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| Stego's FAQ on Nepal travel v.3 - Weather & Clothing 1/1 |
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Keywords: Clothes
From: Bernard Wright <bernw19@ally.ios.com>
| Date: 96.10.29 | (Id.: 183) |
Typical summer type clothes will be OK. Kathmandu will be cold in the evenings and sunny and warm during the day. A sweater and light to medium jacket will be needed.
Keywords: Clothes, Weather
From: Mário Pires <stego@cfn.ist.utl.pt>
| Date: 96.11.02 | (Id.: 228) |
- Kathmandu: during the day it was like late southern european spring - even with only a T-shirt and light trousers you'll sweat a lot, specially when walking. At night it can be quite cold (remember, I'm portuguese...) - I usually put a parka or anorak that I'd use only in the colder days in Portugal. Anyway, I had only a T-shirt under it.
- Pokhara: the days were a little bit warmer than in Kathmandu and a pullover or light coat was more than enough at night. In the Annapurnas (Jomsom, Muktinath, 3000-4000 meters), the days were warm enough to being supported with only a T-shirt while walking (one gets pretty warm while climbing :-). At night it should be below zero, as every pot hole was iced in the morning, but we didn't go out, we were inhouse, either in a warmed room or below lots of blankets in the bed. I confess I would have got quite cold if I ever go out at night in the mountains, as I didn't care to carry the coat I used in Kathmandu, but I passed quite well with only a T-shirt, cottom sweater and woolen pullover.
Conclusion - bring some T-shirts, a pullover or two (I'd bring a cottom long sleeved and a woolen) and a warm (and preferably light, as it's better to carry) coat. If you like cotton T-shirts, don't bring many, as laundry is quite quick and absurdly cheap and you have plenty of choice to buy T-shirts for about US $2-$3 that will then serve as souvenirs.
Keywords: Weather, Clothes
From: Mário Pires <stego@cfn.ist.utl.pt>
| Date: 95.09.25 | (Id.: 155) |
Note that I was in Nepal only in November, so I've no personal experience to compare. I only had a small lightening storm in the late afternoon/early night during the all stay, nothing to worry about.
Nevertheless, perhaps a bringing a parka it's a good idea, because the nights in Kathmandu and in the mountains can be a little cold even in the warmer days. Reusing the comparison with South Europe, I'd call them "early December nights". In Pokara and south Nepal (Chitwan) the nights are still like "late spring". Anyway, you can allways do like my travel companion: buy there.
Keywords: Weather, Places & itineraries
From: Per Löwdin <per.lowdin@statsvet.uu.se>
| Date: 96.02.20 | (Id.: 42) |
>i am investigating the possibility of trekking in nepal, but i can
>only do it during three weeks starting about may 5. the guide
>books imply this may not be a good time to go because the weather
>will not be very cooperative.
Normally the monsoon does not break before June, even mid-June. It is said that trekking is not advisable during the monsoon. However, it depends much on where You go and how You plan Your trek. One thing is certain if heavy torrential rain appears You have to have sufficient time to change Your plans without missing a plane or something like that.
We have gone to Khumbu, Langtang and Manang during the monsoon season and had great time.
With reference to what is nice to do I think one can say that low altitude treks are out.
There are many leeches. Side streams can also be turbulent and difficult to ford. On the other hand it is the best season for high altitude trekking. The snow line is very high. You can camp on meadows on five thousand meters, all alpine flowers.
>is a nepal trek in may a bad idea?
Not at all
>if it isn't, what would be a good place for a trek?
Around Annapurna or perhaps Langtang, exiting via Ganja La to Helambu.
i'm >somewhat experienced at hiking and climbing and i would
>like to go where it isn't too crowded.
Sounds like if You are the right kind of person to trek off season. Just trekking out off season will mean there are less tourists. Most tourists think it is impossible to trek during the monsoon. There are of course many places where tourist never go. But, then it becomes a little more difficult. There are no hotels, etc. And, You may have to bring food and fuel in with You.
Keywords: Weather
From: Petri Kaipiainen <petkai@nanda.pp.fi>
| Date: 96.03.10 | (Id.: 44) |
<stevelan@is3.hk.super.net> says:
>Would anyone give me some information on this, esp. the temp.
>difference during day & night ?
In lowlands (Dhumre, Jiri Kathmadu etc.) daytime temperatures are quite high, around 25-30 C and about 10-15 at night. Above 3 km (10 000ft) it gets cooler and nights are very damp, temperatures go to about 5 C at night. Above 4 km nights start to get frosty and at 5 km (Everst base camp) temperatures are below freezing after sunset or actually when sun hides behind mountains in the afternoon. At night -20 C is not uncommon.
Even at those altitudes daytime temperatures hit 20 C.
These figures are not exact, but give some kind of idea. The difference between sunshine and shade is big. In the evening temperatures really sink fast.
Keywords: Weather
From: Vern Lefebre <lefebre@baltic.nmt.edu>
| Date: 96.03.15 | (Id.: 45) |
Several years ago, while visiting a daughter in the peace corp in Nepal, we did the everest trek at the end of May. The monsoons were delayed that year and the trekking was delightful. Very few trekkers were on the trail and we had the place to ourselves. The weather was warm with plenty of sun. You take a chance on bad weather by trekking so close to the monsoon season but if the god(s) smile the rewards are great.
Both air India and Royal Nepal Airlines fly from New Delhi to Kathmandu. On Royal Nepal the seat spacing is for midgets, just like the Nepal buses.
Keywords: Weather
From: John Neville <neville@perth.DIALix.oz.au>
| Date: 96.04.15 | (Id.: 46) |
It's hello blue skies and thousands of people. :-) You will notice an interesting change to places like Kathmandu's Thamel and the prices of lodges. However you should be out of the mountains before the main invasion.
Keywords: Weather
From: Dave Laemmle <laemmle@seattleu.edu>
| Date: 96.05.09 | (Id.: 38) |
>sendelwe@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (Kurt da' Squirt)
> wrote:
> > I am thinking about heading to Nepal, May 12. But I have a great
> >concern about the Monsoon. Everyone seems to mentions leaches. Leaches
> >don't scare me much. But I would like to hear more about the nature of
> >Kurt
> >--
> Monson starts in mid-June in Nepal. You may expect afternoon shower most
> of the days during May. Weather is relatively hot and good for trekking
> in high mountain areas.>
I would have to disagree about the weather being good for trekking. I have done hill trekks in the monsooms and been rained on constantly.
Leeches everywhere. They dont bother me much either, just rip em off, but when you stop to rest and look around you will see them inching their ugly devilish way towards you. But if you walk fast enough maybe they wont get you, but we went on a trek with some St. Xavier boys and we all had blood streaming down our legs and ankles. Then at night you have to be carefull, or as often happens in monsoons especially with foriegners who eat vegtables during this time, you have diarehha and that means squatting in places where leeches are bound to come. I know i had a leach drop on me in a pretty well covered and made charpi, I think it dropped on me while i entered and it bite me in the most inconvient of places. (this is a family newsgroup ;-})
As for Mountain trekks, I went on a trek up to Langtang in Mid June 1994.
It was fine for a bit, but you only had an hour or 2 of visibility (6-7 am) of the peaks. When you come down it is often wet and i know we were practically lost when the fog settleed on the hills and i couldnt see my trekking partner 20 feet infron of me. i could nt really see beyond the edgees of the trail. All in all a really cruddy time (i was on the south side of Gosaian kund)
I went to pokhara in the monsoon season of 93 and was almost killed in the lanslides and multiple busses we had to take to get there. Planes aren't much better because of the clouds. Also Pokhara area gets more rain than Kathmandu side.
I was in Gorkha and Pokhara during late June 96 (when you teach at a campus the vacations come in monsson seasons -- kind of sucks) Agian lots of rain. Lily and i were not even able to see the palace from gorkha.
