3 Passes trek for newbies. Part 1. Preparations and Kathmandu.

Taras Bekhta
Sep 8, 2018 · 9 min read

The story began in early November 2017 when my friend Roma and I decided to go to Nepal and do some trekking there. We love mountains very much, but to be honest didn’t have that much experience. Roma and I had only experience of hiking in Ukrainian Carpathians (altitudes up to 2061m). As we began talking about our plans more and more people started showing interest in what we were planning to do. In a few more days our team was made of 5 people: me and Roma, my father, my friend Nazar, and my friend and brother-in-law Petro. All of us had some sort of knowledge of what we were going to do, but none of us knew how hard and how amazing it was going to be.


Our first decision as a team was to agree that we don’t want to use any external help during our trekking. That means no porters who will carry anything for you, and no guides. I have nothing against these people, but for all of us it was much more interesting to do everything by ourselves. To see that we are able to do it. Besides if you are going with a guide you have to stay for night at places suggested by this guide. It means that you have no freedom of choice.

Simple map of 3 passes trek (We decided to do it counterclockwise)

If you are scared that you will get lost without a guide — just don’t be! :) This is one of the most popular treks and the trail is clearly visible most of the time (especially when 3 passes trek overlaps with EBC (Everest Base Camp) trek) and there are lots of markings that you are on the right way. You can easily navigate this trek with little experience most of the time. The most problematic places to navigate are glaciers and you will need to cross 2 of them to complete the trek. If you are still scared, you can hire a guide just to walk you through glaciers and after that continue on your own again.


One of the first parts was to book our flight tickets from Ukraine to Nepal, and we were quite lucky to find return tickets for 370$, which is a very low price. We found them on FlyDubai and after booking the tickets it was clear that we had no way back from our adventure.


From the moment we booked our flight, to the moment we actually left our homes we had lots of things to do. It mainly included actually purchasing lots of different trekking gear and reading other people’s reviews and tips for this exact same trek. One may say that we overreacted and that it is easy, and doesn’t require that many preparations, but that is not a regular trek, you need to be well prepared to do this challenging route. You have to trek for around 200km, cross 3 passes more than 5000m high and also be prepared for altitude sickness, or any other health issues, as any hospitals are hundreds of kilometers away from you.

That is also the reason why you would like to buy an insurance from a trusted company that will cover hiking up to 6000m. Our choice of insurance was World Nomads. We never regretted our decision and SPOILER ALERT the company did all the best when our friend Roma got really sick and was evacuated by helicopter to Kathmandu.

One thing that you can do to make your journey nice and comfortable is to buy good quality equipment. I mean good trekking boots, clothes, a backpack, etc. It may sound like it’s not important, but if you buy boots that don’t fit you well, or you don’t wear them in, you will get blisters on your very first day of trekking and it will be a struggle to continue. From a badly regulated backpack you may feel pain in your spine. And some poor clothes will not take moist away from your body and you will feel cold and will have a higher chance to catch a cold.

This is definitely not a thing that you want to think about all the time, so investing in some good quality gear that fits you well is not that bad of an idea, especially if you consider that you will keep all this stuff and you will use it every time you go hiking again.


Our actual journey began on April, 2 2018. We left our homes, and after around 19 hours in taxis, train, airports and planes we arrived in Kathmandu.

While you’re riding in taxi from an airport to the city center you are thinking what the hell is going on? At the first look it is total anarchy on the roads and on the sidewalks. People, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, everything is mixed together, and at the same time there are no accidents. There is some strange hierarchy and people with cars have priority over people with bikes who have priority over pedestrians. That may be strange for the Europeans or Americans, but the Asians find it very easy to understand and adopt.

From the moment you leave the airport you need like 5–10 minutes to fully understand where you arrived at. It is complete chaos around you, but it is somewhat charming and you can’t decide what you think about the city. It may be very dusty, with lots of garbage, but with its unique rhythm, architecture and people. It was really hard for me to make my first impression. I wanted to stay there and explore it but also just wanted to leave all the dust and traffic behind me and be in the mountains that were so close yet so far away at the same time.

Typical street in the central part of Kathmandu
Another example of street in the central part of Kathmandu
One of many temples in center of Kathmandu
The way they organize and repair their electricity lines is just crazy

Just to mention, Kathmandu was badly damaged by very powerful earthquake in 2015. Some parts of the city were severely damaged, but in fact the city was always dusty and not very pleasant place to live in. Chaos in the city traffic did exist before the earthquake and exists now, and I hope it will remain untouched in the future, because it is creating this city’s unique character and I can’t imagine Kathmandu without crazy traffic.

