Renting trekking gear in Kathmandu: a Thamel shop guide

The practical answer to renting trekking gear in Kathmandu is this: go to Thamel with a short list, rent the bulky cold-weather items (down jacket, sleeping bag, poles), check each item in daylight before you pay, and bring everything that has to fit your body from home. Thamel has more gear shops in a few streets than most countries have in a city, so the problem is rarely availability. It is quality, hygiene, sizing and time. This guide covers what to rent, how to inspect it, what to ask a shop and how to fit the whole exercise into the day or two you have between landing and leaving for the trailhead.

Thamel is the tourist quarter of Kathmandu. According to Wikipedia it has been the centre of the tourist industry in the city for more than four decades, its narrow alleys are crowded with shops and vendors, and trekking and mountaineering gear are among the goods sold, alongside money exchange booths, mobile phone shops, travel agents and guest houses. It also acts, in Wikipedia's words, as a pre-base camp for mountaineers. For a trekker that means one thing: you can sort your gear, your permits and your transport in one walkable district. The broader checklist lives in our Nepal trek packing list; this post is only about the rental shops.

What is worth renting

The rule that works for most first-time trekkers is to rent what you will use for two or three weeks and never again, and to buy or bring what touches your skin and feet. In practice:

• Down jacket. The most sensible rental for a single trek. It is bulky, expensive to buy and needed only on cold mornings, evenings and at altitude. We compare renting and buying in down jacket: rent or buy in Kathmandu.
• Sleeping bag. Lodges on the popular routes supply blankets, but many trekkers prefer their own bag, particularly above about 3,500 m. A rental bag should be rated for the coldest night of your route; the sleeping bag temperature ratings guide explains how to read the numbers. Use a liner you bring yourself, which is light, washable and makes a rented bag much more pleasant.
• Trekking poles. Cheap to rent and a real help on the long descents of the Everest and Annapurna routes. Check that the locks hold under your weight.
• Duffel bag. If your agency or a porter will carry your main bag, a rented or bought duffel is a simple way to keep it in one waterproof piece.
• Crampons or microspikes for a high pass in cold months, covered in crampons and microspikes for high passes.

What to bring, not rent: boots (fit and break-in matter more than any other item), socks, base layers, underwear, a hat and gloves you have worn before, sunglasses with proper UV protection, a headlamp, and any medication. If a rental pair of boots is your only option, treat it as an emergency, not a plan; a blister that starts on day two does not stop at day three. Our socks, blisters and foot care guide goes through what to do before the first step.

Which route changes the list

The route decides how much you need. Everest Base Camp has you sleeping at Gorak Shep (5,164 m) and climbing Kala Patthar (about 5,550 m) according to our route data, so a warm down jacket and a bag rated for sub-zero nights are not optional; see the Everest Base Camp itinerary. The Annapurna Circuit crosses Thorong La at 5,416 m, so the same applies for the top camp. A shorter route such as Poon Hill peaks at 3,210 m, and a warm jacket and a light bag liner are usually enough in spring and autumn. Check the altitude of your highest night on the route page, not just the highest point you will walk to.

How to inspect a rental, item by item

Shops will let you try gear, and most will let you walk out and come back. Take that time. A five-minute check saves a cold night.

Down jacket. Lift it by the shoulders and shake it. It should puff back up, not hang in flat, damp-looking sections. Squeeze a sleeve: feathers should spring back. Run your hand over the baffles for lumps where the down has clumped, which usually means it has been wet. Smell the lining; a strong smell of smoke, mould or stale sweat is a warning. Test every zip from top to bottom twice and look for tears, tape repairs and missing drawcords. Ask what the jacket is rated for and who makes it. Do not accept "it is very warm" as an answer.

Sleeping bag. Unzip it fully and look inside for stains and a musty smell. A good bag has a hood that cinches, a draught collar and a zip that does not snag. Ask for the comfort rating, not the extreme rating, and treat any figure with caution, because you cannot verify a rating from the shop floor. If the shop says minus 20 and the bag looks thin, believe your eyes.

