Everest Base Camp via Cho La Pass Trek – 17 Days

When you come out of the arrivals hall at Tribhuvan International Airport, a member of our team will be there to meet you and drive you to your hotel. Spend the first hours resting; the long trek ahead goes better if you start it fresh.

Later in the day your guide drops by the hotel and talks you through all 17 days. Because this route crosses a glaciated pass, they’ll check your boots closely, along with your warm layers, gloves and sleeping bag, and suggest microspikes for the Cho La if there’s snow up high. They’ll also take your passport details for the permits.

Thamel, Kathmandu’s trekking district, has shops that sell or rent anything you’re missing.

Your mountain flight leaves early. Most spring and autumn flights use Manthali airport in Ramechhap, which means a night drive of 4–5 hours from Kathmandu, but the time in the air is only 15–20 minutes. In the quieter months it goes straight from Kathmandu and takes about 35 minutes.

The plane lands on Lukla’s short, steep runway, and within minutes you’re meeting your porters and setting off. The trail drops gently through Chheplung and the village of Ghat, past prayer wheels, chortens and big boulders carved with Buddhist prayers, towards the milky water of the Dudh Koshi.

Phakding is a riverside village at about 2,610 m, lower than Lukla, which makes for an easy first night as your body adjusts.

The day begins with a pleasant walk upstream, through pine forest and the villages of Benkar and Monjo. At the park gate in Monjo your permits are checked; Sagarmatha National Park takes its name from Sagarmatha, the Nepali name for Everest.

Past Jorsalle you cross the river on the high Hillary Suspension Bridge, and then the climb begins in earnest: a long series of switchbacks through forest, gaining around 600 m. Go slowly, drink often, and step to the uphill side when yak trains pass.

Namche Bazaar, about 13 km north of Lukla, is the main town of the Khumbu, with shops, bakeries and lodges built in rows up the sides of a steep hill. You stay two nights.

Today follows the climb-high, sleep-low rule. In the morning you walk up past the Syangboche airstrip to Hotel Everest View, which opened in 1971. From its terrace, on a clear day, Everest and Lhotse rise behind the Nuptse ridge, with Ama Dablam to the right.

If you feel strong, carry on down to Khumjung and Kunde, twin villages below the sacred peak of Khumbila, before returning to Namche for lunch.

In the afternoon, rest your legs, buy snacks and batteries for the high days ahead, and drink plenty of water. This is your last big shopping stop before Gokyo.

Leaving Namche, the trail contours around the hillside high above the Dudh Koshi, and Ama Dablam stays in front of you most of the morning. You may spot Himalayan tahr grazing on the steep slopes below the path.

After Kyangjuma the path drops to the river at Phunki Tenga, then climbs for about two hours through rhododendron and fir forest to the ridge at Tengboche.

Tengboche Monastery, the largest in the Khumbu, was founded in 1916, levelled by an earthquake in 1934 and destroyed again by fire in 1989 before the present building was finished. The monks gather for prayers in the late afternoon, and visitors may sit quietly at the back.

The trail drops through mossy forest to Deboche, crosses the Imja Khola and climbs to Pangboche (3,985 m), the starting point for climbers heading to Ama Dablam, whose sharp ridges tower above the village.

Above Pangboche the trees end. Juniper, low rhododendron and stone yak shelters take over as the valley widens, and the air feels noticeably thinner.

Dingboche, at 4,410 m, is a village of potato fields enclosed by stone walls, with Island Peak and the Lhotse wall at the head of the valley. Take it easy this afternoon and drink 3–4 litres of water.

A second rest day before the high ground. After breakfast you climb the ridge behind Dingboche on a steep, rocky path to the Nangkartshang viewpoint at 5,083 m, a new high point for the trip.

Up there, Makalu, the world’s fifth-highest peak, shows itself to the east, while Lhotse, Ama Dablam and the Imja valley’s glaciers fill the nearer view. Take your time; you’re breathing air with only a little more than half the oxygen of sea level.

Back in Dingboche, the afternoon is for resting. Before the big days ahead, your guide clips the pulse oximeter on your finger and asks how you’re sleeping and eating.

The path rises gently along the open slopes above the Pheriche valley to Thukla, where you stop for lunch. Then comes a stiff climb up the moraine at the foot of the Khumbu Glacier to the Thukla Pass, lined with memorials to climbers and Sherpas who died on Everest.

From the pass the walking is easier, following the side of the glacier to Lobuche, a cluster of lodges at 4,910 m with Nuptse and Pumori ahead.

It’s cold here at night. Sleep in your thermal layers and keep tomorrow’s water bottle inside your sleeping bag.

A rocky trail along the glacier brings you to Gorak Shep in 2–3 hours. Its name translates as “dead ravens”, and the few lodges stand next to a frozen, sand-covered lakebed, the spot the Swiss Everest expedition used as its base camp in 1952.

