Everest Base Camp Trek

Arrive in Kathmandu

Tribhuvan International Airport to your hotel

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Kathmandu

Soir

Kathmandu sits at about 1,400 metres, low enough that you will sleep well tonight. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide hosts a welcome dinner for the group and walks you through the trek: how the days run, what goes in your duffel and what stays in the hotel storeroom, how we watch for altitude sickness and what happens if the Lukla flights are held by weather. Bring your boots, layers and anything you are unsure about, and we start the gear check tonight so tomorrow is unhurried. If your flight lands late, your guide repeats the briefing over breakfast.

Compris

• Pick-up at Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM)
• Welcome dinner and trek briefing
• First gear check

Kathmandu: temples and a calm gear check

Swayambhunath and Pashupatinath, or the drive to Ramechhap

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Kathmandu

Après-midi

The afternoon is for the gear check with your guide: your duffel, the sleeping bag and down jacket we lend you, and anything you still need to rent or buy in Thamel.

Soir

In the busiest months, when Lukla flights leave from Ramechhap instead of Kathmandu, today changes: we drive after breakfast to Manthali and sleep near the airport, so you are not on the road in the middle of the night.

Compris

• Swayambhunath
• Pashupatinath with a local guide
• Gear check, duffel, sleeping bag and down jacket to borrow

Fly to Lukla, walk to Phakding

Kathmandu or Ramechhap to Lukla by plane, then on foot to Phakding

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Phakding
• En avion

Matin

An early start for the flight to Lukla, about 35 minutes over the foothills from Kathmandu or about 20 minutes from Ramechhap, with the snow peaks along the left side of the plane on a clear morning. Lukla's Tenzing-Hillary Airport has a short runway that slopes uphill into the mountain, and planes only fly in good visibility, which is why we book the first morning departures. On the ground you meet the porters, who carry your duffel from here on, and we set off down the valley. The first walk is short and mostly downhill: about 8 kilometres and 3 to 4 hours through Chheplung and small farms to Phakding, beside the Dudh Koshi river. Pass the carved mani stones on their left, as the Sherpa do.

Soir

Sleeping at 2,610 metres, a little lower than Lukla, makes a good first night for your body.

Compris

• Flight to Lukla
• Sagarmatha National Park and Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality permits
• Porters from Lukla

Up to Namche Bazaar

Phakding to Namche Bazaar over the Hillary Suspension Bridge

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Namche Bazaar

Après-midi

After lunch at Jorsale the real climb begins. The high Hillary Suspension Bridge spans the gorge where the Bhote Koshi meets the Dudh Koshi, and from there the path zigzags about 600 metres up through the forest. On a clear day a viewpoint partway up gives your first look at the summit of Everest, far off above the Nuptse and Lhotse ridge. About 10 kilometres and 6 hours in all, ending in Namche Bazaar, the Sherpa trading town built into a horseshoe-shaped bowl at 3,440 metres.

Compris

• Sagarmatha National Park gate at Monjo
• Hillary Suspension Bridge

Namche: climb high, sleep low

Sunrise ridge, Hotel Everest View and Khumjung

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Namche Bazaar

Matin

Before breakfast we walk up to the ridge above town by the national park visitor centre, where first light reaches Everest, Lhotse, Ama Dablam and Thamserku while Namche is still in shadow. After breakfast we climb past the Syangboche airstrip to the terrace of the Hotel Everest View, at about 3,880 metres, for tea with one of the classic views of the range, then drop down to Khumjung, a farming village of stone houses where Sir Edmund Hillary opened his first school in 1961.

Après-midi

Back in Namche by early afternoon, the rest of the day is yours for the bakeries, the Sherpa Culture Museum or a hot shower. On Saturday mornings porters and traders from the lower valleys fill the weekly market.

