Has anyone done the hike up to EBC or Patagonia recently, post-covid in 2022/23?
How much did it cost you all up in AUD incl international flights? I’m slowly crossing a few places off my hiking bucket list and EBC and Patagonia is up there to be conquered before I hit 40.
Yes I know I could do my own research and itemise the cost etc etc, but I’m hoping someone who has done it recently already has everything put together so I have a quick reference.
Thanks!
Haven't done it post-Covid, but if you're going to do EBC it's well worth considering doing side trips rather than making EBC the highlight of the trek. You can barely see Everest, you go nowhere near EBC itself as the moutaineers want to be as far away from the hikers as possible.
Patagonia is a 'how long is a piece of string' kind of question as it's absolutely huge and there are hugely varied travel options. It's like asking how much it does it cost to see Western Australia.
don't care for the view of everest itself, just want to challenge myself on the hike up to EBC. We did consider anapurna as well if it would all fit in.
I won't be able to go for more than 3 weeks, so whatever I can fit in that timeframe. that's why im asking those who have been to Patagonia which trails are worth doing and maybe if it's possible to do on our own (with my missus)? Ofc with EBC im expecting there to be a group/guide.
You're probably talking Torres del Paine NP then as Patagonia is an absolutely massive area but that's the most famous park in it.
Did the nine day circuit walk, it's amazing.
EBC has some spectacular views, especially towards the last days. But the teahouses at the end (as of around '17) were shite and expensive (by Nepalese standards) as the owner families have such a monopoly on the land and it's also at the end of the supply line. The main route to EBC and back is packed with slow-moving groups waving hiking poles around, so if all you want is to fill a tickbox that's fine, but if you want some quiet amazing scenery, you do side trails.
ABC was lower altitude so easier from that perspective. That walk involves truly ridiculous stair climbs though. Views not as spectacular. Overall, not really that enjoyable as a hike. There's also the Annapurna Circuit, which is probably a lot more scenic.
Lots of decent and cheap outdoor gear available in Thamel in Kathmandu.
Sounds like you've experienced both thoroughly. Could you share your itinerary/budget?
Everything was well before Covid, so prices would no longer be relevant. There's also huge variance for Patagonia depending on mode of travel and level of acommodation- we cycle toured and camped mostly for free so daily costs were close to zero, there are also 5 star boutique hotel options there.
For Nepal, you can just contact a handful of guiding operations and ask what they'd charge for their standard hikes. Loads of the operators even have prices listed online. There's also stuff like whether you bus or fly to Lukla.
If you have the time, going via Gyoko would be a much less traveled path to EBC. There's a route called either 3 or 5 passes, which I didn't do but sounded way more interesting (this might involve going via Gyoko). But again this totally depends on what you want, if it's a tickbox then the standard route is fine.
I did EBC in April 2017. Really enjoyed it and highly recommend the experience.
Amazing scenery and views. I was in a really good group. We’d all play cards at night in the tea houses we stayed in.
If you’re looking for a challenging hike Annapurna is meant to be more challenging. I didn’t find EBC too hard. There was only one section which was steep and a really good workout. Though be prepared to get gassed in some areas after only taking twenty steps; it’s a really weird feeling.
Can’t comment about the costs as I went too long ago but if you’re going to EBC do the Gyokyo lakes add on
Been to the Nepal side of EBC in 2011 and 2018 (and Tibet in 2012). ‘11 was excellent, ‘18 was full of Aussie bogans on other treks (it’s packed with Aussies). A brawl nearly broke out on another trek in ‘18.
The best part of ‘18 was Gokyo because it was quiet and was what Nepal was like. It changed a lot in those 7 years
EBC it’s easy to go on your own because the e trails are so well trodden. Where a guide comes in handy is when something goes wrong (and altitude things change quickly, and things go catastrophically wrong - I was on Annapurna in 2014 when there was an avalanche and being part of a group was invaluable)
You can consider the W (4 days) or O trek (up to 10 days) at Torres del Paine in Chile. Probably the most popular hike in Patagonia. I personally did the W and it was stunning. Not sure how it compares with EBC in terms of difficulty I think it's more of a 'wild'/'pristine' experience in the sense that you have to carry all of your camp gear and food unless you want to pay ludricrous prices for a paid accommodation, of which there is one at each major campsite area.
