I get travel sick again. This time it is nepal with climbing Island Peak at 6200 meters and than short stop in India. Will be gone for 40 days in march. So ladies and gentlemen anyone been there? Any tips? I've been to africa and soutt/central america and all over europe but inside pointers are always welcomed.

I have nothing useful to contribute. I am in awe. And I demand pictures upon your return. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Well this would be a totally different thread as this is the first trip I would be doing that is totally digital. Now before I shot all my trips using film and after 3600 pictures I still was using the same set of batteries on my 4 cameras. Now I'm digital bound and need to find a solution. I was looking into solar pannels but that is a no go so far. Problem is all the chargers are integrated (need houshold current) so I need an outlet and cameras are using special lithium ion batteries so I can't get just pleanty of rechargables. That sucks.

I've never been to India, but quite a few of my help desk calls have.

BWAHahahahah.

*ahem*

<img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Polak187... you HAVE to find a call center while you're there. Pretend to be a disgruntled American who was kept on hold too long. You've had enough and want to see the manager.

How about a small DC/AC inverter (assuming you'll have periodic access to a vehicle w/outlet) for your camera's charger?

allready thought about it but it's a no go since I will spend close to 30 days in tents. only if those pesky cameras had chargers build in that would be so much easier.

Believe me I have a spare laptop battery that dell charged me $40 for not returning it on time... I'm thinking about paying them a visit (personally finding William since that's a name he used) and dropping it off stating that since I was in town I didnt want to waste money on the postage.

Sounds like an incredibly cool trip! Will you give us an idea of your itinerary so we can live vicariously?? And maybe post some pics of your gear?

If you search for "Everest expedition" in Google, along with "gear list" and stuff like that, you will find all kinds of interesting sites that can be helpful to you. Of course this is assuming you had questions about what gear to take for these kind of trips.

Polak, given how expensive the trip is going to be in the first place, you can probably also invest in an AA-powered digicam and use nimh cells (or AA lithiums) in it. The Canon A510 seems like a real nice choice. If you don't use the LCD screen or flash much, you can probably get 400+ pictures on a pair of AA lithiums, which means 20 or so cells should be enough for the whole trip, and be less of a load than a NiMH charger. I dunno how well NiMH works in very cold weather anyway.

Part of my trips always is being financed by selling photos after I come back. Only certain equipment with specific lenses and quality of image can be used in order for me to obtain the right picture that can sell. Canon doesn't have it. I will be taking Nikon D70 with me and Panasonic LX1 (due to it's panoramic shape sensor) and Ricoh GrD (fast lens, wide angle and AAA compability). I had a talk with a friend of mine who is an electrical engineer and as soon as my Burton solar pannels arrive we will crack one of my chargers and try to bypass the 110V converter and jack the solar juice right into the charging circuit.

People who have been to certain places have "insider tips". I pretty much know what to take but I'm always open for suggestions since it's never too late to learn things. I'm also open for "tips and tricks". I'm not new to foreign travel but just like you were comming down to NYC looking for worlds best pizza and had to go thru 20 shops to find the one when all you had to do is ask at the beggining where to go.

I will be posting updates as time progresses.

Matt,

Have you looked at some of the Brunton solar products?

Brunton Solar Port

Brunton Solar Roll

Brunton Solaris


Sorry missed your post that said you were already getting one or more.
Pete

Most of the digicams I have seen the charger is internal to the camera and the plug in box is just a big power supply which sullpies a regulated voltage but doesn't control charge current so it should be simple enough to build a small regulator to feed the proper voltage to the camera.

If you want to buy a Khukuri, do NOT buy one from a shop in town... You can probably find a good one in a little village, but you have to be sure you do not get one made for tourists, because they will NOT have proper heat treatment...
Any real ones that you buy there will most likely also have handles too small for MOST american hands...
You can get decent ones from Khukuri House.
But the best seem to be from Himalayan Imports.