Everest Base Camp Trek

The flight to Lukla is a 30 mins flight in a 15-18 seater aircraft through which you will witness the view of the snow-capped mountains and the unique landscape of the hills. We start our journey by following the trail via Pine and Cedarwood forest. You will see the milk-white Dudh Koshi River flowing along the trail and also leading us to many villages in the route, the first village being Chaurikharka. After which we arrive at another beautiful village located at the height of 2,503 m, namely Ghat. Passing the village we walk through the suspension bridge over the Dudh Khosi river and reach Phakding which will be our rest stop for the night.

In order to meet the set destinations each day, we will always be focused to eat right and start off in time. As we start our day, we trail along the banks of Dudh Khosi river, crossing 5 suspension bridges built at different heights. We then enter Tok Tok, a village at the height of 2,760 m. You will see how beautiful the Thamserku Peak at a height of 6,608 m looks from this very point. As we move on, we take an easy walk through the area rich in pine trees with the views of the snow-capped peaks getting more appealing to the eyes. We then reach the Monjo Village at 2,835 m which is also famous being the entry point of Sagarmatha National Park. After having crossed the national park and the fifth-highest bridge we now get geared up for a little tougher hike as Namche Bazar is situated in a steep hill that trails through Jorsale at 2,740 m and Larjadhoban at 2,830m.

Namche Bazar is situated at a high altitude, works as the acclimatization stop for trekkers to avoid altitude sickness. Hence, we stroll around Namche Bazar for a while before breakfast. As it is the center of the Khumbu Region it is the main attraction for trekkers, you may even want to shop around a little as Namche facilitates government office, restaurants and even market that offers trekking gears. As we start hiking around Namche, our first stop for the hike will be the Hillary Memorial Viewpoint. We then start hiking towards the height of 3,880 m where Everest View Hotel is located. The hotel has the best view of Mt. Everest. After finishing our hike, we head back to our tea house to rest.

As we start our day, we ascend towards a less populated trail to a village framing the stunning Khumbu Valley; the Phortse Gaun. The trek from Namche to Phortse is 7 hours walk covering a total of 9 km. Ascending towards the day’s destination might be hard but the magnificent view of the rhododendron forest would make you want to forget all the stress. If we are lucky, we may also encounter few musk deers and wild colorful peacocks through the trail, in addition to this,  the first glimpses of Mt. Cho Oyu adds as a cherry to the pie. Phortse Gaun is surrounded by the most beautiful snow-capped mountains like the Mt. Taboche at the height of 6,367 m and Cholaste at 6,335 m, standing right behind the village and the magnificent view of Ama Dablam seems like the village is being watched by this beautiful mountain. We spend the night at Phortse.

We commence the day walking downhill through the meadows, crossing a bridge over the raging Imja Khola towards the pine forest. More spectacular views of Ama Dablam awaits as we move forward. To observe the glorious view of Ama Dablam, we head towards Dingboche. As Dingboche is densely populated by the Sherpas, you can make the most of this opportunity to learn about their culture and also enjoy a local sherpa lunch. As we head towards Dingboche, we pass through Pangboche which is the home of the 500-year-old ancient monastery in the Khumbu region and also Gompa which is famous for the preservation of the famous Yeti’s Scalp. Overnight at Dingboche

Dingboche will be our second acclimatization point. We will be resting off little and hike around the area. We will hike all the way to the flag pole situated at the height of 5,083 m. This point is the best for the panoramic view of the mountains like the Island Peak (6,189m), AmaDablam (6,856m), Taboche (6,367m), Cholatse (6,335m) and Lobuche (6,119m). After having refreshed by the view, we head back towards the teahouse. We have lunch and rest for the day as we will be spending the night over at Dingboche.

Apart from offering the best views of Taboche (6,367m) and Cholatse (6,335m), this trail is also famous as locals call it the habitat of the snow leopards and yeti. The trail is easy with flat till we reach Gongla. After the easy walk towards Gongla, we get started for a rough climb dropping the trail towards the Khumbu Glacier moraine. The Khumbu Glacier is well known for the memorials placed for Sherpas and climbers who lost their lives in an avalanche during the 1970 Japanese expedition on Mt. Everest including Babu Chiri Sherpa; a 10 times Everest summiteer and Scott Fischer who died in 1996 Everest disaster. We then continue our climb towards the north over the rough moraine and arriving at the Lobuche situated at the height of 4,910 m. We rest at Lobuche for the night.

Let’s be excited as it is the Everest Base Camp Day. We start walking along the trail of narrow tracks, rocky dunes, streams, and moraine towards Gorakshep Lake. Though the trail to Gorakshep is not steep, the narrow tracks may make it a little tough but more exciting as we walk from 4,900 m to 5,300 m. The hike from Lobuche to Gorakshep is a short distance of 4.5 km which takes approximately 2 hours. After reaching Gorakshep and resting there for a while, we head towards Everest Base Camp which is  3.4 km further. The prayer flags and the beautiful snow-capped mountains around the base camp is surely a view to die for. We take some time around the Everest Base Camp to enjoy our victory in reaching our destination and head back to Gorakshep, which will be our night stop point. During our time at the base camp, if we are lucky, we may also encounter avalanches on another side of Khumbu glacier; one of the biggest glaciers in the world.

The hike up to Kalapatthar may be a tough walk of 8 hours, but the pain is nothing compared to the view and surrounding that surrounds you. Though the altitude of Kalapatthar is 5,550 m, it is located at a slightly higher altitude and might be a little tiring. The attraction of Kala Patthar is the sunrise and the best view of the forehead in the sky; EVEREST!!! The ascent up the peak is demanding, especially as it gets very cold (-20c or lower), windy and sometimes snowy. Reaching up on the top, reward yourself with the irresistible views of Mt. Everest (8,848m). Himalayan giants such as Nuptse (7,861m), Pumori (7,165m), Chagatse, Lhotse (8,414m) adding up and countless others loom all around us. Leaving these memories created behind, we descend back to Gorakshep. We then advance towards Pheriche and bid farewell to Gorakshep. The trail towards Pheriche will descend downhill and we walk at ease.

Descending along the Imja Khola from Pheriche to Namche, we pass Tengboche and visit the oldest monastery of the Khumbu Region. According to the locals, the monastery was founded by Lama Sange Dorjee who came from Tibet’s Rongphu Monastery. We get to interact with the monks who may give more information about the monastery and as an offering to gods. We then slowly descend for about 2 hours towards Phunke Tenga and again climb up ascending slowly to arrive at Khyangjuma (3,550 m). We take a short break in Khyangjuma and trek uphill for 2 more hours to arrive at Namche (3,440 m) to spend the night there.

We reach Phakding and rest there for the night.

The trek towards Lukla from Phakding is also downhill and a completely relaxing one with a slow ascent. We advise you to enjoy the trail to the fullest, as descending back through the forest of rhododendron and pines is much easy. As we approach Lukla our last stop to round up our trek, you can settle down and grab a chilled beer to celebrate this long yet never fading memorable journey.