\"a lifetime achievement visiting worlds highest mountain from a classic route South base camp amidst the rich buddhist culture, warm-friendly locals, traditional village, land of worlds heritage, high alpine valley\'s in the shade of the mighty Number One \'Mt.Everest\"

This trip allows you to view Mt.Everest from a close distance; our adventurous journey takes you first to the classic south face of Mt.Everest in Nepal. This trek begins with a sweeping scenic flight to Lukla and the trek starts from here, the trek follows many farm villages on route with beautiful views of the high snow capped peaks of the world, and to the highest spot at Kalapattar for the outstanding breathe taking view panorama of peaks and its glacier including Mt.Everest at close stone throw distance. After reaching the Everest Base Camp near the great Khumbu Ice Fall, journey ends at Lukla with the scenic flight back to Kathmandu.

Trip Fact

Destination: Everest, Kalapathar Base Camp
Trip Duration: 18 days
Season: Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Oct, Nov
Trip Start/End: Kathmandu / Kathmandu
Trek Start: Lukla
Trek End: Lukla
Trek Type: Tea House / Lodge
Accommodation: Lodge / Tea House
Transportation: Car/Van/Flight
Altitude: 5,545m Kalapattar

An outline of your itinerary

Day 01: Arrive Kathmandu.1,300m.via respective airlines.
Day 02: A day in Kathmandu.
Day 03: Fly from Kathmandu to Lukla & trek to Phakding.
Day 04: Trek to Namche Bazaar 3,440m. Approx. 5-6 hrs.
Day 05: Rest Day at Namche Bazaar.
Day 06: Trek to Thyangboche 3,867m.Approx 5 hours. O/N Lodge.
Day 07: Trek to Dingboche 4,358m.Approx. 5-6 hour.
Day 08: Rest Day at Dingboche.
Day 09: Trek to Loboche 4,928m via Dugla 4,595m. Approx. 5 hours.
Day 10: Trek to Gorakshep 5,160m & continue to Everest Base Camp 5,357m.

Day 11: Trek to Everest Base Camp 5,357m. Approx. 5-6 hrs.
Day 12: Trek to Pangboche 3,900m. Approx. 5 hrs.
Day 13: Trek to Khumjung 3,800m. Approx. 6 hrs.
Day 14: Trek to Monjo. 2,835m. Approx. 4-5 hours walk.
Day 15: Trek to Lukla. 5 hrs walk.
Day 16: Fly Lukla-Kathmandu.
Day 17: In Kathmandu guided tour on request.
Day 18: International Departure

Day 01: Arrive Kathmandu.1,300m via respective airlines.
On arrival at Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport you will be received by our staff and will escort you to the Hotel, where our guide will give you a brief orientation of the Hotel, Kathmandu, Trekking, do's and don't and other related information that you might require while in Nepal.

Day 02: A day in Kathmandu.
After your first night in Kathmandu, you will be well informed on arrival about the time for your half day guided sightseeing tour in Kathmandu at places of interest. Sometime, depending upon your flight arrival if it’s late in the night we will do this tour in the afternoon instead of morning to give you a nice sleep and rest before you venture out of the Hotel for our interesting tour.

Day 03: Fly from Kathmandu to Lukla & trek to Phakding.
Approx: 45 minutes flight to Lukla 2,800m 9-10km (3 hrs walk) to Phakding at 2,652m. Early morning after breakfast you will be transferred from the Hotel to domestic Airport a short drive of 20-30 minutes, after the necessary security formalities (keep your pen-knife-lighter-matches and other sharp cutting items including scissors and other knife in the bigger baggage not in hand bags) board in the smaller twin otter / dronier or similar plane for the sweeping panoramic flight to Lukla, on arrival you will be received by our trekking guides. In Lukla you will have time to wander around, while the Sherpa crew sort and divide the load.

The walk is gradual and most of the way, with few ups from Tarhe khola, where you can have a superb view of Kusum-Kangru 6,369m crossing a short suspension bridge, from here after a short climb brings us to the Ghat village, another 11/2hr of gradual walk brings you to Phakding village for the overnight stop near the bank of the Dudh-Kosi river.

