The Everest Base Camp (EBC) trek is one of the world’s most famous hiking trails, though in recent years, it’s received perhaps unwarranted attention for being dirty, overcrowded or underwhelming. My experience, though, is the opposite.
A return trek to EBC takes about 11 days, but mine is longer, as I’ll also be crossing Cho La Pass to Gokyo, one of the highest settlements in the world. My climb will end with a gruelling sunrise summit of Gokyo Ri, from where I’ll get my best view of the world’s highest mountain.
I arrive in Nepal in the immediate aftermath of widespread flooding and landslides that have seen hundreds lose their lives.
But Nepali people are fiercely resilient; here, it is an unfortunate but accepted reality that Mother Nature always has the final say.
So, in the company of my porter Ashdhan, we press on.
The climb
It’s often said that the hardest part of the EBC trek is getting to the trailhead in Lukla, also home to the world’s most dangerous airport. Visibility is often too poor for flights to run at all, so I take a helicopter to Lukla instead.
The trail from Lukla takes me over varied terrain, starting with lush forest and terraces nestled alongside the raging Dhudh Koshi river, alpine shrubs and grasslands, ever-widening meadows and valleys with glimpses of snow-capped Himalayan peaks, and finally, barren glacial moraine fields.
My journey is dotted with encounters with dogs, yaks, horses, cows, and, strikingly, a 200-strong military contingent, dispatched to help flood victims.
The hike is only 60 kilometres long, but it’s not the distance that is challenging, but the relentless climb, from an altitude of 900 metres to just under 5400 metres, at which point oxygen levels drop to half of those at sea level.
Everest Base Camp
By the time I arrive at EBC, I’m feeling the effects of the thinner air. “Base camp” evokes feelings of safety, even comfort, but EBC is plainly inhospitable. It sits on a moving glacier, meaning the route to get here changes yearly, with the ‘camp’ rebuilt every summit season. It’s rocky, icy, desolate, harsh.
Then there’s the size, scale and sheer terror of Khumbu Icefall, part of the vitally important Khumbu Glacier, which dominates the view at EBC with persistently loud cracking to match. Climbers need to traverse the Icefall several times during a summit bid. Above the Icefall, we can only see a glimpse of Everest peaking above Nuptse, though still shrouded in cloud; famously, the summit can only rarely actually be seen from EBC.
Cho La Pass and Gokyo Ri
Cho La Pass, part of the famous Three Passes trail, is a glacier leading to a summit crossing point between two peaks. It was closed until just two days before my arrival, due to extreme weather. It’s deadly silent as we climb, other than occasional glacial cracking, which is unsettling given we’re the first to cross the pass that day. The descent to Thangnak is even more hair-raising, with steep rock, snow and black ice forming a seemingly relentless combination only partially tempered by fixed ropes.
From Thangnak, we cross the Ngozumpa Glacier, the longest glacier in the Himalayas and the most alien of landscapes. It’s hard to navigate a path, with the glacier unfolding before us in countless hues of white, grey and blue. Combined with the ever-present threat of avalanche, rockfall and sheer drops from narrow ridges, it’s with no small relief that we reach the stunning lakeside town of Gokyo, in the foothills of Cho Oyu – the sixth-highest mountain in the world.
Before dawn the next day, we start our climb of Gokyo Ri. The altitude remains brutal, and it’s so cold that my CamelBak quickly freezes into a useless 2kg weight on my back, even as the sun starts illuminating the silhouettes of the towering peaks around me. On the final summit push, I can only climb a few steps at a time before taking a break, so thin is the air. My reward is unabating 360-degree views of the Himalayas, including some of the best views of Everest in the entire region.
Spending more than a week above 5,000m has taken its toll on me; it later turns out I’ve been suffering from acute mountain sickness, so in hindsight, my quick helicopter descent to the relative safety of Lukla was a good idea.
IMAGES: RITAM MITRA
Travel notebook
How to get there Fly to Kathmandu, then catch a flight to Lukla. Take out good travel insurance – you may need to arrange a helicopter on short notice.
When to go The two best seasons for the Everest Base Camp trek are in spring (March – May) or autumn (September – November). Be prepared for weather disruptions: keep at least four additional days up your sleeve. Everest Base Camp trek
The dollars and cents Excluding international flights and equipment, the trek costs about AUD$2,000, covering return flights to Lukla, park fees, meals and tea house accommodation for you and your porter, and your porter’s salary and tip. There are many local tour operators: I used Nepal Spirit Adventure.
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