Everest Two Passes Trek

We’ll board a flight to Lukla (2810m), from TIA. You will be able to rejoice the sight of splendid hills, rivers and mountains during the 30 minutes long flight. On reaching Lukla airport, you’ll be introduced to your porter, and served a wholesome breakfast. After that, we will head north to Phakding (2620m). It is an easy 3 hour hike through the Dudhkoshi valley. We will head north from the airstrip to Chheplung (2700m) and cross the crystal clear Thadokoshi on a locally built suspension bridge. Past the bridge, you can witness Kusam Kanggru (6367m), which is one of the toughest mountains to conquer. Away from the ThadoKoshi, the trail continues towards the Ghat (2590m) and we will cross a ridge marked with paint Mani stones. We will carry on our mount to reach the beautiful tribal village of Phakding where you will stay overnight.

On our second day of trek, we will head to Namche bazaar, celebrated village of Khumbu region. On our way to Namche, we will cross the winding Dudhkoshi River 5 times on thrilling suspension bridges, covered with colorful Buddhist prayer flags. Then,

We will continue our climb, which will bring you to Jorsale. From there, it’s a two and a half hour ascent to Namche, with two major viewpoints on your way. If you’re lucky, on a clear day, you can relish the hypnotic view of Everest. At Jorsale, you will enter Sagarmatha National park (UNESCO World Heritage Site) where you’ll be required to verify your permits. After 5-6 hours of tough hiking, we’ll reach Namche Bazaar, chief economic hub of the region, also, gateway to Everest.

Adaptation to harsh geography and high altitude is vital before further continuing the ascent to avoid altitude sickness and other unwelcomed illness. You’ll be taken for a one day hike through the beautiful villages of Khunde and Khumjung. After getting back at Everest view hotel, you can go to look at the giant skull of so called mystical creature “Yeti”, in a monastery in the region. You can also savor at a bakery at world’s highest altitude. On a fairly clear day, you can view breathtaking view of peaks such as Everest, Lhotse, Ama Dablam among others. The view of mountains from Everest View Hotel, is also commendable. After a nourishing breakfast at hotel, we will endeavor an hour long climb to the Syangboche airstrip (3790m), from where we will steadily ascend towards Khundu. On your way up, you can see century’s old Chorten (stone Buddhist monuments). From there, we will move eastwards to Khumjung, the largest settlement in whole Khumbu region, at the lap of holy peak of Khumbila. After savoring lunch at Khumjung, we will trail a slow climb to Everest View Hotel, from where you can again enjoy the view of Himalayans.The descend to Namche (3,540m) is approximately 4/5 hours walk.

After a healthy breakfast at Namche (3,500m) we will hike to Tengboche (3,870m). The estimated distance is 10kms. By now you will be familiar to strong wind and rough terrain. We can see the sight of porters packing the luggage from the yaks. The trail progressively becomes narrower and steep. You will come across numerous monasteries, suspension bridges, waterfalls and rhododendron forests on your way to Tengboche. On reaching Tengboche, you can visit Nepal’s one of the oldest monasteries. Here you can be part of unique and spiritual Buddhist rituals. We will spend the night at a local tea house.

Early morning, after breakfast we will move on to Dingboche (4410m). The air starts to become thin significantly from here. It’s approximately a 4 hour long trek to Dingboche. We head towards our ultimate goal, the Everest base camp. We cross the Imja valley and few Sherpa villages. We will spend the night here in Dingboche, and hike next day to Chhukung.

We will start around 8:30 after breakfast. The trek up to Chhukung is quite nice and easy. We get a really nice view of most of the mountains specially Ama Dablam. The view from Chhukung and further up the valley on the moraines towards Island Peak is tremendous. To the south-west, the eastern face of Amadablam provides an unusual view of this picturesque peak. This short trek is one of the highlights of the trek. It is a fast trip back down the valley to Dingboche for the night. While going back to Dingboche we might encounter strong winds.

