1

Check if the company has experience with kids - ask for recommendations. Otherwise shop around. It seems like too much for a 10 yr old. A female guide might also be good with small kids.

2

Hi

The ABC trek has quite a lot of up and down crossing side ridges to the main valley there are some long days and there is a possibility of breaching AMS guidelines. Given the children, I think it would be sensible to add a couple of days to the itinerary.

Day 1 is relatively short, most standard itineraires reach Ghandruk. This might make day 2 to Chomrong quite long; it is steadily uphill to Ghandruk with a steep haul over Kimrong Dhanda befroe dropping down for another uphill section to Chomrong. Day 3 to Dovan can be cut short at Bamboo or even continue to Himalaya. night at Deurali .Wherever you get to, a night at Deurali makes sense from an acclimatisation point of view.

From Deurali I would caution against going to ABC: it's a sleeping height gain of more than 1000m (iirc) but the guidelines are 300m - 500m. Sleeping at MBC also breaches these guidlines too but not by nearly as much. From MBC you have a couple of options: to ABC and sleep there (recommended) or, if time lis limited trek to ABC early morning then head down.

On the way back you will be fitter and have a sense of how long it will take you (until Chomrong) and there is flexibility where to stay. On the final section there are also a number of places to stay. Dhamous is a good place to stay for the sunrise view (though it's a haul up from Pothana.

I think the key, particularly with children is flexibilty. Some more time is needed to achieve this along with having the final say about where to eat and sleep on the trail. The latter point will depend on the agreement with the company; I suggest hiring the guide and porters on a 'daily rate' - you pay for them for set (usually) number of days but you retain the final say - taking on board the guide's advice.

This Annaourna map is useful for planning and helps to visualise the trek.

AMS info from the HRA.

Enjoy the trek.

scoodly

3

I think 10 days may be a little ambitious with kids of that age. I did it in 9 days with a group of relatively fit people in their mid-twenties.

Enjoy!

4

Scoodly thanks for your inputs. Based on your inputs, I am planning to revise the itinerary to
Day 1 - Morning flight to Pokhara and trek to Ghandrung (1640m). -
Day 2 - Trek to Chhomurong (2170m)
Day 3 - Trek to Bamboo (2600m);
Day 4 - Trek to Deurali (3230m)
Day 5 - Trek to Machhapuchre Base Camp (3800m)
Day 6 - Trek to Annapurna Base Camp (4200m)
Day 7 - Trek to Himalaya (2870m)
Day 8 - Trek to Sinuwa (2200m)
Day 9 - Trek to Jhino (1780m)
Day 10 - Buffer day
Day 11 - Trek to Nayapul (??m); ?? Hours & drive to Pokhara.

Buffer day can be used anywhere between Day 3 & Day 9. Have also asked questions about flexibility.

Thx

5

Hi, we will be in Nepal with our almost 9 and 11 yr old kids (boy and girl). We are planning on a 5-6 day Poon Hill hike/loop. I think even this plan is somewhat ambitious for my kids. Perhaps yours are more experienced hikers than mine (+ they are older), but 11 days seems like a long time!

Maybe we'll see you in Pokhara! We'll be there in late March and early April.

6

Hi there-
We did a 2 week trek this fall to Gokyo with our 9 and 11 year olds. We live in the east coast of the US at sea level (where the "mountains" are pretty small and rolling) and although we were all fit we were not expert hikers (local day hikes about it). It was a WONDERFUL trip. We added a few extra days to the itinerary so we could move as slowly as we wanted, but the kids were amazing and led the way. Feel free to DM me if you have questions about our guides (who were amazing), or anything else. I miss it and would be happy to have a reason to relive it!

7

Congratulations to NBPT_Traveler for going to Gokyo with small kids. My daughter is now 9 years old and we are planning to go either to ABC or Gokyo with her in October 2013. We have already been to the Ghorepani area including the little known Mohare with her twice within the last two years and she managed those without any problems. However, I would very much love to hear about your experience in the Gokyo region with the kids and especially how they acclimatised in that region. Any suggestions that you may have would be most welcome. Thanks a lot in advance,
Kumar