After lunch, walk on for 1.5–2.5 hours over boulders and glacier rubble to Everest Base Camp. You can’t see the summit from here, but the Khumbu Icefall, one of the most dangerous stretches of the climb from the Nepal side, rises right in front of you.

Back in Gorak Shep, have a hot meal and an early night. At 5,164 m, it’s the highest place you’ll sleep on the whole trek.

An early start: you climb Kala Patthar by headlamp, 1.5–2 hours up a steep, sandy slope. As the sun rises behind Everest, the summit stands out against the sky, with Nuptse, Lhotse and Pumori around it. It’s the highest point of the trek.

Once you’ve eaten breakfast in Gorak Shep, you retrace the glacier trail to Lobuche, then leave the main route and head west on a quieter path along the hillside.

Dzongla (4,830 m) is a small group of lodges at the foot of Cholatse, and the starting point for the Cho La. Eat well and get to bed early, because tomorrow starts at 5 am.

You leave Dzongla at around 5 am and climb steadily over rocks and boulders to the foot of the pass. The final section is steep, and in the cold of the morning your breath comes fast at every step.

At the top of the Cho La (5,420 m) is a glacier. It’s slippery, and when there’s snow or ice your guide may ask you to put on microspikes or crampons. Its edge is unstable, so follow your guide’s route exactly and don’t wander off for photos.

The descent on the far side is steep and rocky at first, then gentler as you drop to Thangnak (4,700 m), a few lodges at the edge of the Ngozumpa valley. It’s a long, tiring day, and the hardest of the trek.

A short day, but not an easy one. The trail crosses the Ngozumpa Glacier, which flows down from Cho Oyu and, at 36 km, is the longest glacier in the Himalayas. Its surface is a maze of rubble, grey mounds and small meltwater ponds, and the path keeps changing as the ice moves, so stay close to your guide.

On the far side you reach the Gokyo Lakes, a chain of 19 lakes between 4,710 and 4,950 m, often described as the highest freshwater lake system in the world. Gokyo village stands on the shore of the third lake, Gokyo Cho, also called Dudh Pokhari, which is 43 m deep.

Spend the afternoon resting by the water. If you have energy, walk to the fourth lake, Thonak Cho, the largest and deepest of them all.

You start around 4 am with headlamps and climb the steep path straight up from the lake to the top of Gokyo Ri, about 3 hours away. From the summit you can see four of the world’s 8,000 m peaks: Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu, whose name means “Turquoise Goddess”. Below you, the lakes and the long grey snake of the Ngozumpa Glacier spread out down the valley.

Back in Gokyo for breakfast, you walk down past the second and first lakes and follow the valley south through Machhermo (4,470 m) and Luza, passing yaks grazing on the slopes.

It’s a long day, though most of it after breakfast is downhill. Dole, at about 4,038 m, is a small village in the Dudh Koshi valley. You’re now more than 1,300 m below this morning’s summit, and with more oxygen in the air, most people sleep well here.

From Dole the trail drops through forest of birch, fir and rhododendron to the Dudh Koshi at Phortse Tenga. Listen for the danphe, or Himalayan monal, Nepal’s national bird, which lives in forests like these and on the grassy slopes above them.

From the river the path climbs steeply out of the valley to the ridge at Mong La, with views across to Ama Dablam and Thamserku. It’s a stiff climb, but after several nights above 4,700 m the air here feels thick.

From Mong La you drop down to Kyangjuma, join the main Everest trail and follow it around the hillside back to Namche.

After nearly two weeks on the trail, a hot shower and fresh coffee in Namche feel like real luxury.

On your last walking day, the path plunges from Namche to the Hillary Suspension Bridge and then runs downstream beside the Dudh Koshi, through Monjo and on to Phakding. You cross the same bridges as on the way in, but with much stronger legs. Use your poles on the long descent, which is hard on the knees.

Past Phakding, the trail goes through Ghat and Chheplung before the last climb up to Lukla, which takes about an hour. Lukla’s airstrip has been called Tenzing-Hillary Airport since 2008, in honour of Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, the first two people to reach the top of Everest in 1953.

In the evening, share a last meal with your guide and porters and thank them for their help. It’s usually your last night with the porters, so it’s a good time to hand out tips.

Morning is the best time to fly out of Lukla, before cloud builds up over the hills. During spring and autumn most flights land at Manthali in Ramechhap instead, and you finish the trip to Kathmandu by road.

That evening we’d love you to join us for a farewell dinner, a chance to toast the base camp, the pass and the lakes. Lukla flights are often delayed by weather, so keep 1–2 spare days before your international flight.

After breakfast we drive you to Tribhuvan International Airport, allowing the usual three hours before an international departure.

With extra days, it’s easy to add a jungle safari in Chitwan or some time beside the lake in Pokhara.