Amongst many other individual considerations there are three general and well-known rules of thumb to follow when acclimatising to high altitude. First, do not sleep higher than 300 – 500 meters a day. Second, take a rest day, i.e. sleep at the same altitude, every three days or every 1000 meters of altitude gain. And lastly, walk a bit higher each day than you sleep. Yet, what is less prominent is the importance of walking slowly. Watching other trekkers on the trail it sometimes seems it is an unpopular belief after all. Yet, from personal experience I find it the most important rule of all. With this in mind we diverted off the main route to a small village high above the Circuit, where we stayed for two nights to start acclimatising.

The next morning we started before dawn to hike up 1200 meters to a beautiful and sacred lake at 3600 meters in the mountains. You are not allowed to swim in the lake as local Gods reside there. Hence the local guide who led us to the lake, lit a little fire instead to honour the Gods and thank them for welcoming us in their home.

In moments like this I got out a little bag with small notes of quotes by the Dalai Lama. I let one of the group randomly pick a note out of the bag and read the quote to them. With this little exercise I wanted to capture the special spiritual environment we were hiking in everyday and give an impulse to connect with it. I hoped to introduce my guests to the Dalai Lama’s teachings of love and compassion and his advice how to practice patience and kindness. I did not know whether my guests would be open for such practice, but in the end, they reminded me each day not to forget our mindful practice and we began to end it with a short meditation reflecting on the topic and manifesting it.  

Whilst this hike was breathtakingly beautiful, it was also an eye-opener for some of my guests. I started my usual slow Shanti Pace and soon fell behind the group who was pacing uphill. Yet, it did not take long after the first ones stopped, started once I caught up and slowly continued ahead of me in a slower and steadier rhythm. I was not surprised that one of the forefront hikers was exhausted when we arrived at the lake and could not wait to eat lunch. We had only eaten something small for breakfast before leaving the guesthouse, hence there were no immediate fuels in our stomach to quickly burn calories, which left me guest low on energy. In contrast, hiking slowly helps the body to burn fat rather than carbs, because your body is better at using stored fat for energy during low-intensity, long-duration activities. Hence, it is even more beneficial to hike slowly on an empty stomach. On a 19-day trek preserving your energy as much as possible is essential to withstand the strenuous days and endure the trek as a whole. Ideally, none of the trekking days feels like a “proper work out” but rather like a “stroll in the park”. What I had practiced on all my previous long-distance treks was something new to get used to for most of my guests.

Having said that, it is not surprising that the body may feel tired at some point or our health may suffer, when trekking for such a long time. Especially the basic accommodation and nutrition available en route sometimes leads to health problems. On a tight schedule it is almost impossible to recover from an exhausting day or even small sickness, yet a day of rest is often all you need. Hence, we planned to stay for two nights in the same guesthouse once a week during the three-week trek to allow for potentially needed rest. On each of these “rest days” guests had the choice to come on an acclimatisation walk – climb high, sleep low – or to take rest and recover. Additionally, we planned in a spare day that we could use for emergencies. In the end we didn’t need to use it, and we enjoyed a relaxing day in Kathmandu instead. Yet, it gave me (and my guests) some peace of mind that if they do not feel good it was always possible to take an extra rest day.

After our lake experience the pace within our group started to align and got steadier, yet we seemed to become faster on the whole. Given our detour into the Tsum Valley we had accustomed well by now to the strong sun, the heat and altitude and we were moving faster than most of the groups on the trek. Like a pack of wolves we passed other groups at ease and walking for hours a day seemed natural rather than hard work. Half-way through the trek I felt we were in a beautiful flow, and I grew confident that everyone of us would finish this challenging trek.

Whilst our hike to the Tibetan Border was very helpful in acclimatising – walk high, sleep low – it was also reassuring. Reaching a goal is often more a mental than a physical challenge and I had climbs in the past where I wanted to turn around not because of lack of fitness but because I felt pressured. When walking to the Tibetan border I gave everyone the opportunity to walk at their own pace and to even stop and turn around if they did not feel well. With this in mind everyone could test their bodies without feeling pressured to reach the Pass. I hoped to take their worries off their mind, as the Pass that we had to cross two days later was only a hundred meters higher than Layung La. Hence, with reaching Layung La the group was assured that if they just keep doing what they were doing, they will cross the Larkya La two days later without problems.

The next day we only had a half-day hike up to the High Camp of Dharamsala from where we would cross the pass a day later. Whilst hiking to the Tibetan border was hard for me, I had gained my energy back walking to Dharamsala. After two days of cloudy skies we enjoyed great views of the snow-capped mountains around us and for the first time of the mighty peak of Manaslu. We took our time on the path, sat down to meditate, played around taking photos and enjoyed the moment. 

In the end, we were one of the last ones to arrive in High Camp. Soon after we arrived, we had dinner and were lying in bed by seven o’clock. It would be a short night with only a few hours of rest, before we would get up in the middle of the night to cross Larkya La Pass at 5106 meters. Lying in bed thinking about the day ahead, I was filled with pure excitement as I had the feeling that everything was aligning perfectly. Most of my work was done and all that was left for us to do was to simply enjoy the day.