot drinks that have been boiled and are safe. 

    For drinking water on the trail and in the lodges, we will assist in filling drinking bottles, which you can then purify with your SteriPen (best method) or water purification drops/tablets. See the gear list.

  • Some of the tea houses will have showers and laundry. These are available for an extra charge, not included. The same goes for device charging, espresso, soda, alcohol, snacks, and internet. Bring $20-25 USD in rupees per day for these types of extras.

  • Yes. Secure storage will be provided at the hotel for items that do not need to be brought along on the trek. For example: travel clothes, extra books, toiletries, and so forth.

    In addition, for the trek, you will be packing a daypack and a trekking duffel. The combined weight limit for these two bags is 20 kg/44 lbs. Strive to keep your daypack under 7 kg/15.5 lbs.

    See the gear list for what to pack.

  • 30 or more days from departure: Full refund minus $250 administrative fees and any non refundable expenses incurred by Murphy Expeditions such as hotel reservations.

    Fewer than 30 days from departure: Full refund minus initial $1,000 deposit.

  • INCLUDED:

    • 3 nights Yak and Yeti Hotel in Kathmandu (2 nights on arrival, 1 post trek)

    • Airport pickup and drop off

    • Breakfasts at hotel in Kathmandu

    • All lodging while on the trek

    • All food while on the trek (3 meals per day) except for personal snacks and bottled drinks/alcohol

    • Fixed-wing flight to Lukla to start trek and helicopter flight back to Kathmandu from Everest base camp.

    • 20kg weight allowance for above domestic flights

    • All trekking permits and Sagarmatha National Park fees

    • Nepali trekking guides' and porters' accommodation, salaries, food, and insurance

    • Kathmandu city tour with guide at trip end (time permitting)

    NOT INCLUDED:

    What is not Included in trip cost?

    • International flights to and from Kathmandu

    • Helicopter flight into Lukla to start trek if weather prevents us from taking fixed-wing: $500 

    • Personal insurance or rescue fees

    • Lunches and dinners in Kathmandu, except for team welcome dinner

    • Kathmandu Hotel nights in excess of 3 

    • Single room supplement (available only in Kathmandu)

    • Bottled drinks, alcohol, snacks while on trek

    • Laundry, device charging, and misc. costs at the tea houses while trekking

    • Tips for Nepali guides and porters

Getting a Nepal visa

Streamline your entry to Nepal, if you have time, by getting a visa from the embassy in the U.S. before arrival.

You can obtain a visa upon arrival at the airport. Expedite the process by completing the forms beforehand using the online visa application. Note: You can do this only 15 days or less before departure.

Here’s how to answer the form questions:

  • Select 30-day visa

  • Hotel: Yak and Yeti

  • Street number: 1016

  • Street: Durbar Marg

  • Municipality: KTM

  • Ward: 1

  • District: 3

  • Local address is same as hotel address

You must have a valid U.S. passport that does not expire for at least 6 months from your date of entry. You also must have blank pages available in your passport.

Hotel in Kathmandu

Hotel Yak & Yeti
P.O. Box. 1016, Durbar Marg, Kathmandu, Nepal
Telephone: 977-1-4248999 or 240520
Fax: 977-1-4227781 or 4227782

Single rooms

For an additional fee, single rooms are available in Kathmandu only.

Food

We strive to have a healthy and diverse menu at the tea house lodges.  Please be aware there are limitations with the remoteness of the region. We will be ordering in advance the night before for breakfasts and by 3 p.m. for dinners. At some locations we will have a fixed menu of several choices. 

Vegetarian options are always available.

Communications

Public Wi-Fi

Lodges en route to base camp will have Wi-Fi, via the Everest Link Network.  You will have to pay for this service using prepaid scratch cards.  The higher we travel, the less functional these networks become.

We recommend using an app like WhatsApp for communicating, sending messages, and sending pictures.

The Yak and Yeti hotel in KTM has good Wi-Fi.

Cellular Service

There is some coverage in the Khumbu, but most U.S. plans will not work there. You will need to obtain an Ncell SIM card or E-SIM in Kathmandu for your phone.  This requires an unlocked phone or a new model that uses the E-SIM technology.