Day 04: Trek to Namche Bazaar 3,440m. Approx. 5-6 hrs.
From Phakding after crossing the suspension bridge over the Dudh-Kosi the walk is pleasant with few short uphill and downhill and re-crossing the same river again, with magnificent view of Thermasarkhu 6,608m, from the village of Benkar, cross the long suspension bridge over the Bhote-Koshi river, after the bridge on this busy trail of trekkers and Ghopkyo and porters, finally reaching at a small village of Monjo after the last 20minutes climb from the stream. Monjo is situated below the magnificent peak of Thermasharkhu and near the entrance of Sagarmatha National Park.

After few minutes walk from Monjo, comes to the entrance of Sagarmatha National Park. From here a short descend and a gradual walk brings us to the suspension bridge over the Bhote-Koshi river, after the bridge Jorsalle village is reached, the last village before Namche Bazaar is reached, from here the walk is along the winding uphill path all the way to Namche Bazaar, with magnificent view of Kwangde peak and it other sister peaks towards east, with Kusum kangru on the back as you climb higher, view of Mt.Everest- Nuptse wall, Lhotse and the closer view of Taweche peak can be seen all the way up to Thop Danda, where there's a resting stone wall for the porters and trekkers few years ago a teahouse existed here, from here another 1-2 hour walk up brings us to the famed most talked about place Namche Bazaar, the colourful houses are situated in an amphitheatre U shaped bowl.

Day 05: Rest Day at Namche Bazaar.
Suggested activities a short walk uphill to the Sagarmatha National Park Headquarter, a magnificent spot perched on top of Namche Bazaar with breathtaking view of the surrounding snow capped giants and the valleys way down, with an interesting museum with all kinds of information regarding the history of the Himalayas, geographic, culture, mountaineering history and existing information on flora and fauna of this region. Afternoon at leisure.

Day 06: Trek to Thyangboche 3,867m.Approx 5 hours.
The walk is fairly easy for the first half, after a 20 minutes climb to the top ridge of Namche Bazaar. Once at the top near the park museum the walk follows on the gradual trail with few short up and downs overlooking magnificent view of the great giant snow peaks from Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse, Ama Dablam, Thermasharkhu and Kwangde-ri peak after a pleasant walk of two hours coming to a small place at Shanasa, on this area there is more chances of seeing the beautiful colourful Danphe pheasant (Impeyan Pheasant) national bird of Nepal and the elusive musk deer, and sometime even herd of Himalayan Thar (mountain goat like large antelope) from Shanasa with short up and downhill, the trial descend to Imjatse river at Phungitenga 3,250m, a small settlement with couple of teahouses and a small Royal Nepalese Army barrack serving as park wardens in the midst of the alpine woods of mostly silver fir blue pines, rhododendron and some few magnolia and birch trees. The walk from here is strenuous for nearly two hours on the winding trail through the shade of woods with great view of the close peaks of Thermasarkhu and Kantenga, Kantenga. Thyangboche one of the most beautiful place in the Himalaya the first thing that comes to your eye is the big Monastery or Ghompa, then the large field with campsites and teahouses, lodges beneath the towering majestic beautiful peak Ama Dablam with Everest looming above the Nuptse wall in the north with Mt. Lhotse and Lhotse Shar towards north east and more peaks all around you.

