Everest Base Camp Trek – Full Information (2023 replace)

The Everest Base Camp (EBC) trek is a spectacular high-altitude trek within the mountains of Nepal. Put together for jaw-dropping surroundings and a singular cultural expertise exploring the difficult trekking routes across the highest mountain on the earth. Doing the Mount Everest Base Camp trek, mountain climbing on the Khumbu glacier by way of small villages over many suspension bridges Mt. Everest and the Khumbu Valley is a implausible spherical journey. This fascinating EBC trek combines each Buddhist and Tibetan tradition following within the footsteps of Sir Edmund Hillary. Native tradition might be seen in sherpa villages and Buddhist monasteries. Don’t miss the fascinating Tengboche Monastery. 

We now have completed a number of trekking in Nepal together with two treks to Everest Base Camp (EBC). On this put up, we talk about value, itinerary, guides, porters, altitude illness, easy methods to get to EBC, and provides packing and money-saving suggestions.

Everest Base Camp Trek Overview

• Distance – 120 km/75 mi
• Days required – 12 days
• Whole ascent – 6015 m/19 734 ft
• Whole descent – 5821 m/19 097 ft
• Highest level – 5640 m/18 500 ft Kala Patthar
• Problem  – tough 
• Permits – Native Authorities charge (NPR 2000/US$17 pp.) and Sagarmatha Nationwide Park allow (NPR 3000/US$25 pp.) is required. No TIMS card is wanted for the trek.
• Value per day – US$29 (with out flights) $58 per particular person per day together with permits and transportation.
• Information – obligatory from 1 April 2023
• Lodging – visitor homes

Essential Updates – There have been some vital bulletins concerning guides 2023.

Is a Information Necessary to Trek to Everest Base Camp in 2023?

The Nepal Tourism Board (March 2023), introduced that every one vacationers visiting Nepal will probably be required to rent a licensed information or porter earlier than trekking. Nonetheless, the municipality beneath whose jurisdiction the Everest area falls subsequently determined to not adjust to this determination and that solo trekking will nonetheless be allowed within the Everest space. See The Kathmandu Submit Article – Nepal ends solo trekking period. Everest area is an exception. So the extra value of hiring an area information will not be obligatory.

The place is Everest Base Camp (EBC)?

Everest Base Camp is a camp the place climbers keep and put together earlier than beginning to climb the world’s highest mountain. There are literally two base camps for climbing Mount Everest, the North Base Camp in Tibet and the South Base Camp in Nepal. The Nepalese camp is the Everest Base Camp that most individuals seek advice from. Mount Everest and EBC are situated in Sagarmatha Nationwide Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Web site preserving Himalayan natural world.

EBC is situated about 150 kilometers (90 miles) northeast of Kathmandu within the Khumbu area of Nepal at an altitude of 5,364 meters

The way to hike to Mount Everest Base Camp?

You could have three essential choices on easy methods to do the trek to Everest Base Camp, you’ll be able to both do a package deal tour by way of an company, do it by your self (no group or information) however rent a porter or information, or do it fully independently. 

• Doing an organized tour by way of an company is an efficient possibility in case you are alone or not assured to do the trek unassisted, it’s a better however costlier possibility. 
• Discovering porters and guides in Kathmandu is straightforward, simply go to any native company they may help you to prepare employees on your functions. The Sherpa guides normally know the path, greatest views and space very effectively. 
• Doing it your self will not be exhausting and aircraft, bus, or jeep tickets from Kathmandu to Lukla are the one factor that you must set up. You observe a really clear essential path, all people stays in the identical little “cities” with many tea homes having fun with sherpa tradition, and it isn’t essential to e book something.

We now have completed the EBC trek independently twice, trekking independently on a reasonably frugal finances our value was $645 (together with the flight) starting and ending in Kathmandu in March 2020. You possibly can see our optimized Everest Base Camp Trek Itinerary we suggest.

Organized Everest Base Camp Trek

For some nice treks with respected worldwide firms check out these nice excursions.

