The Travel Blog

Trekking to Everest Base Camp (EBC) is an epic trip for many hikers and climbers. On one hand, EBC is more accessible than ever before. On the other hand, overuse and limited supply of Tea House beds has created a constantly shifting maze of rules and regulations for trekkers and climbers alike. My long-time friend and climbing partner, Wayne Johnson, and I did a 13-day Trek to EBC in March 2024. This is our story. 

Any EBC project starts with planning about a year before the actual trip. There are certainly last-minute deals and offerings for spontaneous people who find themselves with time on their hands. If you happen to be in reasonable physical condition and nonchalant about international travel with “fluid” itineraries, some of these deals may be for you. For us, our trip started by researching professional guide services in April of 2023 before eventually booking our trip for March 2024 through RMI Expeditions and their local partners, High Altitude Dreams. We trusted RMI as an international mountaineering guide service we had worked with in the past on Mount Rainier. Some considerations when selecting a guide service include: Professional Western guides and in-country local guides; fair and ethical treatment of the porters; and if the Trek you book allows you to actually camp at EBC. It turns out, this is a big deal and fraught with ever-changing regulations about who is allowed by the Nepalese authorities to stay overnight at EBC. Most Trekking services only make day trips to EBC to snap a few pics and turn around. Even getting to Lukla to start the Trek is an interesting adventure in ever-changing regulations over whether you can fly directly from Kathmandu by fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter or make a full day punishing drive to Ramechhap airport to begin your journey. 

Although the up-front cost of the trip was more than most ($7,500USD for the Trek to EBC and a planned climb of neighboring Lobuche East Peak), writing the all-inclusive single check for food, lodging, and logistics was an easy decision to make. Particularly knowing RMI has an extensive network of support all along the Trek and in Kathmandu to help with any issues that may arise, including flight changes and helicopter support in the event you need to get back down to lower elevation because of Altitude Mountain Sickness or discomfort. After similar international Trekking trips, we have learned that paying a few more shekels for reputable guides is far less expensive than having to pivot or recover from poor guide choices in the middle of the trip.

We learned the benefits of extending our trip on the front end to acclimatize, recover from jet lag, and pre-tune our digestive systems to new and exotic foods on earlier expeditions to Kilimanjaro and the Inca Trail. There’s not much worse than trying to start a physical climb while jet lagged with no acclimatization and an irritated digestive system. Our solution was to spend a week in nearby Bhutan with a tour organized by Go Bhutan Tours. This allowed us to acclimatize at 12,000ft, allow our internal clocks to adjust to the 12-hour time change, and allowed our digestive systems to adjust to the new foods.

Following our week in Bhutan, we arrived in Kathmandu and went straight to the Yak and Yeti Hotel where we met the rest of our trekking and climbing team. Our team of all Americans was five trekkers and five climbers with two professional Western Mountain Guides, four professional Local Sherpa Guides, one local Sherpa “Fixer” in Kathmandu, a dozen porters and cooks, and countless logistics and support staff spread from Seattle to Kathmandu to the Khumbu Icefall.

After a couple of days in the chaos of Kathmandu doing gear checks and tours, our team met in the hotel lobby at 04:30 for the shuttle to the airport for the flight to Lukla to start our trek. The Kathmandu airport is every bit as chaotic as the rest of the city. Lots of shouting and pointing and hurry-up-and-waiting. After finally clearing the various security checkpoints, and sitting down for a cup of coffee, all of the sudden we were on the move to a small 15 passenger twin otter plane that would take us to Lukla, the most dangerous airport in the world. The nice flight attendant offered Cotton Balls for our ears and before we knew it we were in the air flying through a layer of clouds and headed to the Himalayas. Forty-five minutes later we broke back through the clouds and landed on a ridiculously small, up-sloping runway with a two-story brick wall at the end. The wheels hit the ground, the pilot braked hard, and spun the plane at the end of the runway with about fifty feet to spare. OK. Just Breathe. Enjoy the Survivor Glee rush. You have survived the most dangerous airport in the world.

Once on the trail, we quickly settled into a daily routine:

     - Wake at 06:30

     - Duffels packed and outside rooms for porters by 07:15

     - Breakfast at 07:30

     - Walking by 08:15. Head down - Knees Up. Keep a steady rhythm that suits your body and your speed. Remember to stop and look around!