Day 07: Trek to Dingboche 4,358m.Approx. 5-6 hour.
After a wonderful time at Thyangboche, the trail descend through a forest of birch, fir, juniper and rhododendron and coming to lovely spot at Deboche 3,650 m with magnificent view of Mt.Ama Dablam, Mt.Everest, Nuptse and Lhotse, from Deboche walking past the long prayer mani wall, the path is gradual till you reach a small bridge over the narrow gorge of Imja-Tse river. From here the walk is gradual uphill most of the way, as you come to a large mani wall gate, a little further from here the route diverts into two ways, the upper one going to the upper Pangboche village, where the old Monastery is located, the gradual low route is the straight forward main trail to Dingboche Pheriche and beyond taking the lower path with a short climb to Shomare for lunch a small settlement with fantastic close-up view of Ama-Dablam. Journey continues gradually towards east, after an hour walk, before a small wooden bridge the road beneath towering north face of Ama Dablam, from here onwards Ama Dablam looks completely different, from the bridge the trails climbs slowly winding above the Imjatse river, till a big mani Stupa is reached, the walk is fairly moderate as you enter the Imjatse Valley beneath the mighty peaks of AmaDablam, Nuptse and Lhotse with view of the eastern snow capped mountains including the Island peak or Imjatse 6,189m, which is a popular peak amongst all the trekking peaks in Nepal. Dingboche is a beautiful patchwork of field enclosed by stone walls, protecting the crops of barley, buckwheat and potatoes from the cold winds and grazing animals. Dingboche has about more than ten teahouses and it is also the gateway to Chukung and farther beyond for the most challenging traverses towards Makalu area and Hinko Valley via Sherpani col 6,100m and Amphu Labtsa 5,780m.

Day 08: Rest Day at Dingboche.
An optional day for a hike, at Dingboche there are places where one go for a short walk. Trek to Chukung 4,730m.is worth while which takes approx. 3-4 hours from Dingboche, towards east within the Imjatse Valley, although the trek is gradual, however you can feel the thin air as the altitude gains slowly coming towards Chukung. At Chukung, there are about five teahouses overlooking superb view of the snow capped peaks and glaciers of Lhotse, Ama-Dablam and Imja glacier, Chukung the last settlement in eastern Khumbu.

Day 09: Trek to Loboche 4,928m via Dugla 4,595m. Approx. 5 hours.
From Dingboche the trail diverts towards north, the path is gradual up for about 40 -50 minutes as you come to a mani-prayer Stupa, from here the trail is gentle on the hard meadow looking down below Pheriche village, today's walk offers beautiful view of the Mt.Tawache, Ama Dablam and to the north Pokalde 5,741m, Kongma-tse 5,820m and the great wall of Nuptse. After a pleasant walk of 1 1/2 to 2 hours the trail from Pheriche joins near Thugla, before a small wooden bridge over the torrent river of Khumbu glacier. Thugla, the only place with teahouses before Loboche. From Thugla, an hour steep up brings you to the top, where you can view Mt.Pumori and other peaks west of Everest, the spot here is good place for a few minutes break after the strenuous climb, close to this spot you can also see a number of memorial of the unfortunate climbers, who died in expeditions around the mountain of this region, From here another 1 1/2 to 2 hours of gradual ascend brings you to Loboche, Loboche comes as a surprise, as its situated in the corner well hidden and sheltered from the wind. Loboche has about 5-6 Teahouses.

Day 10: Trek to Gorakshep 5,160m & Kalapathar 5,545m.
Today is the day for your final destination of this adventurous journey at the foot of number one, the first hour walk is gradual up the valley at the end of the grassy field, a short 20 minutes climb, the walk from here follows the rocky moraine path, as you walk you can see the icy-glacial pond and icebergs down below of Khumbu glacier. After the last rocky moraine dunes a short downhill walk bring you to Gorakshep on the flat field below Kalapathar 5,545m and Mt.Pumori 7,145m. Gorakshep has two teahouses, and it used to be a base camp in the early 50's expedition to Mt.Everest. After a break here at Gorakshep continue towards Kalapatthar, a few minutes of easy walk on the sandy field, then a steep climb for 45 minutes brings you to the near level field, the walk from here is gradual till you reach the rocky spot after an hour, from here another steep climb to the top for another 1/2 hour. Top of Kalapatthar a small rocky peak on the southwest ridge of Mt.Pumori, the view from here is beyond imagination as the Everest looks within a stone throw distance, between the summit of Nuptse and Lho-la and Lhotse on the back, the panoramic view from this spot is something to cherish, and you feel its worth the hard climb up to here and to feel at the top of the world, with all the higher snow capped giants that surrounds, it is truly a magnificent spot to be here on a clear sunny day to view an array of mountains up to the far horizon, to the south Khumbu glacier sweeps below you, and you can also see the Everest Base camp down below on the moraine of Khumbu glacier, after a great moment with the panoramic view descend for the overnight at Gorakshep.