Poles and duffel. Extend the poles to full length, lean on them, and twist the locks. A pole that collapses on a steep descent can injure you. For a duffel, check the zip and the straps and put something heavy in it.

Hygiene. Ask whether bags are washed between customers and how. A silk or synthetic liner of your own costs little and answers the question.

What to ask about money and returns

We give no rental prices in this post because we have no verified source for them, and quotes change with season and demand. What you can do is ask the same five questions in every shop and compare the answers:

1. What is the price per day, or per trek, and does it include the days I will be away?
2. What deposit do you hold, in what form, and what do I get back when I return the item?
3. What happens if the item is damaged, wet, torn or lost, and who decides what that costs?
4. Can I return a day early or late, and is there any difference in the price?
5. Will you write all of this on a receipt?

Do not leave your original passport as a deposit. Immigration, domestic flights and permits all need it. A cash deposit or a photocopy is safer, and if a shop insists on the passport, walk to the next one. Keep the receipt with your trek documents, and photograph each item at the counter so there is a record of its condition.

Timing: when and how to shop

Plan the shopping for the day before you leave, not the evening before. You want enough daylight to walk to the shop, return to your hotel and check the items there. Shops are usually crowded in the busy months of October, November, March, April and May, and they may run low on the common sizes; if you are tall or small, go earlier or bring your own jacket. If you are heading to the Everest region by the Lukla flight, remember that flights leave early and that baggage allowances are strict, so weigh your bag with the rental items inside it.

Kathmandu is also where permits and other paperwork are sorted, so combine the errands. Our guide to Nepal trekking permits lists what to arrange before you leave the city. If you are trekking with a partner, shopping together is a useful safeguard: two people check each other's choices, haggle with more confidence, and can compare notes on which shops let you inspect gear properly. If you are still looking for someone to share costs with, the Everest Base Camp partner page and the Annapurna Circuit partner page show who is planning the same dates.

Counterfeits, bargaining and common problems

Many shops sell gear that carries a famous brand name and is not made by that brand. Some of it is fine for a single trek; some is poorly stitched or insulated with less down than the label suggests. The simple defence is to ignore the logo and judge the thing in your hands: weight, loft, seams, zip quality, fit. Bargaining is normal in Thamel, and a polite, calm negotiation is expected. Start from the price you are quoted, compare it with at least two other shops, and do not accept the first number for a long rental. Do not buy because a seller says it is the last one; sellers say this every day.

Typical problems and what to do about them:

• The size is wrong. Come back before you leave town. If you wait until Lukla, you cannot fix it.
• The jacket is warm in the shop and cold on the trail. Rental jackets lose loft with use and with damp. Bring a fleece and use layers instead of relying on one garment.
• A zip fails on day three. Carry a safety pin and a few metres of cord, and ask your guide or lodge for help; many lodges have a needle and thread.
• You return late. Tell the shop in advance if your flight or the weather delays you.

If you miss something in Thamel

If you forget an item, Pokhara has its own gear shops in Lakeside; read renting gear in Pokhara if you are starting an Annapurna trek there. On the Everest trail, Namche Bazaar has shops, according to our packing guides, but sizes are limited and prices rise with altitude. On other routes you should assume you cannot buy anything useful after you leave the city.

A short pre-departure checklist

Before you leave the shop, confirm that you have a receipt with the rate and deposit, that you have photographed each item, that every zip, buckle and pole lock works, that the sleeping bag is rated for your highest night and that you know the return date. Back at the hotel, pack everything once, weigh the bag and take out anything you cannot justify. For more on what to include and what to leave at home, return to the gear and packing hub. The goal is a bag that is warm enough, light enough and honest about what it contains, so that the first three days of the trek are about walking, not about fixing gear.