Everest Base Camp Trek

Trip highlights

• Sunrise on Kala Patthar

  5,545 metres, and the reason the itinerary puts base camp first and this second. Everest hides behind Nuptse from base camp itself; from here the whole south-west face stands clear at first light, which is the photograph you came for.

• Two acclimatisation days, not one

  Namche on day four and Dingboche on day seven, each climbing several hundred metres above the village and sleeping back down at it. This is the single difference between itineraries that get people to Kala Patthar and itineraries that turn them round at Lobuche.

• Namche Bazaar and the Tengboche gompa

  A Sherpa town built into a horseshoe at 3,440 metres with a market that predates the trekking, and the largest monastery in the Khumbu at 3,867 metres with Ama Dablam directly behind it.

• The Khumbu glacier, walked along its side

  The last three days leave the treeline behind for moraine and ice, with Nuptse, Lhotse and Pumori closing in. Base camp at 5,364 metres is a tented city in April and an empty field of rock in October.

• A crew that is paid and insured properly

  Licensed English-speaking guide, porters carrying a capped load and covered by rescue insurance. In a region where that is not universal, it is worth asking every operator you are comparing.

At a glance

• Kala Patthar, 5,545 mThe Everest view everyone comes for, better than the one from base camp.
• 14 days, Kathmandu to KathmanduTwelve on the trail, two acclimatisation days inside them.
• Two full acclimatisation daysNamche and Dingboche. The short itineraries drop these first.
• Teahouse lodges throughoutTwin share, and honestly described in Good to know.
• Khumbu, NepalLukla, Namche, Tengboche, Dingboche, Gorak Shep.
• Five to seven hours a dayNo technical ground. The altitude is the difficulty, not the trail.

Day by day

1. 1Day 1Arrive Kathmandu, 1,300 m

   Met at the airport and driven to the hotel in Thamel. Afternoon kit check with the guide — this is when we find out that somebody's boots are new, which is a problem worth having on day one rather than day five. Permits are arranged while you sleep.

2. 2Day 2Fly to Lukla, 2,860 m, and walk to Phakding, 2,651 m

   The famous flight: thirty-five minutes in a Twin Otter onto a sloping strip cut into a hillside. In peak season it leaves from Ramechhap instead of Kathmandu — see Good to know, because it changes your day and nobody mentions it until you have paid. Then a gentle three hours down the Dudh Kosi to Phakding, deliberately losing height on the first afternoon.

3. 3Day 3Phakding to Namche Bazaar, 3,440 m

   The day the trek begins in earnest. Five to six hours, crossing the Dudh Kosi repeatedly on suspension bridges strung with prayer flags, then the long climb from the Hillary Bridge up to Namche — 600 metres of switchbacks with the first sight of Everest through the trees near the top, if the cloud allows.

4. 4Day 4Namche — acclimatisation, and the Everest View

   Not a rest day. You climb to the Everest View Hotel at 3,880 metres for Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam over breakfast, then come back down to sleep at 3,440. Climb high, sleep low, which is the whole mechanism. Afternoon in Namche: the Sherpa museum, the bakeries, and the last reliable ATM on the trail.

5. 5Day 5Namche to Tengboche, 3,867 m

   Five hours, contouring high above the Dudh Kosi with Ama Dablam ahead for most of it, then down to the river at Phunki Tenga and a steep climb through rhododendron to the monastery. Tengboche gompa is the largest in the Khumbu, and the afternoon puja is open to visitors who arrive quietly.

6. 6Day 6Tengboche to Dingboche, 4,410 m

   Five to six hours, and the day the landscape changes. The last of the trees end around Pangboche and the valley opens into grazing and stone-walled fields. Dingboche sits in a side valley under Ama Dablam's east face, and the wind gets up every afternoon.

7. 7Day 7Dingboche — acclimatisation on Nangkartshang

   The second acclimatisation day, and the harder of the two. A steep climb up Nangkartshang ridge to about 5,080 metres for Makalu, Lhotse and Island Peak, then back down to sleep at 4,410. Most people find this the day they learn what altitude feels like, which is much better learnt here than at Lobuche.

8. 8Day 8Dingboche to Lobuche, 4,940 m

   Five hours, and the walk stops being pretty and starts being serious. Up the Khumbu valley to Thukla, then the steep pull to the Thukla pass and the memorials — a ridge of stone cairns for climbers who did not come back, including Scott Fischer and Babu Chiri Sherpa. It is a quiet hour. Then a level walk on moraine to Lobuche.

9. 9Day 9Lobuche to Gorak Shep, 5,164 m, and Everest Base Camp, 5,364 m

   The big day: seven to eight hours in two halves. Three hours up the glacier's lateral moraine to Gorak Shep, lunch, then the out-and-back to base camp over rubble and ice. In April it is a city of tents under the Khumbu Icefall; in October it is an empty field with the icefall still there. Back to Gorak Shep to sleep, which is the highest night of the trip.