Compris

• Sunrise walk to the ridge above Namche
• Acclimatisation hike to the Hotel Everest View terrace and Khumjung

To Tengboche, for the evening light

Namche Bazaar to Tengboche via Kyangjuma and Phunki Thenga

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Tengboche

Matin

From Namche a contour path swings around the hillside to Kyangjuma with Ama Dablam ahead for most of the morning. Watch the slopes for Himalayan tahr and, in the forest, the Himalayan monal, Nepal's national bird, with its rainbow feathers.

Après-midi

The trail then drops to the river at Phunki Thenga for lunch before a steady climb of about 600 metres through pine and rhododendron to Tengboche, at 3,860 metres; in April the rhododendrons flower here. Many groups stop at Tengboche for an hour.

Soir

We stay the night, because the reason to come is the light. Tengboche Monastery, the largest in the Khumbu, was rebuilt after a fire in 1989, and when the doors are open you can sit quietly at the back during prayers. In the last hour of sun, Ama Dablam and the top of Everest turn gold from the monastery grounds, and you see them again at dawn. About 10 kilometres, 5 to 6 hours.

Compris

• Tengboche Monastery
• Golden-hour and first-light views of Ama Dablam and Everest

Above the trees to Dingboche

Tengboche to Dingboche via Deboche and Pangboche

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Dingboche

Matin

Wake for first light on Ama Dablam, which rises above the monastery, before breakfast. The trail drops through forest to Deboche, crosses the Imja Khola on a bridge above a narrow gorge and climbs to Pangboche, a Sherpa village whose small gompa is often called the oldest in the Khumbu. The trees thin out above here. We walk up the open Imja valley, past yak pastures and stone walls, with Ama Dablam now on our right and Island Peak and Lhotse ahead, to Dingboche at 4,410 metres. The village is a patchwork of fields walled with stone to keep the wind and the yaks off the barley and potatoes. About 11 kilometres and 5 to 6 hours.

Soir

From tonight your guide checks everyone's oxygen level and pulse each evening with a pulse oximeter, so small changes are noticed early and talked about openly.

Compris

• Pangboche and its gompa
• Evening pulse oximeter checks from here on

Dingboche: the Nangkartshang ridge

Acclimatisation hike above Dingboche

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Dingboche

Soir

A second night at the same height is part of a safe plan, and the best morning view of the week is right behind the lodge. After breakfast we climb the Nangkartshang ridge above the village, slowly, at the pace of the slowest walker. Even the first chorten gives a view down the valley to Ama Dablam. Higher up, at 4,700 to about 5,000 metres depending on how the group feels, Makalu, the fifth-highest mountain in the world, appears to the east, with the south face of Lhotse, Island Peak and the Imja valley close by. We are back in Dingboche for lunch. The afternoon is free to rest, read, sort your kit and charge your batteries, and to keep drinking water. If anyone prefers an easier morning, the second guide stays lower with them at the chorten while the others carry on.

Compris

• Acclimatisation hike on the Nangkartshang ridge

Thukla Pass to Lobuche

Dingboche to Lobuche via Dughla and the Thukla Pass

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Lobuche

Après-midi

The trail climbs above Dingboche onto the open shelf over the Pheriche valley, with wide views back to Ama Dablam and Taboche, then drops a little to Dughla, also called Thukla, for an early lunch beside the stream that flows out of the Khumbu Glacier. After lunch comes a steep climb of about 200 metres up the glacier's end moraine to the Thukla Pass, where rows of stone memorials and prayer flags remember climbers and Sherpas who died on Everest, among them Scott Fischer and Babu Chiri Sherpa. It is a quiet place and we take our time. Lobuche, at 4,940 metres, is a short walk on beside the glacier. About 8 kilometres and 5 hours.

Soir

The afternoon is for rest, a warm drink and an early dinner.

Compris

• Thukla Pass memorials

Gorak Shep and Everest Base Camp

Lobuche to Gorak Shep, then Everest Base Camp and back

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Gorak Shep

Après-midi

We leave everything but water, layers and cameras at the lodge, eat an early lunch and walk on along the moraine and onto the glacier to Everest Base Camp, at about 5,364 metres, arriving around the middle of the day as the morning crowd heads back. Know this before you go: you cannot see the summit of Everest from base camp, because Nuptse is in the way. What you see is the Khumbu Icefall spilling down between the peaks and, in April and May, the yellow tents of the climbing expeditions. The walk there and back takes 4 to 5 hours.

