Everest Base Camp and Kalapatthar Trek

Normally, your arrival in Kathmandu is the day one of this trip. We will come to pick you up at the airport as per your flight time and transfer you to the hotel. There are no activities today apart from a trip briefing meeting. The information about the meeting time will be available upon your arrival at the hotel.

You have time to relax and go for any last-minute preparation for the trip. Welcome to Kathmandu!

We will start our trekking adventure towards the Everest Base Camp today. Early in the morning, we will take a flight to Lukla. The adventurous flight of about forty minutes takes us to Lukla to enter the Everest trekking region. Once we land in Lukla airstrip, we will get ready to start the walk of the day.

We start the trek to Phakding as our overnight destination today. It is about 4 hours of an easy trek on a gentle and gradual downhill trail to Phakding on the bank of a river called Dudh Koshi. It will be an amazingly peaceful day on the trail to Everest base camp.

We continue the walk on the Everest base camp trail after breakfast. Our destination for the day is the beautiful mountain town of Namche Bazar. The trail takes us through winding trail up the mountains. As we continue the walk towards the destination, we cross several suspension bridges on the trail. After checking into the Sagarmatha national park at Monjo, we continue the walk to Namche for the day.

Once we reach Namche Bazar, a prosperous mountain trading town in the Everest region, we will check into a guest house and relax. A nicely settled town in the terraced slope, Namche Bazar brings you the spectacular views of mountains like Thamserku (6,6232m) and Kongde Ri (6,187m) to its west.

We are already above 3000 meters above sea level so we need to take an extra day at Namche to acclimatize. On this extra day at Namche Bazar, we will go for a hike and explore the surroundings.

We will have the latter half of the day to rest and relax once we are back from the hike.

After the acclimatization day at Namche, we are now ready to trek further higher. We will continue our trek after breakfast and head towards Tengboche as our destination for the day. The trek passes through forested trail and on the ridge. After about 6 hours of uphill walk, we reach Tengboche village. Once we reach Tengboche village, we can enjoy Mountain View of the peaks like Tawache, Nuptse, Lhotse, Ama Dablam including Everest.

Once we settle into our accommodation, we can set out on an exploration of Tengboche Monastery, the biggest Buddhist monastery in the region where Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the first man to summit Mt. Everest along with Sir Edmund Hilary, was sent to be a monk once. The galore magnificence of the monastery is simply overwhelming.

Dingboche is the destination for today. After we finish our breakfast with a view, we set off on the trekking journey for the day. We follow the downhill trail towards Diboche and past it, we reach Pangboche village. We will take some time to explore the village and an ancient and beautiful monastery. Pangboche is a beautiful and the biggest Sherpa settlement in the region. After starting ahead from Pangboche village, we head towards Dingboche leaving the route to Pheriche. After spending about six hours on the trail past forest, villages, and beautiful sights to see, we reach Dingboche village where a breathtaking view of the Himalayan peaks awaits us.

We are already at the elevation of 4,410 meters above sea level thus a good full day is what we need to adjust with the high altitude climate here and above. This extra day at Dingboche works as acclimatization and rest day as well which is essential to go further higher. Even when we are calling it a rest day, we are not staying idle. We will go for some hiking to higher elevation and return back to Dingboche for overnight stay. This full day of exploration around Dingboche will expose us to the overwhelming beauty of the place and surrounding mountain peaks.

As we are already above treeline on our trek, we now walk through pastures, glacial moraine, boulder-strewn path, and like of the terrain all the way to Lobuche. The walk today involves crossing a small pass called Dughla also known as Thukla with several memorial shrines for the brave mountaineers who lost their lives during their climbing expeditions. Although the walk is slow-paced on the uphill trail, made difficult by the increasing elevation, it brings wonderful views of the mountains to our sight that helps us forget the strenuous effort we are taking up in the impressive mountain landscape. A well-spent seven hours of the effort in the rugged Everest trekking trail that many other adventurers are treading takes us to the small settlement of Lobuche to spend overnight before striving for one more day to reach the base of the highest mountain in the world.

