Trekking to the Top of the World in Nepal

Well, top-adjacent. We spent a few weeks trekking in the Everest region of the Himalayas among the tallest mountains in the world. Instead of the usual trek out and back just to Everest Base Camp (EBC), we did the Three Passes Trek. We still went to the EBC, but then we were able to see new scenery by hiking a loop and get amazing views of Everest on the passes to the West. It was 15 days of trekking in total with our flight back to Kathmandu on day 16. We spent 3 days before and after the trek in Kathmandu to get ready, acclimatize to 5,000ft, for recovery, and in case of flight delays in and out of Lukla.

Days -2 to 0: Prepping for the Trek

We arrived in Kathmandu after a quick 2 hour flight from New Delhi. It was so nice that when leaving the airport to get a taxi, it was so calm! We paid at a booth in the airport and gave the paper to one of the drivers, and not one other person approached us, it was quite lovely. We had 3 nights in the hotel before the trek which was good because we could try to get over the coughs. We went to a nearby convenience store to stock up on snacks and visited a few shops to pick up a hat and warmer sweater for the cooler nights ahead. The 3rd day we had a meeting with the trekking company to get the plan for the flight to Lukla, have an overview of the trek, and pick up items we rented from them including poles, sleeping bags, and duffel bags the porters will carry for us. We got to meet most of the other trekkers joining us and found out we needed a few more supplies. We stopped at a nearby shop for gaiters, microspikes, and some rain jackets.

After walking back to the hotel we did the final repack and got everything we were taking into the duffel bags and small backpacks and put the remaining in our larger backpacks that will be stored with the hotel. We had to give ourselves a little sendoff and enjoy a drink at the rooftop restaurant.

Day 1: A Helicopter through the Himalayas

The logistics to get started on the trek in the Everest region are interesting and extremely weather dependent. Lukla is the starting point for all trekkers and expeditions and is home to “the most dangerous airport in the world” due to the short runway and sometimes high crosswinds, which causes many flights to be delayed or canceled if the wind or visibility is not good. The main airport flying into Lukla is Ramechhap, about 5 hour drive which is usually done at 1am to catch an early flight but we were lucky to get one of 4 flights going out of Kathmandu so we could sleep in.

Once at the airport we were waiting to check in and someone came up to us and said it was delayed another 2 hours. In our briefing we had been told not many flights went out the day before and if it gets pushed back too late we’d likely not fly at all, so we decided to spring for the helicopter ride. For me this was my first helicopter! It was a little interesting going over some of the ridges because wind would suddenly hit you which feels different in a helicopter. It was pretty foggy (or smoggy) so the visibility was low and we couldn’t see any of the mountains. After 30 minutes we arrived and landed next to the runway for the planes. We met our guides and porters and walked up stairs along the runway to a tea house to get lunch.

After some tea and lunch we started the trek through the town and to the entrance of the Sagarmatha National Park where we had to do some passport checks and get our park passes.

It was a reasonably easy start to the trek with most of the uphill at the end of the day after our first suspension bridge. There were 7 of us staring from Lukla along with our lead guide, Rom, and 4 porters carrying our duffel bags. Mr. Wander is a pretty quick hiker so this first day he stayed up with the fast half of our group and I hung out in the back just trying to take it easy being the first day over 8,000ft. Every so often they’d stop for a break for us to catch up. Towards the end I somehow hit a rock wrong and turned my ankle a little but nothing serious and it only felt a little tight for a day or two. But I was worried at first, certainly didn’t want to get injured, especially on day one! Once we got to the tea house we met another guide and the last fellow hiker that flew in the day before. The eight of us represented five countries, UK, Australia, South Africa, France, and the US.

Our guide deviated from the standard itinerary for two reasons. First was that every other company does the same itinerary and stops at Phakding for the first night, so it would be pretty busy in town and on trail the following morning. He had us trek another 45 minutes to a small teahouse in Tok Tok to get a head start on the crowds the following day. Second was that the route from Phakding to Namche is mostly up hill so we were able to move 45 minutes of climbing from a hard day to an easier day, for which I was definitely thankful.

Day 2: Village of Namche

Today we were warned that it was going to be dusty, fairly busy on trail, and with plenty of suspension bridges and stairs. Thankfully since we had a head start on groups staying in Phakding and with few flights the last few days it wasn’t too busy of trekkers, but there were plenty of mules and porters taking goods up to Namche or beyond.

