Everest Base Camp Trek

Welcome to Kathmandu – the capital city of Nepal. Today is your first day with us at EverTrek. We will send one of our company reps to pick you up at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). After the long flight you can spend today exploring the streets of Thamel and relaxing before we meet for our welcome dinner later that evening.

Today we will head out into Kathmandu and visit the cultural and historical sites of the Kathmandu valley. We will visit the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Kathmandu and have lunch at one of our favourite viewpoints in the city. Kathmandu lies at 1300m above sea level so it’s important to get out and about today and let your body acclimatise. In the evening we will grab any last minute items in the trekking hub of Thamel and get an early night ready for the trek tomorrow.

We will grab an early flight to Lukla airport. It all starts here! The flight to Lukla is one of our favourite parts of the trek. Landing at the Tenzing-Hillary Airport at Lukla is on many peoples Bucket List. Upon landing, we will meet the remaining crew and porters, who will
be assisting us throughout the trek. Shortly after this, we will start the trek on the stone paved trail through Lukla and pass prayer rocks, mani walls and small Sherpa settlements. Here you can sample some of the most beautiful rural scenes on the entire trek. This first walk is quite short as we descend down from Lukla towards Phakding. When we reach Phakding we will grab some lunch and have the afternoon to explore the village or even hike up to the nearby Monastery. The night will be spent in one of the lodges in Phakding.

Meals included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner

(Highlights of the day: Wonderful aerial view of the mountains on the flight to Lukla, ‘Mani’ prayer rocks, Phakding village and ‘Gompas’ monastery)

After having breakfast at your lodge in Phakding, the trail leads you towards the first suspension bridge of the trek and easy uphill through the settlement of Zapute, Toktok, Benkar, Chumoa to Monju, which is also a gateway to Sagarmatha National Park. Between Phakding and Monju you can enjoy small tea houses and shops. After short National Park formalities at the entrance to the park, the trail drops steeply to the long suspension bridge built across the Dudh Koshi River. We further cross another suspension bridge and continue the walk to the high Hillary Bridge at the bottom of the hill. After the bridge, the trail leads you uphill to Namche Bazaar- a gateway to Mt. Everest. This uphill trail will give you the first great view of Mt. Everest that is hidden behind Lhotse-Nuptse and other peaks like Mt. Lhotse, Mt. Kusum Khangru. The night will be spent in a lodge in Namche Bazaar.

 Meals included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner

(Highlights of the day: Visting small settlements like Zapute, Toktok, Benkar, Chumoa and Monju, Sagarmatha National Park, small tea houses and shops, suspension bridges, steep trail, Namche Bazaar and the very first view of Mt. Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse and Mt. Kusum Khangaru.)

This is the first day of two days set aside for acclimatisation. Namche is an essential acclimatisation stop so we stay as active as we can. We either head up to the beautiful village of Thame, which is an old Sherpa village or the village of Khumjung/Khunde/Khongde village. Hotel Everest view is along this route and if the weather is clear, you will get a great view of Mt. Everest and the surrounding snow-capped peaks.  If you have time, pay a visit to the Mountaineering museum or you can simply spend your time enjoying cafés, shops, bakeries and restaurants in Namche Bazaar. The night will also be spent in a lodge in Namche Bazaar.

 Meals included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner

(Highlights of the day: Thame Sherpa village, Khumjung/Khunde/Khongde, Hotel Everest View, cafes, bakeries, shops, restaurant etc)

After breakfast, we depart Namche Bazaar and follow the flat trail that leads us to the village of Kyamjuma. We then descend to the bottom of the valley where we will have lunch next to the Dudhkoshi river at 3250m. The views on this section of trail are some of the best on the trek. Enjoy views of Mt. Everest, Mt. Nuptse, Mt. Lhotse and Mt. Ama Dablam and a very close up view of Thamserku. After lunch, we will tackle the long climb up to Tengboche and visit the famous Tengboche monastery. This zig-zagging route takes about 2-3 hours but the journey is so worth it. The night will be spent in a lodge in Tengboche or the small village 100m below called Deboche.

 Meals included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner

(Highlights of the day: Great views of Mt. Everest, Mt. Nuptse, Mt. Lhotse, Mt. Ama Dablam and Mt. Thamserku, and Tengboche Monastery - The highest Monastery in the world.)