We are eventually going to make it to the Everest Base Camp today after these many days of trekking in and amidst the wonderful Himalayan peaks. Our determined and sincere effort to be at the base of the highest mountain in the world is going to materialize this afternoon. We are going to stand at the place where many climbers have spent days and nights training, preparing, and attempting the summit of the formidable Mt. Everest.

We walk to Gorakshep, a small settlement on the glacial lakebed in the Everest region, where we are going to spend overnight today as the highest overnight stopover for the trip. After relishing our lunch at our tea house, we set off for the Everest Base Camp. A slow-paced walk on the moraine and boulder-strewn gradual path up to base camp is going to test our excitement and stamina. Anyway, we are going to get to the base camp regardless of the difficulty of walking at the elevation. We click countless pictures and enjoy the moment of being at the classic Everest base camp before making a return trip to Gorakshep for overnight stay.

We get up early, really early, in the morning to hike up to Kalapatthar, the highest elevation on the trip, for a breathtaking view of Mt. Everest, Lhotse, and other Himalayan panoramas up close with a spectacular sunrise over those mighty peaks. This never-seen-before view and sunrise on earth are going to blow our mind away alluring us to stay there forever. Alas, we wish we could!

We have to make a return trip back to Gorakshep for breakfast. We start the trek back to Pheriche after breakfast. The trek down today is taking us to a new place that we have not covered on the trek. Pheriche is a beautiful settlement in the Khumbu region which is normally the stopover place for many Everest trekkers on their way back down after the base camp and Kalapatthar joy on the trip.

After a good breakfast, we get set to hike down a hillside carpeted by rhododendron and juniper trees. This walk gives us a good feeling of inner peace and quiet. After crossing the airy prayer-flagged bridge over the Dudh Koshi River, our trail goes by the Dudh Koshi gorge descending rapidly through lovely pine forests. While In the forest, we may come across colorful pheasants and mountain goats. The route finally reaches Sanasa from where we can enjoy views of Ama Dablam, Thamserku, and Nuptse mountains. We also pass twisting trails that lead through a forest before reaching Namche Bazaar. Overnight in Namche Bazaar.

This is our last day in these magnificent mountains which have been home to us all these days! 

Today, we begin to get warmed up by the light cool breeze. Although we are traveling the same route down, we enjoy completely different views. We snap a mixture of open plains, rhododendron and pine forests, and in the distance snow-covered peaks. We take time and walk at our own pace today as this is the last day of our trek. We experience the Sherpa villages' impressive faith in Buddhism and the culture of prayer stones and prayer flags while we walk through the villages. Upon arrival in Lukla, we have plenty of time to relax, stretch those aching legs, and recall the experiences of the last couple of days. We come to the culmination of a fantastic trek on a merry note with everyone back safe and sound with truly happy faces! 

We stroll around in the sunshine while our leader will re-confirm our flight tickets. In the evening, we enjoy a last specially prepared dinner with our crew and make it a celebration night which calls for a great party. This is our last night on these lovely mountains that were home to us all of these weeks. After enjoying some local mountain beer [‘chhang’ – fermented rice] we dance to a jig by trying some Sherpa steps familiar with mountain dancing before we sit down to a sumptuous dinner. We then retire for the night to reminisce on a trip enjoyed to the hilt. Overnight at our lodge.

We board an early morning flight to Kathmandu after our long mountain journey. On reaching Kathmandu, we can do with some rest or go on some last-minute souvenir shopping. We also have options to discover some ancient parts of Kathmandu, which we can do today. There will be a farewell dinner in the evening to celebrate the successful completion of our journey. Overnight in Kathmandu.

Due to experiences of the past, we added a buffer day [contingency purposes] in the event your Lukla flight is delayed or cancelled. However, if everything runs smoothly and you still have this extra buffer day left then you can participate in some extension activities which can be arranged by Nepal Climbing Adventure on request. The optional activities may include visiting places/landmarks of your choice, adventure sports, shopping or anything you’d like etcetera. Overnight Kathmandu.

The trip has come to an end today. We have to bid farewell for this time hoping to meet again for another adventure soon. We will drive you to the airport for your departure flight as scheduled.