In case you are trekking in season escape the crowds by mountain climbing the extra quiet manner and expertise unreal views of well-known mountains reminiscent of  Ok 43,  Taboche, Cholatse,  Nuptse, and Everest. Climb the robust Gokyo Ri peak for spectacular panoramic views, and take a look at this superior 16-day trek itinerary, mountain climbing to EBC through Gokyo Lakes!

How A lot Cash Do I Want for Everest Base Camp Trek?

For an entire cent-by-cent value breakdown of our trek to Everest Base Camp in 2020. Value of trekking to EBC in numerous methods in a nutshell:

• Package deal tour EBC trek with worldwide company $1700
• Package deal tour EBC trek with native company $1600
• Impartial EBC trek with a information and porter $1370
• Impartial EBC trek with a information $1085
• Impartial EBC trek with a porter $930
• EBC Trek fully impartial $645

In the event you finances round $700 for an impartial 12-day EBC trek it is best to have ample cash for the trek together with flights, meals, water, tea, snacks, and lodging. The largest chance to save cash is to go to Lukla overland as an alternative of flying, we talk about this later within the put up.

There are solely 2 locations the place you’ll discover ATMs on the Everest Base Camp hike that’s Lukla and Namche Bazaar.

Lodging on the Everest Base Camp Trek

Lodging on the Everest Base Camp trek is in Teahouses. Teahouses are mattress and breakfast lodges designed to host trekkers. EBC teahouse lodging in Nepal are easy, clear, and cozy. It’s nice that you would be able to test in and have an early begin the subsequent day with breakfast hassle-free. 

Value of tea home lodging – worth diverse between free and $3 so long as you order meals on the teahouse.

The partitions are skinny and the inside and outside temperatures are about the identical. You do get blankets on the teahouse and sleeping in a skinny sleeping bag in our garments beneath the blankets offered was ample on the increased altitudes when it bought very chilly at evening.

Bathe on EBC Trek – All the things will get costlier as you ascend. From Namche Bazaar we needed to pay for warm showers. The typical value of a sizzling bathe was NPR 500 and after a protracted day strolling it’s positively price it! In the event you trek early within the season the water is commonly frozen within the pipes and you may solely have a bucket bathe, a bucket crammed with sizzling water, which is okay, however in February at Gorkshep it’s simply too chilly. We packed Moist Wipes and did a ‘dry bathe’. Pack hand sanitizer for laundry fingers when water or cleaning soap will not be accessible.

Charging – there are lights within the rooms, however no plugs at most tea homes and you must pay for charging within the communal space, normally 200 NPR per merchandise or per hour.

There are not any electrical energy sockets within the bedrooms, charging is out there within the eating room at further value.

The tea home normally has a big eating corridor the place you eat and chill out with different company. Within the heart of the eating room is a fire that burns wooden and yak dung.

In any respect the lodges we stayed there have been now Western bathrooms. You must take your personal rest room paper.

There are good lodges accessible in a number of the villages ($20 -40) see the itinerary later within the article.

Meals on the Everest Base Camp Trek

The tea homes promote good meals and most of the people eat 2 or 3 meals per day on the tea homes the place they keep. It’s anticipated that you’ll eat dinner and breakfast on the tea home the place you in a single day, when you don’t you might be charged much more for lodging ($15 as an alternative of $3).

You possibly can eat effectively when you finances about $25 per day ($8 per meal).

See our detailed article on Meals on the Everest Base Camp Trek.

Dhal Bhat is the staple many individuals stay on in the course of the trek and the porters at all times eat this. At most locations it’s ‘bottomless’, when your plate will get empty they may refill your dahl, rice, and potatoes in the event that they don’t provide simply ask!

We normally had a late lunch when arriving (15:00) and never too lengthy after a reasonably early dinner (19:00), leaving the next day. We don’t drink the water from the faucets on the EBC trek, you should buy a water bottle at every teahouse, we want to make use of our Lifestraw Bottle to make faucet water potable.

Flights to Lukla, the beginning of the Everest Base Camp Trek

The simplest solution to begin the trek is to fly from Kathmandu to The Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla. 

