The first night above 3,000 metres in a Nepal teahouse is when most trekkers discover that their gear is inadequate. The room has no heating. The walls are thin plywood or stone. The window does not seal properly. The blanket provided by the teahouse is a single cotton-filled quilt designed for someone who already has a sleeping bag. And the temperature at 3,500 metres in October drops to minus five by midnight.
This is not a design flaw. It is the reality of accommodation in a place where everything — every piece of wood, every litre of kerosene, every cooking gas canister — arrives on the back of a porter or a mule. Heating a guest room at 4,000 metres would require fuel that costs more per night than the room itself. So the teahouses do not heat the rooms. They heat the dining room instead, with a single yak-dung or kerosene stove that everyone crowds around until bedtime.
Staying warm at night in a teahouse is your responsibility. Here is how to do it properly.
What Sleeping Bag Rating Do You Need?
For treks that go above 4,000 metres (EBC, Annapurna Circuit via Thorong La, Manaslu, Langtang), bring a sleeping bag rated to minus fifteen Celsius comfort. Not the extreme rating — the comfort rating. Sleeping bag manufacturers list two temperatures: comfort (the temperature at which an average person sleeps comfortably) and extreme (the temperature at which you survive but do not sleep). You want to sleep, not just survive.
For lower-altitude treks (Poon Hill, Mardi Himal, lower Langtang), a minus five to minus ten comfort rating is sufficient. The nights are cold but not brutally cold.
Down sleeping bags are lighter and pack smaller than synthetic. A 600-fill-power down bag rated to minus fifteen weighs about 1.2 kilograms and compresses to the size of a football. The equivalent synthetic bag weighs 1.8 kilograms and is twice the volume. If you are buying specifically for Nepal trekking, down is worth the higher price.
Our Standard and Premium trek packages include sleeping bags. If you are on a Budget package, you can rent one in Thamel for NPR 100 to 200 per day. Check the zip, the loft, and the smell before renting — some rental bags have seen better decades.
What Do You Wear to Bed?
The layering system that keeps you warm during the day keeps you warm at night with one adjustment: everything must be dry. Wearing damp hiking clothes to bed is the fastest way to get cold and stay cold. Change into dedicated sleep layers before getting into your bag.
A base layer of merino wool or synthetic thermals (top and bottom) is the foundation. Add a fleece mid-layer if the temperature drops below minus five. Wear clean, dry wool socks — not the ones you hiked in. A buff or balaclava over your head retains heat that would otherwise escape from your neck and scalp. You lose a disproportionate amount of heat from your head, so covering it is not optional above 3,500 metres.
Do not overdress. If you overheat inside the sleeping bag and sweat, the moisture will make you colder later in the night when the temperature drops further. Start with base layer plus socks plus head covering. Add the fleece only if you are still cold after ten minutes.
How Do You Make a Teahouse Room Warmer?
Block the draughts. Teahouse rooms leak cold air through window frames, door gaps, and sometimes through the walls themselves. Stuff a spare t-shirt or buff into the gap under the door. If the window does not close fully, hang a towel or jacket over it. These small interventions make a measurable difference — a draught-free room can be five degrees warmer than one with air flowing through it.
Fill a water bottle with hot water from the teahouse kitchen (they will charge NPR 50 to 100 for boiling water) and put it inside your sleeping bag ten minutes before you get in. Place it between your thighs or against your core — not against your feet, where it cools quickly and becomes a cold metal object by midnight. A Nalgene bottle works best because it seals reliably. Cheap plastic bottles can leak.
Choose the right bed. In shared rooms, the bed against the interior wall is warmer than the one against the exterior wall. Upper bunks are warmer than lower bunks because heat rises. If you have a choice, take the upper interior position.
What About Hand and Toe Warmers?
Chemical hand warmers (the single-use packets that heat when exposed to air) are genuinely useful at high altitude. Tuck one into each sock and one into each glove liner before bed. They produce heat for six to eight hours — enough to last the night. They weigh almost nothing and cost about USD 1 per pair.
You can buy them in Thamel before your trek. The supply above Namche Bazaar or Manang is unreliable and the price doubles or triples. Bring enough for the nights above 4,000 metres.
Does a Sleeping Bag Liner Help?
Yes. A silk or thermal liner adds five to ten degrees of warmth to your sleeping bag and weighs under 200 grams. It also keeps the inside of your sleeping bag cleaner, which matters on a two-week trek where washing facilities are limited.
A thermal fleece liner adds more warmth than silk but is bulkier. For treks above 5,000 metres (EBC, Three Passes), the fleece liner is worth the extra weight. For lower treks, silk is sufficient.
What About Altitude and Cold?
Cold and altitude interact badly. At 4,500 metres, your body is already working harder to maintain basic functions because of reduced oxygen. Adding cold stress on top of altitude stress increases your risk of poor sleep, headache, and next-day fatigue. This is not just about comfort — staying warm at altitude is a health issue.
Dehydration makes you colder. At altitude you lose moisture through rapid breathing in dry air. Drink warm fluids before bed — ginger tea, lemon honey water, or just hot water. Avoid alcohol, which dilates blood vessels and accelerates heat loss despite the initial feeling of warmth.
Eat a high-calorie dinner. Your body generates heat by metabolising food. Dal bhat is perfect — rice provides carbohydrates for sustained energy, lentils provide protein, and the volume keeps your digestive system active and heat-producing through the first hours of sleep. A chocolate bar before bed provides a quick calorie boost for the coldest hours around three or four in the morning.
What If You Are Still Cold?
If you have done everything above and are still cold, the problem is likely your sleeping bag. Either it is not rated warm enough, or it has lost loft from compression or moisture. A bag that felt warm at 3,000 metres may not be warm enough at 4,500 metres.
Ask the teahouse for an extra blanket. Most teahouses have spare blankets they will provide for free or for a small charge. Lay it over your sleeping bag, not inside it — the blanket adds insulation to the outside of your bag without compressing the fill inside.
In an emergency, wearing your down jacket inside your sleeping bag works. It is not comfortable, and it compresses the bag's fill on one side, but the down jacket adds significant warmth where you need it most — around your core.
The bottom line: cold nights in teahouses are solvable. The trekkers who sleep well above 4,000 metres are not tougher than you. They just prepared better. A good sleeping bag, dry layers, a hot water bottle, and a draught-free room are the difference between lying awake at 2am and waking rested at 6am ready for another day in the mountains.
All our Standard and Premium trek packages include sleeping bags and down jackets. See our layering guide for the complete clothing system.
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Email:info@theeverestholiday.com
Written by Shreejan Simkhada, CEO of The Everest Holiday and third-generation Himalayan guide. TAAN Member #1586.