     - Break for snacks or tea roughly every hour. Typically walking between 4 and 8 hours each day

     - 18:30 Dinner

     - 19:30 Card Games, Puzzles, Jokes, and Climbing Stories

     - 21:00 Lights Out

     - Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat

While each day on the trail and each tea house was unique and special, the days also blur together looking back at them. Particular highlights on the trail include crossing the famous Hillary Bridge; hiking in the shadow of the iconic Ama Dablam mountain; views of Mount Everest; a blessing at the Tengboche Monastery complete with Khatas (ceremonial white scarves) and Kalavas (traditional red string tied around the neck or wrist); and of course camping at EBC with "High Definition" views of Mount Everest, Mount Nuptse, Mount Lhotse, and the dozens of unnamed 6,000 and 7,000 meter peaks in the Solukhumbu Valley. By far the best highlight for me personally, was celebrating my birthday by ice climbing in the Khumbu Icefall and getting BIRTHDAY CAKE baked in a Dutch Oven at 17,500 ft at EBC.  

The food was all good with generous portions but eventually became a little monotonous. Breakfast was generally some combination of fried eggs, scrambled eggs, omelet eggs, hard boiled eggs, toast, pancakes, and porridge. Dinner was generally some combination of Dal Bhat, RaRa Soup, and Momos. Sometimes you could get spaghetti and meatballs and sometimes you could get chicken but conventional wisdom said to stay away from meat dishes after day three, above Namche Bazaar. Bringing some of your own food, particularly protein packages of chicken and comfort snacks you enjoy also goes a long way to enjoying the trip. 

Generally, the Tea Houses are un-heated, small rooms with two twin beds. Tea House construction is commonly cinderblock external construction with single-pane windows and plywood walls. Our Tea Houses all had hinged doors with some form of lock (maybe a skeleton key, maybe a pad lock). We also had a mix of en-suite bathrooms and common toilets. Some Tea Houses offered hot showers for 1,000NPR - Nepalese Rupee - (~$7.50USD) and some didn’t. Nearly all offered some form of internet connectivity with varying degrees of success for a fee of around 800NPR ($6.00USD) for 24 hours, and all offered some form of clean water for 150NPR to 300NPR ($1.00USD to $2.00USD) per liter. Many trekkers simply use iodine purification tabs and trust the water from a common tap. While the ease and cost of buying water for a couple of weeks is convenient, Trekkers should be prepared with some form of water purification as a backup.  In addition, our guides provided us with boiling water to fill our Nalgene bottles each night.   These provided nice bed warmers as well as some clean water for the next days trek. 

Temperatures on the trail during our trek were very pleasant. Daytime hiking temps tended to be in the high 40’s F (9 C). While the Tea Houses are all unheated, the bunks generally come with some sort of duvet or comforter to put over your sleeping bag for extra warmth. With nighttime outside temps in the high 20’s F (-3C) the inside temps tended to run in the low 40’s F (+5C).  On our trip, we had one day of steady rain which made the trail slick and made the day generally uncomfortable. There is a certain amount of suffering and hardship that comes with any worthwhile mountaineering endeavor. Long days, steep climbs, aching muscles, and cold wet conditions kind of come with the territory. 

Of course, climbing over a small rise and pulling into EBC on the ninth day of the Trek was the pinnacle of the trip. After many years as a mountaineer, following in the footsteps of Hillary, Norgay, Unsoeld, the Whittakers, Messner, Fischer, Hall, Purja and so many others, this trip for me was bit of a pilgrimage. The opportunity to spend two nights at EBC and go ice climbing in the Khumbu Icefall was an epic experience of a lifetime and the Trekkers, Climbers, Western Guides, and Sherpa Guides we spent a couple of weeks with made the trip that much more memorable.

Fast forward a few days after a helicopter ride from the village of Pheriche back to Kathmandu with Wayne suffering from dysentery and me suffering from mild AMS. The first thing we did was take a hot shower, eat a cheeseburger, and drink a cold beer. The next thing we did was to meet Karma and Sanam Sherpa from The Small World. The Small World is a non-profit operating in Nepal with a mission to educate young women and break the cycle of poverty, abuse, and trafficking that affect so many Nepalese woman. They also have a US based 501(c)3 charitable organization called The Small World USA. Our local Columbia Center Rotary Club of Kennewick is working with The Small World and the Rotary Club of Kathmandu on joint projects to support The Small World mission.