Cost-wise, the most expensive thing is the flight to get there from Aus. Campsites have to be booked in advance but if you are bringing your own gear and food, the total cost for the hike is reasonable. Can't remember exactly how much I spent.
I just went a few weeks ago and did the W.
Excluding flights (I used points and it was part of a bigger trip) my cost ended up around $700 or so.
That's park entry, accom in Puerto Natales and campsite costs for a tent.
I did buy gear as well but that cost changes a lot depending on particulars.
I carried all food with me and that was also included in my cost.
Very pretty, but you're comparing 2 very different things so worth doing research to find out what you want
I've done both EBC and W Trek in Patagonia. Can't comment on cost now as both were prior to COVID.
I found that EBC was more challenging (primarily due to altitude) but thought W Trek had more beautiful scenery.
We did W Trek ourselves and stayed in refugios, but did EBC with a guide/porters.
thanks for the insight! I think i would still do both eventually, just gotta decide which first :)
mind me asking how old you were when you did both?
I have done the "O" circuit at Torres del Paine twice, in 2010 and 2018.
If you are into hiking I fully recommend it.
The W circuit is way easier and comfortable, most tourists do it (there is a lot of people doing day hikes), and you get to rely on refuges for accomodation (they are expensive compared to bringing your own tent).
The O circuit is definitely harder, specially since you'll most likely hit snow even in summer. It is less crowded and you get to see things that are, to me, on a different level. Google "John Gardner Pass", watch the youtube videos. But you need the appropriate gear, and have to carry all your food. You can hire porters to carry your stuff, people working in the outposts travel the circuit often when they finish their shifts.
The most expensive part of the trip were the tickets to Chile. 3k each in Jan. They drop in price after Feb.
Flights from Santiago to Punta Arenas were AUD$250 pp.
Bus from Airport to Puerto Natales (return) was USD$30 pp.
Bus from Puerto Natales to National Park (return) was AUD$30 pp.
Camping sites were about AUD$15 per night pp.
John Gardner Pass
Ah, so that's what it's called, we never noticed the name of the location. We did that in the height of summer, got caught in a blizzard, and then basically did a multi-day medivac because some girl fractured her leg coming down the pass. It was… certainly memorable.
Pretty much anyone with two legs and patience can do ABC or EBC because of porter assistance, the TdP circuit hike is a much more serious undertaking.
I heard about the girl that broke her leg coming down the pass, so the story lives on in campground gossip.
I suspect that it's happened a lot more than once, if it's wet then the descent is really, really slippery.
really? i keep a general level of fitness and have done a few 100kms+ multiday hikes here in Australia but obviously patagonia and EBC will be completely different terrain. I did assume AMS will add to the prep and challenge other than just pure cardio fitness.
low altitude hiking should not be too concerning for us unless it's very technical. have you done any aussie trails to make a comparison.
O trek was actually very similar to the Overland in Tassie as a comparison, even a lot of similar trees being at a similar latitude - the main difference is the giant mountain views and patagonian wind ha trail wise, nothing too out of the ordinary I wouldn't say.
I found the John Gardner Pass day difficult as it was really long and I have bad knees so the downhill was killer. But we were lucky and had a good weather run and it was hardly rainy or windy the whole trek. Might liken it to poeple who get caught in a Nov snowstorm on the Overland and have to get evactuated out, so timing is cruicial.
My Torres del Paine and El Chalten trip was from Xmas eve to Jan 15 or so
edit: I did no training for the O trek just had general fitness, probably should have done knee strengthening though
@heysoph9: I'd agree with the Overland comparison.
Was more trying to say that something like ABC isn't what I'd consider 'serious' hiking. It's more like serious stair-climbing. There's no navigational difficulty, you're probably not carrying more than a little daypack. Overall it was a bit monotonous, but had nice mountain scenery at the end.
EBC has a lot more altitude, so even though the terrain itself isn't too hard, the walking is still fairly tiring. Walking back down is crazy easy as it's downhill and you're already used to the altitude.