Day 11: Trek to Everest Base Camp 5,357m. Approx. 5-6 hrs.
The final day of this great adventure, continues towards Everest Base Camp and to the Khumbu Ice-fall, the path from here can be misleading, follow the lead Sherpa, every year the trail changes due to the movements of the glacier, the walk is quite strenuous due to the high altitude and thin air, the walk passes through over rocky dunes and moraine and streams, till you reach the base camp. Everest Base Camp is lively with commotion during the high expedition season.On reaching at the foot of number one, a great view of the Khumbu icefall awaits you. After a grand time here retrace the journey back to Loboche for the overnight.

Day 12: Trek to Pangboche 3,900m. Approx. 5 hrs.
The walk today will be easy heading downhill to a lower elevation; from Loboche the walk is same all the way to Thugla. After the bridge our route descends following the stream towards Pheriche valley, after 40 minutes of downhill the walk gets better as reach the valley floor, an hour of easy good walk brings you at Pheriche 4,243m. After a break here, a short walk brings you to the bridge from the bridge it is nearly downhill all the way with few ups in between to Pangboche.

Day 13: Trek to Khumjung 3,800m. Approx. 6 hrs.
Retrace the journey back to Shanasha, from Shanasha where the trail from Khumjung, Gokyo and to Namche meets. From here our route follows away from the main busy path, the walk winds up all the way to Khumjung-Khunde Valley. Khumjung unlike Namche is a sleepy farm village with the only monastery believed to be scalp of a yeti.

Day 14: Trek to Monjo. 2,835m. Approx. 4-5 hours walk.
An easy day downhill walk today, from Khumjung half an hour walk brings you to its sister village at Khunde, where you can visit the only hospital in the whole of Khumbu area, built by Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation. After a visit at the Khunde hospital the trail leads south passing thorough the Sherpa's house and farm fields and coming to the long mani prayer wall. A short uphill climb from here brings to the top ridge of Syangboche air strip. From this spot its a big descend to the Dudh Koshi river bed. As the walk progress on this steep downhill bit from Syangboche onwards, an aerial view of Namche Bazaar is seen from this downhill slope walk, on reaching Namche Bazaar retrace the journey all the way to Monjo for the overnight camp Monjo located, just near after the Sagarmatha National Park entrance and exit.

Day 15: Trek to Lukla. 5 hrs walk.
Last day of this great trek will be one of the good walk to Lukla, you can walk at your own best pace, leisurely and enjoying the lush green scenery around. Apart from few short uphill the only long climb will be just before Lukla which will take approximately 45 minutes from a place called Choplung or from the old big oak tree. On reaching Lukla, prepare for the last day great dinner and a party with the fellow Sherpa crew, porters and trekking members.

Day 16: Fly Lukla-Kathmandu.
The flight time to Kathmandu, are schedule for morning normally, because of the wind in the afternoon, sometime the flight time can be delayed due to bad weather and other reason beyond our command. As we get hold of the boarding pass depending upon our flight time we make our way to the terminal for security check, this scenic flight from Lukla takes about 35 minutes to Kathmandu, a panoramic view of the snow capped peaks can be seen from window of the plane. Arriving at Kathmandu domestic terminal, our staff will receive and escort you back to the Hotel.

Day 17: Free day at leisure.
A free day in Kathmandu, please inform our staff if you would like to go on another short tour in and around Kathmandu Valley.

Day 18: Transfer to Airport for the International departure.
Today as per your international flight time, keep your confirmed air ticket, departure tax (in local currency) and your passport handy. Our Office staff will take you to the airport for your final departure from this amazing country, Nepal.