We start the day's hike, descending down to the riverside through lush woodland and cross the river on another suspension bridge. We then spend the next 2 -3 hours gradually climbing up the valley to the beautiful settlement of Pangboche (3,860m/12,664ft). Here you can spot several Chortens and Mani walls as you walk through the village.  You can also get a close-up view the majestic Ama Dablam. After some lunch, we ascend towards Dingboche where a fairly moderate walk leads us to the Imja Valley. Here, on climbing the last and steepest climb of the day, we finally reach Dingboche. The night is spent in a lodge in Dingboche.

 Meals included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner

(Highlights of the day: Lush forest, steep climbs, and magnificent Chortens and Mani walls.)

Today starts with the ascent through the Khumbu Khola valley. The views of Cholatse and Taboche peak on your left are awesome and these mountains will keep you company for the majority of today. You will also get a glimpse of the Chola Lake and the majestic view of Mt. Pumori (7,138m/23,418ft). We will then make our way across the glacial river and stop for lunch in the tiny settlement of Dughla. After lunch we ascend for about an hour or so until we reach the memorial hill. It's a very powerful place with numerous memorials of Sherpa and other climbers who perished on Mt. Everest and the other surrounding peaks. We will stop here for 20 minutes or so before we head up the Khumbu valley and reach the village of Lobuche.

 Meals included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner

(Highlights of the day: The view of Chola Lake along with Mt. Pumori, memorial hill, views of other peaks like Khumbutse, Lingtren, and Mahalangur Himal.)

This is it! Base Camp day!

This is probably the toughest part of the trek as we ascend over 5000m and towards the historic Everest base camp. We get up early so make sure you wrap up warm as the weather can be a real NUTCRACKER. The trail gets a little difficult as we traverse the glacial moraine and find a route to the settlement of Gorak Shep where we grab some lunch and fill up our water bottles and head further up the valley. As we get closer and closer, you can spot the Everest peak and the north ridge of Everest along with Mt. Pumori, Mt Mahalangur, Mt. Lingtern, Mt Khumbutse, Mt. Nuptse and so on.  Just a small ascent from here leads you to a 360-degree vista of snowy mountains. One of the most awe-inspiring views you will ever see. As we walk thought the rocky trail, we step onto the glacier and make our way over to Everest base camp (5,364m/17,575ft).

You have done it! A massive achievement and something you will remember forever.

Once we hug our teammates and get those base camp photo's, we will head back towards Gorak Shep where we will stay for the night. (5,160m/16,929ft)

 Meals included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner

(Highlights of the day: View's of Mt Everest, reaching the historic Everest base camp and box ticked.)

If you're feeling up to it, we will get up to at 4 am and make our way up to the summit of Kala Pattar at 5545m. This will take us a couple of hours or hard uphill hiking but what a reward. A sunrise view of Mt Everest. Watch the first rays of sunshine hit the summit on Everest and take in the views. Breathtaking! Once we descend and meet the other team members who enjoyed a lay in we will head back down the Khumbu valley towards the village of Pangboche. This is a long day but as we descend you will notice the huge change in altitude and the increase in oxygen. We do sometimes stay in Pheriche instead of Pangboche depending on how the group is doing.

 Meals included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner

(Highlights of the day:  Sunrise view of Mt. Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse, Pumori and Ama Dablam, summit a 5500m peak, enjoy the Khumbu valley on the descent)

Today we follow the flat trail down towards Tengboche. If we have time, we will visit the Monastery once again or head for a tea break before we descend the steep section back down to the Dudh Koshi River. We cross the first bridge over the river and climb for 2 hours back up towards Namche Bazaar. The walking definitely get's easier as you descend but the legs will be tired after the last 8 days or so of walking so we will take our time today. We will spend the night in Namche Bazaar celebrating with a visit to the worlds highest Irish Bar. The hot showers and home comforts of Namche Bazaar make this a great place to stop on the way back down.

 Melas included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner

(Highlights of the day:  Local Sherpa villages, Tengboche Monastery, Guinness at the worlds highest Irish Bar )

The final day of trekking and the long journey from Namche Bazaar back down to Lukla. We re-trace our steps back across the Hilary Bridge and the local Sherpa villages and stop for lunch in Phakding. Enjoy the last day of epic mountain views, pine forests, Sherpa villages, prayer stones, flapping prayer flags and the flat route back to Lukla. Once we pass through the Lukla trekking gate and reach our tea house, we will relax and enjoy the last day with the mountain team. We will have food with our porters and guides and celebrate the fantastic trek.

 Meals included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner

(Highlights of the day: Flat trail, open plains, Rhododendron and Pine forests, Sherpa villages, prayer stones, and flapping prayer flags.)

This is the last day of your trip with the EverTrek team. After breakfast, we will say our farewells and transport you back to the Kathmandu airport for your flight home.