Training For Everest Base Camp

[Danm54]

Me and the Girlfriend are walking to Everest Base Camp in about 12 weeks, I'm guessing it's a good idea to increase my fitness for this.

Currently I'm fairly active at work and don't find walking all day a problem, whether its around a city or our local public footpaths etc. I don't class myself as fit though and have put a bit of extra weight on over xmas.

So, has anyone been to Base Camp before and what sort of training (if any) did you do?

I'm not a great fan of running but I've done it in the past. I prefere cycling but getting out on the dark nights takes a lot of effort, we're out of town and its bloody dark so seeing far enough ahead is a problem.

 

[booyaka]

Without sounding a bit harsh - you've booked an extremely challenging thing to do and your now just starting to think about training for it. What about your partner?

Surely you would have been training/thinking about this way in advance before booking?

7/8 hours trekking are not uncommon - are you prepared at all for this?

 

[Kenai]

Are you doing it with some sort of package company who will be hauling most of your heavy crap or going it alone?

There are plenty of websites around with suggested training and fitness etc.

If you do any amount of hiking normally, it doesn't sound particularly challenging but if you don't, you probably want to put a bit more effort into practicing.

 

[Danm54]

Going with a company that carries all the crap for you, not that I think I'll be taking much.

Partner runs a reasonable amount and is increasing that in preperation. I can definitely walk further and for longer than her though and when we've ran together in the past I don't hold her up.

We walked up Toubkal a few years back and it wasn't that bad, the altitude affected me a bit but nothing serious. We may have underestimated how far it was but I didn't do any training for that.

There seems to be people that say its fairly easy and others that say it's really difficult so I don't know what to expect.
I don't want to go under prepared.

 

[Rroff]

There seems to be people that say its fairly easy and others that say it's really difficult so I don't know what to expect.

IIRC there is more than one way/base camp depending on which side you approach from - one of them IIRC has some moderately technical scrambles over glacier like terrain or whatever but I'm not 100% on that.

 

[Amp34]

The biggest issue you’ll likely face is the Altitude if you’re reasonably fit. That’s something you can’t train for. Acclimatization is the only way you can deal with that and that will only be when you’re there.

 

[Lartyconshayo]

Do read Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

 

[Deleted member 651465]

You’re going to struggle if you aren’t at least reasonably fit.

Running =/= fit, in these types of challenges either.

I imagine your partner is going to hold up better than you but even still, it’s a different type of exercise and that’s before the altitude sickness.

No offence, but you’ve left training for this way too late.

 

[muttclugg]

I think you're going to be in trouble OP - You've left this far too late. Anyone with any medium level of fitness should be able to walk all day around a city all day, especially with good footwear but you're talking about walking over difficult terrain and at altitudes that your body won't be used to.

I'd get myself enrolled onto some high intensity cardio and some circuit training. It'd also be worth packing up your bag with a weight similar to what you'll expect to be carrying and take that everywhere you go (to work, to the shops etc.).

Either way, you've got 12 weeks to get ready and if you're not used to doing this kind of training, your could pick up injuries would could wreck your trip away (which sounds like a fantastic opportunity by the way! Very jealous).

 

[Danm54]

I see there's a general theme to the replies

The trek is over 12 days I think and they allow acclimatisation days so I don't think there's much I can do as far that is concerned, I understand general fitness would be helpful.

I'll start getting a bit more active in the evenings or whenever I get some free time.

I'll look into local training classes(?) as something like that would force me to train regularly, especially if im paying for it.

 

[Kenai]

If you don't already have decent hiking boots, get them sooner rather than later so you can wear them in slowly. Nothing like spoiling a walking holiday with gigantic blisters on day 1 because of walking in brand new boots for 6 hours straight.

 

[jpaul]

Presumably they break out the km/elevation per day, so you can target weekend preparation accordingly ?

even if you have boots, need to be sure there is no potential for sole failure if you have had them a while
(the Yorkshire 3 peaks walk, 23mi<12hrs put paid to my last ones, not helped by some jogging on descents)

 

[Bear]

I know about 6 people who have done it and if you are moderately fit then that won’t be the problem so ignore everyone above who mentions fitness. It is the altitude and how you cope with it that is the most important thing and fitness has no bearing on that and the pace is easy going anyway.