The city is very polluted and it is a good piece of advice to wear medical face mask (or buff) all the time, otherwise you may start coughing in Kathmandu and can’t even make it to the actual start of your trek in Lukla. If you think that you’re tough and can handle it without a mask, just imagine that your are breathing sand instead of air. That’s how I was feeling when I was taking my mask off because of the heat.

There are a lot of bicycle rickshaws ready to transport you around city center.

If you are some sort of a party person — Kathmandu may be just the right place for you! My friends and I all like to have a good ol’ drink and chat about everything, so that’s what we did on our first night in Kathmandu. There are lots of great spots in Kathmandu where you can have a drink, but just so that you know, you can’t legally buy any alcoholic drink after 22:00 on the street or in any shop. If you feel that your party is only starting at that time you have to find some cafe or club which will gladly sell you beer or any other alcoholic beverage, but be prepared to pay 2–3 times more than on the street. Our beer in the club was around 7$ per bottle (650ml), while you can buy it during the day on the street for 2.5$.

The only person that was not happy with our first night adventures was my father. For him we just went missing for around 5 hours at night on the first day in a new city. At one moment we were chilling in our hotel hall, and at the other moment we were eating some suspicious street food and visiting some local clubs with even more suspicious local “friends”.

Start of evening (from left to right Taras (me), Roma, Petro)
Assimilation with locals in the end of an evening and after decent amounts of aclohol
Our first encounter with Everest

But in all seriousness, it is OK to have a few drinks with your buddies in Kathmandu, but it is not advised to drink any alcohol while trekking. I can give you at least 2 reasons not to do this:

  1. Even though 3 passes and EBC treks are very popular among tourists and generally speaking are well maintained, but it is still high mountains with the possibility of different bad things happening (like rocks falling, earthquakes, slipping and falling down the rocky hill, etc.). So it is better for you to have your mind clear and focused on keeping yourself safe.
  2. The second reason, I think, is even more important than the previous one. Alcohol is bad for your acclimatization. You’re going to spend some time at pretty high altitudes, and in general your body is not used to such heights (unless you are a sherpa). So you want to give your body as much chance to acclimatize as possible. I assume that you’re having limited time in Nepal, and you don’t want to waste it for extra acclimatization days because you were drinking a day before and it is hard for your body to get used to a new altitude now.

One more thing about Kathmandu — you can buy ALL equipment that you need there. But I wouldn’t advise doing this. At least regarding some important equipment like trekking boots, a backpack, good sunglasses, etc. These are essentials for your comfortable and safe trekking. You don’t want to risk and buy some low quality fake stuff. It may look good but it will make your life miserable on the trek if something breaks, or your fake glasses won’t protect your eyes from extreme UV at those altitudes. But at the same time it is completely fine to buy some other things that will be much cheaper in Kathmandu rather than in Europe or America. For example, you can buy a decent down jacket for ~30$, and it will keep you warm in the evening and at night and if even something happens to it, you will not be disappointed that much because it didn’t cost you a fortune to buy. I’d say that you can safely buy down jackets, down sleeping bags, trekking poles, trekking pants, hats, gloves and maybe some other things at Kathmandu.

As a rule of thumb, if you decide to buy anything in Kathmandu (or in Nepal in general) always remember to bargain, to negotiate the price. This very simple piece of advice may save you hundreds of dollars. Almost all the shops don’t have item prices listed anywhere, you just need to ask the price, and usually the seller will tell you the price 2–3 or maybe even 4 times higher than the price he is actually ready to sell you this item for. For example, I wanted to buy a pillow as a souvenir, and I found one that I really liked and asked for the price. The seller told me that the price was 30$, and I responded that I was ready to pay 10$ for it. He laughed at me, and started convincing me that I would never find a pillow for such a low price and I just told him that I would have a look elsewhere then and left the shop. Seconds after I walked outside, he was running after me on the street and shouting that he would give it to me for 10$. Just don’t be shy and always try to bargain, eventually you will become pretty good at this :) It is not considered disrespectful at all, but rather a part of their culture. Remember there is no harm in asking, and if you do it correctly you will save yourself lots of money.


It looks like we are finished with all the preparations at home and in Kathmandu and are ready to start our actual trek. In the next part I will cover what it is like to get from Kathmandu to Lukla (starting point of the trek) and finally start hiking 3 passes.

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