Standards
Every verdict on this desk comes from a full trek, gear bought or borrowed at retail, and teahouse stays we paid for ourselves. Here is the method behind the notes.
Our story
PB Nepal started as a shared notebook between three people who had spent too many seasons guiding and mending gear in the same valleys. What began as private notes on what survived a trek turned into a public desk once we realised how little honest, unpaid information existed for travellers planning from Johannesburg, Cape Town or anywhere else far from the trailhead.
2019
Between guiding contracts, we fixed zippers, re-stuffed baffles and patched shells for other trekkers in Pokhara. The first records were simple: which jackets came back, which boots split, and how long each item actually lasted.
2021
A brand offered to supply jackets for a route write-up. We declined and wrote the rule down instead: gear is bought or borrowed at retail, teahouse stays are paid for by the reviewer, and nothing gets a score because someone sent a free sample.
2023
We stopped publishing anything written after a single day hike. A note now goes out only once an item or a lodge has been used through a complete trek, and every stay carries the date and season so readers can judge it against their own departure.
Sleeping bag warmth is given as a range from real nights, not one lab figure. When a jacket loses loft or a kitchen changes hands, the correction is dated at the top of the entry rather than quietly rewritten. Readers can see what shifted and when.
No paid rankings, no inflated scores, no sponsored placements. We also keep the desk clear of financial, trading and adult material, because none of it belongs next to a packing list for a monsoon trek. If a verdict changes, we say so and explain why.
Who runs this desk
PB Nepal is written by four people who spent years guiding and repairing gear in the Himalaya before they started keeping notes in public. Two of us led groups on the Annapurna and Langtang routes. One ran a repair bench in Pokhara, patching shells and re-stuffing baffles for departing treks. The fourth handles the paperwork side: permits, TIMS cards, and the logistics that quietly decide whether a trip runs smoothly.
We write for independent travellers, many of them flying in from South Africa, who plan a monsoon or winter trek and want to know what actually works before they spend money. Most of what we publish comes from our own trips. A jacket gets written up after a full season, not after a weekend. A guesthouse gets a note only if we slept there and paid for the room.
Field kit after a Langtang season, photographed before repair.
No brand sends us a jacket to review. If we test something, it came from a shop, a friend, or our own cupboard, and we say which.
A day hike tells you very little about a sleeping bag. We write after at least one complete route, and we date every stay so you know the season.
When a note changes, we log the update instead of quietly editing it. Warmth ratings are given as a range from real nights, not a single lab number.
What we will not do: paid rankings, inflated scores, or anything tied to finance, trading, or adult content. If a piece of gear failed, the note says so. If a teahouse kitchen was slow, that goes in too. Readers support this desk directly, which is the only reason we can keep writing it this way.