Five or seven nights outside, between 3,800 and 4,300 metres, with a crew of five or six people making it work. Here is exactly what that looks like, so that nothing on day one is a surprise.
The camp
Two-person tents, a mess tent where everyone eats, a kitchen tent, and a toilet tent. Camps are chosen for water, shelter from the afternoon wind, and flat ground — usually beside a river, which means it is never completely quiet.
The crew go ahead with the horses and the camp is standing when you arrive. That is the single biggest practical difference between this and carrying your own gear.
The food
Cooked fresh, three meals a day plus tea whenever anyone stops. Rice, dal, vegetables, chapati, soup, pasta, eggs, porridge in the morning. Mostly vegetarian, which is normal here and easiest at altitude. Portions are large because appetite drops with height and you need the calories anyway.
Tell us in advance about allergies, coeliac disease, or anything you cannot eat. At 4,300 metres there is no shop.
Washing and toilets
A toilet tent over a dug pit, moved and filled in when we leave. Bring your own paper and a lighter; anything that does not burn goes out with us in sealed bags. For washing: a bowl of hot water in the morning, and a river if you are brave. There is no shower for the whole route.
The cold
Temperature drops fast the moment the sun leaves the valley, usually in the late afternoon. People underestimate this. Change into dry clothes as soon as you stop walking, put the insulated jacket on before you feel cold, and get into the sleeping bag warm rather than trying to warm up in it.
Evenings
Tea, dinner, and usually in bed by half past eight. There is no light pollution for a hundred kilometres in any direction, so on a clear night it is worth standing outside for ten minutes in the cold. Most people do it once and then every night.
Electricity and signal
Neither. Bring a power bank for a phone or camera and expect it to be your whole supply. There is no signal on the route.