Permits and Fees

To trek in Everest Region no any special trek permits are required it the trekker's do not climb any of the peaks. An entry fee is charged for access to Everest National Park . This is payable at the national park desk in Bhrikuti Mandap. For treks to the east of main Everest trail an addition permit is required to enter Makalu-Barun National Park obtainable from the same location.

Getting There ...

Access to the Everest region can only be made by air or on foot. By road, the only practical road ahead at this time is Jiri, a seven to ten hour bus ride from Kathmandu. A new road is under construction to Salleri, the district headquarters. It is also possible to trek to the Everest region via the Arun valley where roads head is at Hille, a twenty ride from the capital. These times are all by local bus as there is no tourist bus service available at this time. Private cars and taxis could be used and would reduce the traveling time considerably but obviously at extra cost. Buses to Jiri currently leave from the old bus park in central Kathmandu.

By air there are three options. The most convenient for Everest treks is Lukla, which is serviced by many daily flights from Kathmandu. Three days walk to south, near the district headquarters, is Phaplu air strip, which is service by daily flights. This is useful for treks in southern parts of the region or for Everest trekkers who want to gain extra acclimatization and see some of less developed part of the district.

The last choice is the small air strip at Syangboche, which is located above Namche Bazar. While this is an option, its altitude (3760 meters) makes it an impractical and unwise choice as an arrival destination for acclimatization reasons.

People and Culture

The main ethnic group that visitors will encounter in the Everest region is the Sherpas . This is their heartland and their influence is to be seen everywhere from their traditional dress to their distinctive houses and village monasteries. There are also minorities of various other groups, notably Rai/Limbu and Tamang in the lower hills and the ubiquitous Bhramin and Chhetri farmers of the valleys.

Flora and Fauna

The flora and fauna to be seen are quiet diverse since the region ranges in altitude from less than 2000 meters above sea level at Jiri to the high peaks of the Himalaya at over 8000 meters. Up to 4000 meters you will find dense stands of forest including pine, oak and the spectacular flowering rhododendrons . The latter are one reason to make a trip in Nepal in the spring when the hills between 2000 and 3500 meters are a riot of colors.

The crop under cultivation will depend on the season that you visit but expect to see wheat, barley, corn and potatoes at some stage. Domesticated animals will range from cattle, buffalo, goats and pigs to the all-purpose beast of mountains-the yak

There is a good chance of seeing wildlife, mostly birds including the national bird of Nepal-the Impeyan Pheasant, or danfe, which is quite common around Namche Bazar. Other notable birds will include the ravens and crows of the middle hills and the coughs which soar to seemingly impossible heights in the mountains. Also in the mountain look for flocks of snow pigeons wheeling around the hillsides.

Land animals can be most elusive but look out mountain goats (most commonly the Himalayan tahr) and, if you are lucky, musk deer or barking deer in the forest.

How and When ?

How to trek in Everest region depend entirely on the route that you choose. On the main trail to Everest base camp or the route to Gokyo valley then teahouse trekking is perfectly possible. The trail in from Jiri is also endowed with many continently located teahouses although generally not of such a high standard as those to the north. Other trekking routes will almost certainly require the use of camping and organization of trekking staff and equipment.

When to Visit ?

The peak season of October/November and March/May are obviously the most popular. At these times the weather is mild and generally dry, making the walking conditions good. The spring season is good for wild flowers, particularly the rhododendrons, while the autumn season generally gives the best mountain views, as the air at this time is crystal clear.

Winter is possible but the chances of snow are higher and passes may be closed, particularly during late winter. Also during this time many of the teahouses will close. The summer/monsoon period is generally unsuitable for trekking period, as the trails are slippery, leeches abundant and the mountain views are unpredictable. It can be rewarding time, however, if you are prepared to tolerate these drawbacks, as the wild flowers are at their best at this time and there are fewer tourists on the trails making interaction with the locals easier.