Soir

Tonight is the highest and coldest night of the trip.

Compris

• Everest Base Camp

Kala Patthar at sunrise, down to Pheriche

Kala Patthar, then Gorak Shep to Pheriche

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Pheriche

Matin

The sun comes up behind Everest, so the first light lands on Pumori and Nuptse while Everest stands in silhouette, and then the whole basin fills with light. Keep spare camera batteries in an inside pocket, because the cold drains them fast. We aim to leave 30 to 45 minutes ahead of the main crowd. Back at Gorak Shep for a late breakfast, then down past Lobuche and Dughla to Pheriche, at about 4,370 metres, where the air feels thick again.

Après-midi

In season, the Himalayan Rescue Association aid post here gives an afternoon talk on altitude.

Compris

• Kala Patthar at sunrise

Back down to Namche

Pheriche to Namche Bazaar via Pangboche and Tengboche

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Namche Bazaar

Après-midi

We walk down the Pheriche valley to Pangboche and through the forest to Tengboche, where we stop for lunch and a last look at the monastery with Ama Dablam behind it. From Tengboche the trail drops steeply to Phunki Thenga on the river, climbs back up through the forest below Kyangjuma and contours around to Namche, on slopes that now feel familiar. Many trekkers notice how much easier this ground feels than it did on the way up. It is a long day, about 19 kilometres and 6 to 7 hours, but mostly downhill, with the one climb above the river after lunch.

Soir

Back in Namche, the bakeries, a hot shower and a bed at 3,440 metres feel very good, and the evening is free.

Compris

• Lunch stop at Tengboche

The last walk, to Lukla

Namche Bazaar to Lukla along the Dudh Koshi

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Lukla

Soir

In the evening we sit down to dinner with the porters and the trek crew, the people who carried your duffel over every kilometre, and this is the moment for their tips, which we explain in the pre-trip notes so you can plan the amount. Your guide confirms tomorrow's early flight and the time to be at the airport, and checks the forecast with the airline.

Compris

• Dinner with the porters and trek crew

Fly to Kathmandu, Boudhanath at dusk

Lukla to Kathmandu or Ramechhap by plane, then Boudhanath

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Kathmandu
• En avion

Matin

We take the first flights of the morning back to Kathmandu, when the skies are usually clearest. This is the day the trip is built to protect. If cloud holds the planes in Lukla, we wait together and fly as soon as they run; if planes stay grounded but helicopters can fly, we move you by shared helicopter at our cost, so a weather day does not cost you money or your flight home.

Après-midi

If the flight lands at Ramechhap, we drive back to Kathmandu and the afternoon becomes the drive. Otherwise the afternoon is free for a long shower and a rest.

Soir

At dusk we walk around Boudhanath, one of the largest stupas in the world, with Tibetan pilgrims turning the prayer wheels and butter lamps lit around its base. The trip ends with a farewell dinner together.

Compris

• Flight from Lukla
• Boudhanath at dusk
• Farewell dinner
• Shared helicopter if planes are grounded and helicopters can fly

Depart Kathmandu

Your hotel to Tribhuvan International Airport

• Petit-déjeuner

Matin

A free morning in Kathmandu after a slow breakfast. Walk to a café in Thamel, buy the singing bowl or pashmina you looked at on day 2, or take a taxi to Patan Durbar Square, the old royal square of temples and courtyards south of the river. We drop you at Tribhuvan International Airport in time for your flight home.

Soir

Because Lukla flights depend on the weather, we ask you to book your flight home for the afternoon or evening of day 15 or later, ideally on a ticket you can change. If weather held your return from Lukla, this is the day that absorbs it. If you would like more time in Nepal, we can add hotel nights before or after the trek, or a few days in Pokhara or Chitwan National Park.

Compris

• Drop-off at Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM)