Sleep kit
A −20 °C bag and a good mat are personal kit we check at the gear audit — the night is the day's real event.
Mountaineering / Knowledge
The days between the days.
An expedition is mostly not climbing. It is mess tents, carry days, weather waits and early nights — and the climbers who enjoy those days are the ones who summit.
Start this journey briefCamp life — where expeditions are actually won
The mess tentThe expedition's parliament
meals, briefings, weather discussions and card games all happen under the same green canvas
The carryThe quiet work
loads move up the mountain on acclimatisation days — the reason summit morning starts light
The waitBuilt into the plan
weather days are not lost days; they are why the summit window works
The nightThe real training
sleep is the hardest job at altitude — and the one nobody can do for you
What the days are actually for.
First-time expedition members are always surprised by the ratio: for every summit morning there are four or five days of camp life — approach, acclimatisation walks, carries, school days, weather waits. This is not filler. The carries put the camps in place and put your body high and back down; the rest days bank red blood cells; the waits respect the mountain's own calendar.
Our camps are run by support teams who do this every season: cooks who can bake bread at 4,000 metres, staff who level platforms and pitch tents while you walk in light. The client's real work at base camp is the least glamorous job on the mountain — sleeping, eating, drinking three litres, and letting the plan be slow.
A day at base camp.
- 07:30 · tea in the tent
Morning tea arrives at your tent door; the day's plan is announced over breakfast in the mess.
- Morning · the job
A carry, a school session, an acclimatisation walk or a genuine rest — decided by the guides, not by enthusiasm.
- Afternoon · weather hour
Clouds build on most Chinese mountains by early afternoon; camp life moves indoors — food, logs, cards, sleep.
- Evening · the briefing
Dinner, then the next day said aloud: who moves, who rests, what the turnaround will be. The mountain rewards teams that know tomorrow.
The essentials.
Hydration
Three litres a day at camp, more on carry days; the plateau and the glacier both dehydrate you faster than you feel.
Books and patience
Bring a paperback. The weather wait that feels like boredom on day one feels like peace by day four.
The staff
The cook team and camp staff are professionals; the courtesies that make camp run are the same as any small village's.
The unglamorous half of the mountain.
Every expedition page describes its camp rhythm — what is carried, who cooks, what the wait days look like. Ask us anything about the boring days; they are the ones that matter.
Start a journey briefSummit day, hour by hour · The mountain seasons · Nama — the expedition school