Todays hike started with stairs, enough to remind me to take a few puffs of the ol’ inhaler as a preventative measure, since we were going to climb nearly 3000ft today. I have sports induced asthma but have always believed in pushing myself otherwise the asthma will not get better on its own. We had both up and down and several suspension bridges while we followed the river we slept near the night before, called the Dudh Kosi (Milk River) due to its appearance. Finally we arrived at the Hillary Suspension bridge which is one of the highest in Nepal at 440ft (135m) above the Dudh Kosi. Before we could cross we had a few more steps to climb, however.

There is just enough room for people to meet on the suspension bridge, although it gets a bit tight if you meet a porter with a large load. The animals, however, are given right of way. On trail, we had to make sure we were on the wall side of the trail instead of the edge as sometimes the animals are trying to pass each other and don’t notice when their loads might knock someone off.

It was certainly a stunning trek today with so many great views of the river, especially as we started climbing.

Today Mr. Wander stayed back with me since I was definitely slower going up all these stairs! We finally made it into Namche, but there were still more stairs!

Eventually we made it to our tea house for the next few nights, the Green Tara Hotel which was a really nice place and had delicious food. We got lunch and I tried some momos, which are a soft bread I could dip in some marinara.

We spent the afternoon settling in and I did a little shopping to find a buff so I wouldn’t breathe in so much dust on the trail as it was making my cough a bit worse.

Day 3: Acclimatization Day

Today was the only acclimatization day on the Three Passes itinerary, which had us hike 1600ft up, and sleep low back at the same tea house. We slept in and let those heading onward get ahead so the trail wasn’t so busy. We started with a visit to the museum and learned all about the many attempts before Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary’s successful summit in 1953. It also shared a background of the Sherpas (translates to “East People”) that have been essential to the success of every summit of Everest.

Then we headed up a section with many stairs to get the major bit of the climb. This was also the busiest stretch as we seemed to meet just about everyone else doing their acclimatization hike. I was pretty tired but proud of passing the 12,000ft mark as that was my personal record thus far, and I had been passing people of other groups up the stairs! There was a viewpoint we stopped at but the clouds had mostly covered Everest by this point. The Everest View Hotel was father along the trail but our guide said it’s not any higher to help with acclimatization, and likely had $40 slices of pie, so we decided to head back down. We asked our guide if there was a different way down for a more interesting trail and he took us through brush for awhile until we came out overlooking the city for a stunning view.

After lunch I took advantage of having a hot shower and felt so great after coming back down! I didn’t realize acclimatization could help so quickly! That evening I had to try that momo meal again and played some games with a few of our crew before heading to bed.

Day 4: French Toast is Good Hiking Fuel

Unfortunately my cough kept me up a good part of the night so I wasn’t as well rested. We left at the same time as another large group so I did start a little hot trying to get past everyone. We climbed up about equal to the elevation the day before and it leveled off for awhile until we descended to a valley where we stopped for lunch.

The food wasn’t the best but it had the most memorable bathroom of the trip. Mr. Wander said there was just a hole and some leaves you use to cover up your business and that you can see people’s legs walking by on the trail. I used the other one that had a more normal squat toilet with an actual drain and water bucket.

After lunch we started the climb of 2,000ft up to Tengboche, which is the normal stop for the night so trekkers could visit the monastery in the evening and go to a prayer service in the morning. Our guide decided to break itinerary again for similar reasons as before, so we continued onto Pangboche.

First we dropped another 500ft and it leveled out for awhile and then it gradually started going up again. It was starting to get cloudy and cool and we were losing energy. The woman from South Africa was pretty close to my speed so we’d usually meet up on breaks. On one of our stops she shared her leftover French toast (our guide insisted on calling it Nepali toast, as it was made in Nepal, he was full of fun jokes like that) slices from breakfast. That was a much needed sugar boost for the last stretch. Eventually we crossed another suspension bridge and climbed along the cliff to some amazing views of the valley.

After many, many, many more stairs we finally made it to our teahouse for the night and I was wiped! I had some shakpa, also known as Sherpa stew which is a light broth with carrots, potatoes, rice, and homemade flat noodles. I had been coughing quite a bit and the guide gave me some anti cold and allergy medicine in case it was from the dust to help me sleep, and boy did that work! I tucked into the sleeping bag at 8pm and slept right through the night.

Day 5: Decisions in Dingboche

Today was a shorter day thanks to the extra the day before. We still had a few sections of up hill to get us over 14,000ft but still had plenty of flat and down.