Leeches again were a problem. Pokhara wasn't much better.
> >the rains. Does it rain lightly all day, or a heavy rain, evey
> >afternoon?
It depends, you can have a day ro 4 where it rains light and heavey constantly, then a day or 4 where there is only an afternoon and evening shower to cool things off.
> >do a trek? I would like to hear spcifically about the Kathmandu and
> >pokahora regions. Is it much drier north of the Annapurna Region? Is
> >it possible to do a Trek on the northern sides, like Jomsom? Are their
> >great views of the Himalayas from the North sides? Reply here of E-mail
> >me. Thanks One logistic problem is that many of the lodges higher up close down.
They are often only open for the tourist season. Monsoon not being a high trek time, they close down. When i did the Langtang trek, there were often places that were boarded up and not in operation. Overall it is not a good time to trek. But if you have to take plenty of plastic bags and be ready for lousy veiws, hot and sweatty hikes and a constant wish for some dry towels.
June is doable, August is probably out and july depends.
Dave Laemmle email laemmle@seattleu.edu 7751 10th NW Seattle, WA 98117
dui mahina aghi nepalbatta pharkeko,
ra ahile nepal pheri janneko laagi kaam khojne
If there are any Xaiver campus folks out tthere that want to see a
picture of the computer lab setup it is on my web page
http://www.seattleu.edu/~laemmle
Keywords: Weather, Annapurnas
From: Peter Davies <petercd@io.org>
| Date: 96.09.23 | (Id.: 172) |
Keywords: Weather
From: Sean Connolly (?) <connolly.sean@remove.ist.mds.lmco.com>
| Date: 97.01.14 | (Id.: 133) |
I was in Nepal from 21 April to 28 May, 1995. I'd recommend it as an ideal time to visit the country. The tourist hordes of the Oct/Nov time are absent, prices are lower, and trekking conditions almost ideal. Agreed, after around 10:00 in the morning, a haze generally hides the awesome views, but that is acceptable in most cases, because what you do still see is incredible. I also trekked the Annapurna Circuit. People talk about the rains and bad conditions, etc, and that might generally be true, but for my visit, it only rained 4 days in the six weeks I was there and most guesthouses were practically deserted.
There were maybe 30 people total trekking along at the same time as my group.
Climate and temperatures? Hm. I was coming from Thailand at the time, so I found Kathmandu almost chilly when I got there in April. I could wear long trousers and even needed a jacket on some nights. Can't recall the temerature, but it felt very good.
Once I started trekking, temperatures took a great swing. The first few days were very warm, dripping sweat, stopping in the middle of the day to rest out the heat. It still wasn't very hot, but slogging with a full pack in any heat is enough! The higher we went, of course, the lower the temperature dropped. The only temperature I recorded in my journals was the following:
7 May, path to Manang, 3540m - Started day at 14 degrees C, got up to 22 deg.
From Latamrang(2400m) onwards, it was very cold in the evenings. I rented a down sleeping bag, and was never cold at night, but most evenings were spent huddled in the dining area of the guesthouse as close to the heat source (usually the kitchen) as possible. Crossing Thorung La at 5416m, it was only mildly frigid. :-) But even then, it wasn't too bad. I only wore:
polypro T-shirt polypro long sleeve T-shirt lightweight fleece scarf trekking trousers
And I was plenty warm. Some of the others had problems because of the altitude, but few of us were troubled by the cold. Also, don't bother with heavy hiking boots. I myself spent over half my trekking time wearing only Tevas (sport sandals), and the rest of the time in trail runners and was just fine with a 13 kg pack.
Getting back to KTM at the end of May, it was much warmer. Being cold was no longer an issue. I would guess temperatures were somewhere around 30 degrees. A 24 hour bus ride from KTM took me to Varanasi, India, were temeratures were recorded at over 50 degrees! Ouch.
That's all for now. If you want any more info, just ask.
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© J. Mário Pires, 4 Mar 97
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