10. 10Day 10Kala Patthar, 5,545 m, at dawn — then down to Pheriche, 4,371 m

    Up in the dark for the climb most people remember longest: two hours of slow switchbacks on scree to the top of Kala Patthar for sunrise on the whole south-west face of Everest, with Nuptse and Pumori either side. Cold, slow, and worth every minute. Then breakfast and a long descent to Pheriche, where the air is thick enough to sleep properly.

11. 11Day 11Pheriche to Namche Bazaar, 3,440 m

    Six to seven hours, retracing the valley and losing a thousand metres. Everything smells different on the way down — juniper, then pine, then woodsmoke — and everyone walks faster than they did coming up.

12. 12Day 12Namche to Lukla, 2,860 m

    The last trail day, six to seven hours, with the Hillary Bridge and the river crossings in reverse. An evening in Lukla that is traditionally spent with the crew, and traditionally longer than planned.

13. 13Day 13Fly to Kathmandu

    Early flight out, weather permitting — mornings are when Lukla flies. Afternoon free in Kathmandu, and a day room held so there is somewhere to shower and repack. Dinner together.

14. 14Day 14Depart Kathmandu

    Transfer to the airport for your onward flight. If you have kept a spare day for the Lukla weather and did not need it, this is the day to see Bhaktapur or Patan instead.

Good to know

The Lukla flight, and the thing nobody tells you until afterwards

In the two peak seasons — roughly March to May and late September to November — Lukla flights do not leave from Kathmandu. Air traffic at Kathmandu is too congested, so the service moves to Ramechhap (Manthali), which is a four to five hour drive east. That means a road transfer leaving Kathmandu at about one or two in the morning to make a first-light departure.

It is not a secret, and it is also not on most itineraries until you have paid. Ours says it here, at the top, because it is the single most common thing clients arrive not expecting.

And it is a weather flight in both directions

Lukla flies in the morning or not at all, and days are lost in both directions every season. Build a spare day into your international ticket — one at minimum, two if your flight home is expensive to change. If the delay runs on, a helicopter seat out is usually available at your own cost, typically several hundred dollars a head shared between passengers, and your insurance may or may not cover it. Read that clause before you travel rather than at Lukla.

What a teahouse is actually like

A wooden room, two single beds, a foam mattress and a blanket. No heating in the rooms — the warmth is a yak-dung stove in the dining room, lit in the evening. Bring a sleeping bag rated to about minus ten. Toilets are usually shared and often squat, and above Dingboche the plumbing tends to freeze, which makes them exactly what you are imagining.

Hot showers cost money and increasingly are not worth it above 4,000 metres, where getting cold and wet is a real risk rather than an inconvenience. Charging a phone costs money, and the price goes up with altitude. Bring a power bank and a head torch, and expect wifi to be sold by the hour and to be bad.

Altitude, honestly

The card grades this trek moderate and the walking is. The altitude is not. Eight of your nights are above 4,000 metres and you will sleep at 5,164 at Gorak Shep. Mild headache, broken sleep and breathlessness on stairs are normal and are not, by themselves, altitude sickness. Persistent vomiting, confusion, a headache that does not lift with painkillers and fluid, or any loss of coordination are, and the response to all of them is to go down, immediately, at any hour.

Our guides carry a pulse oximeter and are instructed to turn people round. Descending is a decision the guide makes, not a negotiation, and booking with us is agreeing to that. Nobody has ever thanked us for it on the day.

Diamox is worth discussing with your own doctor before you leave. It is a prescription drug, it has side effects, and it is not a substitute for the acclimatisation days.

Insurance is a condition, not a suggestion

Your policy must cover trekking to 5,600 metres and helicopter evacuation. A standard travel policy usually covers neither, and a rescue from Gorak Shep costs thousands. We will ask for the policy number and the emergency line before you fly.

Permits, and money

Two permits are needed in the Khumbu: the Sagarmatha National Park entry permit and the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality permit. Both are included and we arrange both. The old TIMS card is no longer required for this region.

Carry cash in rupees. The last dependable ATM is in Namche, prices rise steadily with altitude because everything is carried or flown in, and nothing above Namche takes a card.

Porters

One porter between two trekkers, carrying a capped load, insured, and equipped. This is worth checking with anyone you compare us against — it is not universal in the Khumbu, and the difference is not visible on a website.

Questions about this trip

You might also consider

• Annapurna Base Camp TrekInto the Annapurna Sanctuary — rhododendron forest, Gurung villages and a 4,130 m amphitheatre with 360 degrees of mountain around it.From US$ 2,850
• Island Peak with Everest Base CampThe Everest Base Camp trail and a 6,189 m summit in one trip — ropes, crampons, a skills day at Chhukung and full climbing support.From US$ 2,050
• Manaslu TrekAround the eighth-highest mountain on earth — the Budhi Gandaki gorge, Tibetan villages, the Larkya La at 5,106 m and a fraction of the crowds.From US$ 2,300