I’ve been up at 5200m in the Andes and my only advice is to drink lots of water, take it nice and slow/steady at your own pace and it might be worth breathing through a scarf as the air is very dry and cold which affects the fine hairs in your lungs which can cause a high altitude cough. I had a hacking cough for a several weeks after my trip.

 

[MM-Seat]

Going with a company that carries all the crap for you, not that I think I'll be taking much.

Partner runs a reasonable amount and is increasing that in preperation. I can definitely walk further and for longer than her though and when we've ran together in the past I don't hold her up.

We walked up Toubkal a few years back and it wasn't that bad, the altitude affected me a bit but nothing serious. We may have underestimated how far it was but I didn't do any training for that.

There seems to be people that say its fairly easy and others that say it's really difficult so I don't know what to expect.
I don't want to go under prepared.

Everest Base camp is 25% higher altitude than Toubkal. I know my friends really struggled with the altitude for Toubkal and has wished they had done a bit more work at altitude in preparation.

 

[Glaucus]

If you struggle with altitude you could always higher an all-time tent to train your body.

http://www.altitudetenthire.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsML5lK7G2AIV6bztCh0uIg9-EAAYASAAEgJ0sfD_BwE

 

[Appelhanns]

Everest Base camp is 25% higher altitude than Toubkal. I know my friends really struggled with the altitude for Toubkal and has wished they had done a bit more work at altitude in preparation.

I wouldn’t worry about the altitude, you can’t train for it and you’ve got 12 days to acclimatise with planned camps that will be lower than each daily high point. Toubkal is different because you sleep at 3200 then summit with no acclimatisation in between.

 

[D.P.]

Some trips to the Alps staying in high huts will be good training for the altitude and will start the adaptations such as increasing red blood cells
Only thing is the adaptations are short lived soma trip soon before your Everest trip is best.

 

["andy"]

The only person I know who's done Everest Basecamp is a smoker who's possibly never been to a gym. I don't think he even planned it , just met a girl on his travels who he took a fancy too and tagged along with her ... We where all pretty shocked when he posted online about where he had been for the last few weeks

Good luck

 

[Amp34]

Agree with Bear here. He’s hiking to base camp, not summiting Everest. A significant number of people do this trip (and similar ones) on gap years so certainly aren’t putting in months of training beforehand (assuming you don’t include horizontal shuffles and beer curls!).

That’s not to say being fit won’t help.

I wouldn’t worry about the altitude, you can’t train for it and you’ve got 12 days to acclimatise with planned camps that will be lower than each daily high point. Toubkal is different because you sleep at 3200 then summit with no acclimatisation in between.

When we did Tubkal we went from sea level to 3200m to 4200m in two days... just about the worst way to do altitudes. On the first two days I had so much less energy than normal, on the third day I was running past everyone after actually acclimatizing, just in time to go down. If I did that again I would definitely try and get an extra day in at the hostel before doing the hikes to the summits.

Doing EBC I’d definitely try and spend at least a week prior to the trip in Nepal to help acclimatize to the altitude.

 

[Appelhanns]

Agree with Bear here. He’s hiking to base camp, not summiting Everest. A significant number of people do this trip (and similar ones) on gap years so certainly aren’t putting in months of training beforehand (assuming you don’t include horizontal shuffles and beer curls!).

That’s not to say being fit won’t help.



When we did Tubkal we went from sea level to 3200m to 4200m in two days... just about the worst way to do altitudes. On the first two days I had so much less energy than normal, on the third day I was running past everyone after actually acclimatizing, just in time to go down. If I did that again I would definitely try and get an extra day in at the hostel before doing the hikes to the summits.

Doing EBC I’d definitely try and spend at least a week prior to the trip in Nepal to help acclimatize to the altitude.

I did Toubkal in a weekend so probably similar to you and agree that it’s technically the wrong thing to do. I was pointing out that comparing Toubkal to EBC doesn’t make sense due to the difference in speed of ascent.

If you look at the altitude profile for most EBC treks though, you’ll see that it takes a week to get to 4000m, hence me saying I wouldn’t worry about it, especially as th OP has already done Toubkal.