Flights from Kathmandu to Lukla had been suspended in 2022 as a result of upkeep with solely flights from Ramechap being accessible. Flying from Ramechap Airport to Lukla remains to be doable and is a really brief flight. Tara Air is flying once more from Kathmandu to Lukla on the time of writing, in July 2023. Altering the flight dates is straightforward and free even whereas trekking. Our return date modified throughout our trek and we phoned Tara from a tea home on the way in which to alter our date. I’ll at all times suggest you reserve the primary flight within the morning since flights from Lukla get canceled as a result of wind in a short time, now we have been caught right here for days as a result of climate situations.

You’re allowed solely 10kg of baggage, hopefully, you weren’t planning to hold extra! In case you are touring with extra baggage test that you simply keep someplace in Kathmandu that can retailer your baggage safely with out cost.

The sloping Tenzing Hillary airport in Lukla is taken into account by some as probably the most harmful runway on the earth.

Mountain climbing to Lukla from Kathmandu

Lukla is excessive within the Himalayan mountains with no roads reaching all the way in which right here, most individuals fly from Kathmandu to Lukla to start out the EBC trek. The flight from Kathmandu to Lukla has one of many scary landings on the earth with the Lukla runway on an incline (enjoyable/fascinating land). The flight from Kathmandu to Lukla is pricey.

The largest chance for saving cash on the Everest Base Camp trek is by going from Kathmandu overland and skipping the flight. That is additionally a great way to expertise native cultures.

Flights between Kathmandu and Lukla typically get canceled as a result of wind and I’ve heard many tales of trekkers spending a few days ready in Kathmandu to fly out or in Lukla to fly again. Our flight from Lukla to Kathmandu was canceled the primary time we trekked to EBC.

We walked from Lukla to Salerri (2 days) and took an uncomfortable jeep journey from Salerri to Kathmandu for $20.

Coming from Kathmandu you are able to do the reverse and take a jeep from Kathmandu to Salleri. Salleri is 265 km away from Kathmandu. The trip is about 8 hours costing about NPR 1,100 ($10) for Buses and NPR 1700 ($17) for Jeeps,  buses go every day from Kathmandu. You possibly can stroll from Salleri to Lukla in 2 or 3 days.

An alternative choice is to take a bus to Jiri taking about 9 hours, from right here the trekking route doesn’t cross by way of Lukla to EBC, it goes as follows Salleri – Ringmo – Kharikhola – Puiyan – Phakding – Namche, becoming a member of the primary route after 5 days at Namche Bazaar so there’s an additional 4 days of trekking.

A great way to hike is strolling the Jiri to Namche EBC route on the way in which up and taking the path to Salleri on the way in which down.

Everest Base Camp Trek Permits

Two permits are required a nationwide park allow and a trekking allow, each might be purchased on the path whereas trekking.

Everest Base Camp permits required in 2022

Native allow  value NPR 2000 ($20) in Lukla. – All international nationals can purchase the Khumbu Rural Municipality Allow, which value NPR 2,000 per particular person for the primary 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, the price of the allow goes to Rs. 2,500 per particular person. The allow workplace lies on the path in Lukla.

Sagarmatha Nationwide Park Entry Allow (NPR 3000/$25 + 13% Govt. Tax) can be found on the entrance gate in Monjo or on the Division of Nationwide Park and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) counter at  Bhrikuti Mandap in Kathmandu.

Do you want a TIMS allow to trek to Everest Base Camp?

Up to now, a TIMS ( Trekkers’ Info Administration Techniques) card was mandatory for trekking within the Everest area. The TIMS card is not required for the Everest Base Camp Trek.  The TIMS card has been changed by the native space allow. TIMS could be required for different areas reminiscent of Annapurna or Langtang

In the event you hike from Jiri or Salerri to Lukla you cross by way of areas managed by totally different native governments and a TIMS could be mandatory.

Insurance coverage for the Everest Base Camp Trek

How Troublesome is the Everest Base Camp Trek?

