Adventure Travel: Trek To The Everest Base Camp

Katmandu was the starting point of our incredible journey. We spent two days wandering the narrow streets here and visited temples and stupas that provided much intrigue to this fascinating city. We ventured into Pashupatinath and visited Nepal’s largest Buddhist stupa, the Bodhnath Stupa, both of which are a part of UNESCO’s World Heritage site.

We made an early morning start for the flight to Lukla, the gateway to the Khumbu. This is an exciting flight, which gave us a glimpse of Everest in the distance. Lukla is perched high on a slope in the Khumbu region of the Himalaya. Here, we met our porters, Sherpa guides, and pack animals and started out on our trek, descending 1,500 feet to the Dudh Kosi (River of Milk). As we followed the trail to the village of Phakding we passed mani walls, boulders carved with Tibetan Buddhist prayer inscriptions.

The trail then took us north up the Dudh Kosi valley to Monjo, where we officially entered Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We caught our first glimpse of Everest during a steep climb that brought us to the Sherpa market town of Namche Bazaar, our home for the next two nights. We spent an extra day here to acclimatize, heading out on short hikes to take in views of Everest.

After climbing to the Thami Monastery, we retraced our steps before turning uphill toward the lovely village of Khumjung, where Sir Edmund Hillary established a school in 1961.

We hiked through the Dudh Kosi gorge to Tengboche Monastery on one of the most beautiful valley walks on Earth. The monastery is the home of the Rimpoche of Tengboche. Inside the monastery are incredibly ornate wall hangings, a 20-foot sculpture of Buddha, and the musical instruments and robes of the Lamas. Our group was lucky to see the Lama perform a ceremony and hear the mystical chanting and music. After our visit, we descended to our lodge in Dingboche.

From Thyangboche, the trail drops to Debuche, where we cross an exciting suspension bridge on the Imja Khola. Our hike then took us down through a beautiful forest to the village of Pangboche. With the stunning peak of Ama Dablam towering directly overhead, we hiked up to the remote village of Dingboche, where we spent two nights camping. We then headed out on one of the most scenic hikes of the trip, a 2,100-foot climb to Nangkartshang Peak (16,699') to see Lhotse, Makalu, and Cho Oyu (three of the six highest peaks in the world).

We continued along the valley floor to Dughla where we stopped for lunch before hiking on Lobuje. The dramatic landscape around us changes as we continue to climb higher and higher. By the time we reached Lobuche, the temperature had dropped and we were walking among frozen rivers in an icy wilderness. The next day, we walked to the edge of the Khumbu Glacier then hiked up to the village of Gorak Shep, nestled under the soaring summits. We climbed up Kala Pattar (18,192') for a dramatic close up view of Everest.

We finally headed out on the final climb to Everest Base Camp, tucked into the mountainside under the sparkling Khumbu Icefall. Mount Everest up close and personal is breathtaking! You would be impressed even if this wasn’t the world’s tallest mountain. After camping there for a while we returned to Lobuje for the night. The next day we retraced our steps along the Imja Khola to Debuche. We hiked down a steep trail to the Dudh Kosi and climbed to Namche Bazar for the night. The final day of our descent, we had a long and leisurely trek back to Lukla from where we flew back to Kathmandu

The trek to Everest Base Camp is quite possibly the most dramatic and picturesque in the Himalayas. We stayed in villages set against soaring, jagged pinnacles; we got to know the unique culture of the Sherpas; discovered remote mountain monasteries; walked trails lined with mani stones, engraved with Tibetan Buddhist prayers and learnt about the Sherpas’ spiritual perspective on the mountains they call home.

Namche is a colorful village with many wonderful and interesting shops and vendors, fabulous food, and stunning views of the surrounding mountains. An early hike above town, before the clouds moved in, gave us a spectacular Himalayan sunrise and views of Mt. Everest, Lhotse (the 4th highest peak in the world), and the beautiful Ama Dablam. On the way down, we we visited the Sherpa Museum that houses an exhibit on traditional Sherpa lifestyle and a fabulous photography display by a local Nepalese naturalist.

The next day we set out on a trail along the Bhote Kosi to the remote village of Thami, the last outpost on the ancient trading route over the Nangpa La (pass) between Tibet and Nepal. We cross the Bhote Kosi and hiked steeply uphill to Thami.