Pro Tips

1) The number one thing you can do to enjoy the Trek is to be in good physical condition. The difference between surviving the Trek, or worse having to abandon the Trek, and enjoying this bucket list adventure is all about conditioning. You should be able to comfortably walk 6 to 8 hours a day. The longest days we saw were on the order of 8 miles and 3,000 feet net elevation gain which could easily be 4,000 feet of gross elevation gain with climbs and drops back and forth across the Solokhumbu Valley. While the net gain from Lukla to Everest Base Camp is only 7,500 feet over 40 miles, the gross elevation gain is closer to 20,000 feet. Of course, this advice should be cautioned not to overtrain. My wife, Diane, ended up not making this trip with us because she overtrained and bruised her femur just above her left knee.

2) Gear: This is a comprehensive Gear List from RMI. Second only to physical conditioning, the right gear including boots, pack, and sleeping bag can make the trip much more enjoyable.

3) Bring your own medicine and medical kit: This is a comprehensive Medicine List from RMI. It's important to work with your own physician to understand which medications you should have for your existing medical conditions AND potential hazards like AMS, HAPE, HACE, Dyspnea, Khumbu Cough, Dysentery, Infection, and Inflammation. In addition, at 17,500 ft it’s critically important to understand the mechanics and the symptoms of AMS, HAPE, HACE, Dyspnea, and Khumbu Cough. On our trip, after 7 days of sleeping above the elevation of Mt. Rainier, I developed mild AMS and Dyspnea. While this was uncomfortable it was not life-threatening but it did result in pretty severe sleep deprivation, because of the suffocating sensation when lying flat. This was essentially a nuisance but it affected my enjoyment and took me out of contention for climbing Lobuche Peak. Dysentery (aka, Nepalese Rapid Weight Loss Program), Infection, and Inflammation are all common ailments on the trail that Trekkers should be prepared to handle.

4) Trip Insurance: Adventure trips like this are good candidates for Trip Insurance that includes trip cancellation due to illness or injury. Due to the physical nature of the trip, a fairly minor injury at the wrong time (e.g., a bruised femur from over training . . .) can cause a big expense if you’re not able to even start the trip. We used World Nomads Travel Insurance as an adventure travel insurance company and were very pleased with how they handled our cancellation claim after Diane’s knee injury.

5) Kala Patthar is a small rise out of Gorek Shep that offers the clearest views of Mount Everest on the Trek. Particularly if the weather is clear, Trekkers should "Suck it up" and make the side trip up Kala Patthar. Among other things, everyone who has done the Trek before you will ask whether you did Kala Patthar.

6) Gifts: We have also learned over the years to bring gifts like T-shirts and Buffs for our fellow Trekkers and Climbers, the guides, and the porters. Given the investment in these kinds of adventures, a few hundred more dollars for commemorative T's and Buffs go a long way for a good first impression. In addition, in some parts of the world, like Africa and South America, an extra duffel with used climbing gear for the porters is also very much appreciated. 

7) Don’t overthink it! EBC is a serious, international expedition and even Trekking from Tea House to Tea House is a high-altitude mountaineering experience. But at the end of the day, it’s also just a long walk in the wilderness.

Phil Ohl

[DIsclaimer: No goods or services were provided in exchange for inclusion in this article] 

Additional Resources:

Concise Guide to EBC Trek

Doofus Dad Goes to Everest Base Camp

Ultimate Survival: Everest (TV Mini Series 2004– ) - Plot - IMDb

Aftershock: Everest and the Nepal Earthquake (TV Mini Series 2022) - IMDb

The Porter, The Untold Story at Everest

Amazon Shopping List:

     Everest Base Camp Trekking Map

     Type C Electrical Adaptor  OR Three-Pack Type C Electrical Adaptor

     Hiking Poles

     30 Liter Back Pack 

     Sun Hoodie

     Rain Shell

     Rain Pants with full-length zipper

     Waterproof/Shockproof Trekking Camera

     Adventure Duffle Bag

     Camelback Hydration Bladder