For an individual of medium to good health stage, the Everest Base Camp trek is of medium to strenuous issue. You stroll 4 to six hours a day for 12 days, with a resting day or two for acclimatization. In case you are moderately match it is best to be capable to do that carrying your personal backpack. Having porters make it simpler. No technical climbing abilities are required. Regardless of how match you might be, climbing too quick can lead to altitude illness. In some components of the Everest base camp trek route, the trek is a steep climb to increased elevations. 

Our EBC trek was 120 km/75 mi, so that you stroll roughly 15km per day for about two weeks. It isn’t a flat strolling floor and typical of treks in Nepal there’s a number of going up and down. The space you cowl doesn’t require tremendous health, the altitude does nonetheless make it fairly robust, you begin at 3000m and climb 2400m additional to achieve base camp at 5365m. The problem of the Everest Base Camp Trek is influenced by;  your pack weight, a porter could make it a lot simpler right here and season, in case you are chilly and depressing it’s positively tougher.

Greatest time to trek Everest Base Camp

There are two essential seasons for trekking to EBC. The greatest months to trek to Everest base camp are within the pre-monsoon season by way of March, April, and Could or within the post-monsoon season from late September, October, and November. It isn’t nice and might be harmful to hike in dangerous climate. Mountain climbing is feasible within the Winter months (Dec-Feb) however it is vitally chilly, as much as -30C at evening! Typically a number of snow falls on the path, and passes could be closed. 

See our detailed article on selecting the greatest time to do the Everest Base Camp trek.

Everest Base Camp Trek Ideas

The place to remain earlier than and after the EBC trek?

We’ve stayed at a number of accommodations in Kathmandu in numerous components of Thamel and most popular the placement Keshar Mahal Marang Avenue. A small and quiet dead-end avenue in Thamel with solely accommodations, hostels, eating places, and occasional retailers. The road is a 5-minute stroll from the primary touristy space with lots of of retailers and businesses. There are a few nice eating places and occasional retailers close by.

We had fun staying at Aryatara Kathmandu Resort, a pleasant place, with huge rooms, comfy beds, good breakfast (included), an incredible sizzling bathe, AC, wi-fi, TV, and so forth. The room worth contains free airport pick-up (for worldwide flights solely). Useful and pleasant employees. We saved our further baggage right here each time we went mountain climbing totally free with none downside.

Extra choices in the identical avenue

Guides and Porters on EBC

Hiring a porter and information in Kathmandu is extra frequent than doing this in Lukla. You do get approached by touters or guides themselves in Kathmandu, however the most secure manner of doing that is by going to an area company. This manner you do have somebody to show to if there was an issue, your information can not simply disappear.

Some businesses in Kathmandu set up that you simply meet your information in Lukla whereas some want to ship a information with you from Kathmandu, on this case, you’ll have to pay for the information’s flight, Nepalese residents fly at a decreased worth of $100 for the return flight. You do not need to pay for meals or lodging on your information, they get this for very low-cost on the tea home or totally free for bringing you to the teahouse.

I’ll suggest that you simply meet with the information earlier than, test if he speaks adequate English when you belief him and when you get alongside. I’ve met guides which have climbed Everest, a few of these guys are extraordinarily educated.

• Be sure to are utilizing a registered information
• The information must be insured

Two folks can thus share a porter so long as you don’t make him carry an excessive amount of, I’d say a most of 15kg for a porter, however many firms let the porters carry 20 kg.

You possibly can finances $30 per day for a information, which might be shared by as much as 4 folks, and $20 per day for a porter.

Tipping the porter and information on EBC

Please remember that tip for the porter/information is predicted. These guys are unreal and work very exhausting. Tipping is a giant a part of their earnings.

Dangers Throughout Everest Base Camp Trek

Altitude illness (AMS) is the largest danger in the course of the Everest Base Camp trek. Different dangers are abdomen issues (diarrhea) and flight issues touchdown at Lukla airport, rated as one of the vital harmful airports on the earth.

Abdomen issues on the EBC trek

Meat is carried by porters and never at all times refrigerated, strive being vegetarian. The largest likelihood of an upset abdomen comes from water. Filter your water, it’s a good suggestion to hold a lifestraw bottle, shopping for plastic bottles in all places prices loads and may be very dangerous for the atmosphere, ending up in a landfill someplace within the mountain or getting burned.