@heysoph9: i've done the overland - didnt find it to be that difficult a trek (6D5N) unless you do ALL the sidetrips. I did it near the end of winter so heat exhaustion wasn't really a risk.
very useful thanks - i guess if i don't visit the cities and just make this a hiking trip it's going to be fairly affordable especially if i BYO gear.
Has anyone done the hike up to EBC or Patagonia recently, post-covid in 2022/23?
I haven't.
Can't answer your question but I did a bunch of day hikes out of El Chalten. It's very inexpensive (once you are there) as you can do it yourself without guides. There was also the option of multi day hikes and you'd probably want to consider guides/porters for those as carrying all your gear will be tough.
I have done a lot of Patagonia over the last year - regarding Everest v Patagonia, the a big difference will be altitude. Majority of Patagonia hiking is low altitude and enjoyable, whereas I did a few high altitude treks in Peru just recently and gosh it's on another level of pain.
Looking at my docs, to do the O trek in Torres del Paine (8 days), it was around 1000 USD for 1 person where I booked food and tents/refugios provided (not carrying). It would be much cheaper if you plan to carry food or tents. This was all booked DIY direct and unguided. Regarding W v O treks, I disliked the W part of the trek - the first 4 days of the O were my favourite, then suddenly you have 4 days of overtourism.
Conversely day hiking in El Chalten is free and the bus from El Calafate was like $20.
I flew from BA where I was living (not Australia) so won't include flights, but flights within Argentina are very cheap - hence I flew BA to El Calafate then got a bus across the border to TdP.
Very useful thanks – yes I’ve only done low altitude hikes so far, my longest throughhike was 7D6N, with one restock but otherwise everything was on my back.
I’ll be bringing all of my own gear so I’ll no doubt save some money there. Yes I hear W is the most popular/recommended Patagonia trail to do. Overtourism on a 4 day hike, what does that mean? Does that mean you run out of camping spots etc? You’re allowed to camp anywhere deemed safe correct?
Conversely, have you done any throughhikes in Australia that you can compare it with?
I'd personally stick with the low altitude, there's nothing worse than how extremely unfit you feel at high altitude.
If you carry everything yourself, it's much much cheaper - the food itself was about 80USD a day so it's siginificantly cheaper without that. Note you can also get stuff like pizza and snacks at some of the stops.
The O trek is only walking in one direction and everyone is basically doing the same itinerary for the first 4 days, then you hit Grey camp and it is day trippers, people complaining about the wifi and showers, full restaurants and people walking both ways. So then the next 4 days is a lot of pushing past people, and I just didn't like the vibe after the serenity of the O trek. If I had to do it again, I would do Las Torres to Grey and skip the W haha controversial opinion.
terrain is so different in Nepal/EBC - i'd like to experience both and also high altitude hiking intrigues me. it's gonna be a sufferfest im sure but no hiker wants to embark on an overly easy trek either. Do these stops sell MREs or are they just restaurants etc?
@plentifoo: I did the Huayhuash trek in Peru in June if you had heard of that. Was carrying only personal gear (had a donkey) but it was very sufferable ha I had been at altitude for weeks prior too so I don't think I ever acclimatised. A guy in my group said it was much harder than EBC because you go up and down a pass every day, instead of slowly climbing like EBC. I've done a trek in the Himilayas that climbed slwoly everyday and the altitude wasn't a problem, but I maxed 3500m
The scenery of the Andes mountain peaks anywhere in South America is certainly stellar and unlike anything in Australia.
I think they did sell some, and things like two-minute-noodles and chips and chocolates. Won't be cheap, nor guaranteed, but handy to stock up.
I noticed above you wrote and I missed it: "You’re allowed to camp anywhere deemed safe correct?" You need to book sites for TdP (as early as possible when they come available online in like August), and you get allocated a spot. Looking at my docs, the camp sites alone were 10 USD, Bus to the park was ~$30 AUD, bus from Puerto Natales to El Calafate was ~$60 USD and visa for Chile was ~$100USD
edit: responding to a comment.
I'm going to El Chalten in Patagonia Argentina side next April. Not sure why not many people mentioned this option. It's just as scenic and much more affordable, thought more ozbargainers would choose this option.
Patagonia depends what you want to do? There isn’t just one hike.
Check intrepid I think they have Patagonia tours 9K excluding flights.