We start with a climb to the chorten trail that is a gentle climb for about 1 and half hours. Then we get to Thugla at 4600m with a tea house where we will have lunch before climbing the steep part of the day’s trek for about one and a half hours. We start to get close to high mountains like Mt. Pumori and Mt. Nuptse after a while as we proceed towards Lobuche where only basic accommodation and food is provided. Then we trek along a broad valley floor to Thugla, leaving behind the Trekkers Aid Post at Pheriche at 4240 m. A western volunteer doctor, supported by The Himalayan Rescue Association is stationed here and offers treatment and consultation to trekkers as we continue up the valley gaining altitude. When we come out of the valley, we descend to the yak pastures at Lobuche. Overnight at Lodge. The day’s trip takes about 5 and a half hour’s walk.

This morning, we will take a 2 hour’s hike up to Gorakshep. First part is nice and easy but one hour later the trail starts to get harder which is compensated by the really nice view of big walls formed by Everest, Nuptse and many other mountains. Once we climb about 150m then trail gets better again. Short after we will get to the moraine. Finally we get to 5160m, the world’s highest settlement at Gorakshep. Once we have lunch, we begin our walk to Everest base camp. We will be walking on side ridge of the Khumbu glacier. After walking on the ridge for about one and half hours, we cross the Glacier and into the Everest base camp area. Today we reach Everest base camp at an altitude of 5360m. We will be able to meet and talk to other mountain climbers at the base camp. We can get a good view of Khumbu glacier and Khumbu Ice fall. From there we can also see the big crevasses in the climbing way. After appreciating our own efforts and photographing the achievements, we start our way back to Gorakshep (6-7 hours).

We will start the 1.5 hour’s hike to Kalapathar early in the morning to get sunrise over the Everest and other mountain. We spend some time enjoying the sunrise on the splendid Himalayan ranges, relishing in a unique view and experience and head back to Gorekshep breakfast then continue to Dzolgla. From Gorekshep -Lobuche takes about 2 hours and another 2 hours hike will take us to Dzongla from Lobuche. Total today hiking will be around 7 hours. Dzongla is the only place where we can spend the night before the Chola pass.

Early morning after breakfast, we start our walk from Dzongla to the Cho-la pass. The walk over the glacier is an enjoyable experience if we can make the trip during the best season otherwise excess snow makes it impossible to cross the pass. As the darkness returns we trek down to Tagnag to spend the night there.

It is a short day trek as we reach Gokyo in about 2-3 hours just in time to have lunch. Then we spend the rest of the day exploring the Gokyo valley. We can also visit the glaciers and turquoise lakes of the Gokyo valley while witnessing the spellbinding views of the Himalayan giants like Everest, Cho-Oyu, Lhotse Makalu and others. We spend the night in Gokyo.

Early morning after breakfast, we will climb the Gokyo Ri (5,333m) to enjoy the bewitching view of colossal Ngozumpa glacier, upper Gokyo Valley and the implausible mounts such as Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Nuptse, Cho-Oyu, and Gychung Kang among others. We will now cross the steep Renjo La pass at 5,300m and descent toLungden (4,350m) where we will spend the night.

We will hike to Thame. Situated at 3800m, we will also visit the historic Thame monastery and experience spiritual Buddhist practices. We can also witness the lovely culture of Sherpa people at Thame. We will spend the night here and enjoy the much needed rest for our downhill trek tomorrow.

We will continue our trek down the Sherpa villages of Khumjung, leaving the mountains in the backdrop. We will walk down to the village of Namche bazaar, epitome of Sherpa culture. We will stay the night at a guest house in Namche.

It is around a 7 hours long walk downhill from Namche to Lukla. On this day, our time at exotic Sagarmatha National Park will come to an end. Following day, we will board a plane to capital. You will bid goodbye to this trek with a memorable walk down to Lukla.

Early morning, we will catch a plane from Lukla to Kathmandu. Don’t forget to pick a seat on the right side, to see the insatiable mountains again. On reaching Kathmandu, it will be time to say goodbye. May you enjoy the rest of your journey in Nepal!