Stopping Altitude Illness (AMS) in the course of the hike.

Altitude illness or Acute Mountain Illness (AMS) is attributable to ascending too shortly, climbing slower to stop it. Once we walked to EBC the second time we had a spare week earlier than our flight to Lukla and determined as coaching and acclimatization to do the Langtang trek. By the point we began the EBC trek, we had been used to mountain climbing at that altitude. The best altitude on the EBC trek is 5,364m (17,598ft) above sea stage, you’ll spend a lot of the trek at decrease elevations. 

Altitude illness is quite common on the Everest Base Camp trek. It could possibly occur to anyone, regardless of how previous or match you might be or if in case you have earlier trekking expertise.

Throughout our first trek to EBC, we had been feeling very sturdy and didn’t cease to acclimatize at Namche Bazaar, once we bought to Tengboche we had complications in the course of the evening, staying a second evening didn’t make AMS signs disappear and we circled and walked again to a decrease altitude, descending 600m. This labored and we began ascending once more a day later with none additional issues. We keep on with the rule of thumb now, not ascending greater than 600m per day.

Throughout our final trek to Everest Base Camp we did acclimatization stops at Namche and Dingboche and by no means had any issues. These acclimatization stops had been good relaxation days stress-free on the visitor home and having fun with good meals and studying throughout our free time. 

Hydration – Drink sufficient! Essential to remain hydrated.

Trekking Tempo -Don’t go too quick, no more than 600m enhance in altitude per day.

Medicine

Many individuals take Diamox. At excessive altitudes the air stress is low and fewer oxygen accessible, Diamox prevents AMS by performing as a respiratory stimulant.

We took Diamox alongside in our first help package however didn’t use it. We met a number of different trekkers that had been taking Diamox they didn’t have AMS or any dangerous results from taking the drug, one of many guys stated he had some ‘needles and pins’ emotions in his fingertips when he began taking Diamox, nevertheless it bought higher with time.

Contraindications Diamox is a diuretic so that you always must urinate, I consider it’s a ache to go to the bathroom within the chilly at evening. Needles and pins (paraesthesia) in fingers in toes are skilled by some folks.

AMS Signs

• Poor urge for food
• Fatigue
• Complications
• Dizziness
• Problem sleeping

When you have solely gentle complications try to be OK, however watch out AMS is harmful and trekkers have died on EBC ignoring it and pushing by way of. You possibly can ask the recommendation of the skilled sherpas that personal lots of the tea homes. At Periche there’s a clinic with worldwide medical doctors working there and a every day discuss on AMS.

Bear in mind when you carry on pushing by way of extreme signs and also you do not need insurance coverage a helicopter to take you down can value a few thousand {dollars}.

You must by no means be too mounted on an itinerary, stroll at a cushty tempo, and when you don’t really feel effectively relaxation.

Everest Base Camp Trek Various Routes

There are various superb trekking routes and peaks to hike and climb on this superb mountain. These are a number of the commonest hikes and climbs trekkers do round EBC.

• Lukla to Salleri – it’s doable to take a bus from Kathmandu to Salleri and stroll from right here to Lukla, no flights are required to trek to EBC! This hike is nice for acclimatization and can prevent a few hundred {dollars} on flights!
• Hike to Everest Base Camp through Gokyo Lakes – Add three or 4 days to your EBC trek by trekking to Goyo Lakes, six spectacular glacial lakes, situated between 4,700m and 5,000m. Lovely panoramic views of well-known mountains reminiscent of  Ok 43,  Taboche, Cholatse,  Nuptse, and Everest and the well-known glacial lakes, cross the gorgeous and difficult Cho La Move.
• Climb Island Peak (6,189m/20,305ft) – It’s a actual climb, critical mountaineering, which means it isn’t trekking. Study the required abilities and conquer a 6000m peak! Normally completed as an additional 3 days with an EBC trek.

Packing Ideas

We now have completed a number of treks in Nepal see our full Everest Base Camp trek packing listing and video to see what we packed for this trek.

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