Seeking Advice Concerning Nepal Trek

I am considering doing a trek in Nepal this fall, perhaps Everest Base Camp. I would appreciate any advice on this trek versus other treks. Also, I would appreciate thoughts on whether I should go with an established outfitter. If so, can you recommend a particular outfitter? I may be going solo so it may be best to be assimilated into a group.
Thanks for any advice.

Nearly 20 years ago I did the Annapurna Circuit with three friends, and later took off on my own to go the Annapurna Sanctuary. Even back then, traveling solo on the established trekking routes was trivially easy. I suspect the trip to Everest Base Camp would be of similar difficulty to arrange on your own.

We are considering a similar trip and are novice overseas travelers. We went to. Tanzania using a US guide service. How much could we save by not hiring name-brand assistance.

My husband and I did the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek (to Annapurna basecamp) a little more than 20 years ago too. It was gorgeous! At the time we kinda felt sorry for the folks going with guide services because they were travelling with so many staff -- cooks, porters, guides, pack animals. Seemed like total overkill! They didn't stay in tea-houses but in canvass tents. There may be services that are less extreme, but it is worth asking questions. We did hire a local "guide" in Pokora to help carry some of our stuff, at some insanely low rate ($4/day?) as that is encouraged and good for the local economy. We found Nepal a very easy place to meet fellow travelers and routinely had dinner with people we had just met. I'd love to go back some day to the Everest region. Which trek you choose is a function of time available and your interests, but you probably can't go too wrong in such an amazing place.

I did the Annapurna Circuit and Sanctuary 10 years ago
And hired a guide and porter in Kathmandu.
The nice thing about having at least a guide is that they can translate for you and I felt that helped bridge a closer connection with the Nepali people - who
Are truly wonderful and a huge part of the overall experience, at least for me.
We had a small group and our two porters would hike ahead each day and secure our accommodations at tea houses so we didn't need to worry about not finding a place.

Hiring Nepalis in KTM is easy and let's face it, you are providing jobs for young people in an economy that relies heavily on ecotourism. One issue a person in our group had was he was very large and Nepalis are small people, and his pack didn't fit his porter. We overcame this by buying a cheap pack for his porter, and dividing up anything that didn't fit amongst ourselves. Gear is wicked cheap in KTM so this was not a real issue and he was able to leave his pack in the trekking office with our bags.

We used World Peace Trekking. IIRC there are some
Travel Forums on the Visit Nepal site.

Happy Trails.

One of the members on Trailspace, username Giftogab is going to Everest in two weeks. You can follow her on Facebook or her blog. The links are in this thread on Trailspace-

http://www.trailspace.com/forums/trip-planning/topics/111381.html#119401

Go check out The Nepal Chronicles on ekpadventures.com. Dan and Meena did an unguided trek to Everest base camp andKala Patthar in 2010. Great account of the whole journey.

http://ekpadventures.wordpress.com/the-nepal-chronicles/

Recommendations would depend on how much time you have and what do you want to see.
- How much time do you have ?
- Do you want to do glacier climbs ?
- your budget (not looking for you to answer that here)
- What do want to see ? Mountains in general ? Off the beaten path stuff ? Famous stuff ? Non Himalaya stuff like Taj Majal, Chitwan NP ?

2 Books I have and recommend :

Trekking and Climbing in Nepal (Trekking & Climbing) - Steve Razetti
Trekking in the Everest Region (Nepal Trekking Guides) by Jamie McGuinness
They discuss tradeoffs of the various levels of guiding and porter support very well.
I went with western guides for my Himalaya treks. For the Everest Region I went with a New Zealand outfit because I liked the itinerary. Of the western guides, for price and most interesting itineraries I like the UK companies. I learned as much about NZ and UK culture as Nepali and Ladakhi oin my treks. For example I was delighted to learn biscuits meant cookies .

http://www.amazon.com/Trekking-Ever...=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331475477&sr=1-7
http://www.amazon.com/Trekking-Clim...r_1_21?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331487148&sr=1-21

Thanks for the shout out Mark!
Hey Rick, my wife and I did a unguided trek to Base Camp and Kala Patthar in 2010. We have tons of details (likely more than you need) at our website.
I'm happy to help you with any other details or questions you might have, though we can talk through PM or even in person if you like. Drop me an email at [email protected]
In general, how you do this depends on three things - how much time you have, how much money you wish to spend and how good of shape you're in. Answer those three questions and you're most of the way there!
Talk to you soon I hope!
Dan