Last year in training for this we attempted a 14-er in the US, Mt Elbert, but unfortunately I couldn’t make it over 12,000ft. That time we didn’t give ourselves any time to get acclimated to the elevation and tried to do in 1 day what we’ve done in 5 with medication. I am quite proud of even making it this far with only noticing my breathing on stairs or extended inclines, and even then I can still pass some people, and still dealing with a cough!

Reaching Dingboche meant a decision point. The first pass, Kongmala, was on the schedule for the following day. We had a mixed group of 2 that were just doing the EBC and the remaining 3 couples the three passes trek. Those doing the EBC normally skip the pass and do an extra acclimatization day but he gave us all the option to go either direction. Due to our coughs we decided to not do this first pass and to save our energy to make sure we can do EBC. This pass would have been the highest point of the entire trip and seemed pretty early to go that high. We had ourselves some dinner of what became my go-to, Shakpa, and Mr. Wander had momo soup, which are vegetable dumplings in a light broth.

Day 6: The Bonus Acclimatization Day

As every day on trail, the day dawned clear. Most days by about noon or a little after clouds would roll in and sometimes it was misty but the mornings were always sunny. We hiked up towards the Dingboche viewpoint a mile but our guide said we could stop early if we were tired since the view wasn’t much different and we had hiked enough to get the acclimatization benefit. I was the first to stop between my cold and knowing the next two were pretty big days I felt rest was more important. Mr. Wander went a bit farther with the rest while I enjoyed the view until the first ones started coming back down so I joined them.

It was a bit sketchy in places where it was gravel since it was so steep. I am very glad I had poles with me to help catch when a foot slipped a bit.

After reaching back to our tea house we had lunch and said farewell to the two that were going to do the pass. They had to continue onto Chhukung which was another 500ft higher than we had already hiked that day! We would meet up with them the following day after they completed the pass.

It was the fastest hiker in our 3 passes trek and the man from Australia doing the EBC. We tried convincing him to join us on the 3 passes route and if he had more time before his flights home he definitely would have. The guide was so accommodating to changes, already he and one of the couples were going to do Gokyo and back, but they decided to do the three passes and instead of going by himself he stayed with us to do the EBC.

Our nap attempts in the afternoon were foiled by my cough, so I got more medication from our guide after dinner before we went to bed.

Day 7: Millions of People…

This was one of the busiest days we had on trail yet, as everyone heading to EBC hikes between Dingboche and Lobuche. I became even more thankful for all the changes to the itinerary up until now that kept us from clogged trails. The busiest was the lunch stop as there really is only one place to eat along the way.

We started out with rolling hills rising slightly over a few miles to get over 15,000ft at lunch. I enjoyed a giant plate of (vegetarian) carbonara pasta! Through the entire trek we were vegetarians except once when we had some canned sausage (unintentionally). When you see the meat carried up in bamboo baskets by porters, and know that it also had to be flown in from Kathmandu to Lukla, you start to wonder how fresh it really is, especially the higher you climb. It’s best to stick to canned tuna or sausage if you really feel you need the protein.

In the gallery you can see just how busy the lunch spot was, as well as our guide posed quite well for the picture in front of a mountain that I wish I remembered the name. Throughout the trail you see so many dogs relaxing in the sun, I can only assume they belong to one of the owners or workers of the lodges.

We had one baby pass to cross where there are many memorials to those who have lost their lives in pursuit of summiting or trekking in these mountains, not just Everest. To get there we had quite a bit of UP right after lunch (picture just above). It was encouraging that I was still passing people in pursuit of 16,000ft but was ready for a break by the end of this section (shot of me in gallery above). We finally made it to Lobuche by 2pm, meeting up with our friends that climbed the big pass as they just finished their lunch. After checking into our rooms we all came back to the main dining area to chat with other trekkers. We met several that were headed the other direction on the three passes trek and had one more pass to go!

Day 8: EBC Day!

Big day today! The plan was to hike about 3 miles and 1000ft of climb to Gorakshep, have some tea, hike to EBC about 2 more miles and another 300ft, take our pictures, and then back to Gorakshep for the night. We started really early with breakfast and packed bags by 5:30am and were on the trail by 5.

It was pretty busy on trail with most groups having the same idea, but our group generally was smaller and a bit faster. There were also yaks, porters, and horses to navigate around as some people opt to ride a horse to the EBC. We made it to Gorakshep by 9am and got tea. I was struggling more with my cough as I had run out of lozenges and no town had them that I was able to find. Thankfully, my savior from South Africa, had extras and she gave me a whole roll of Halls since it was her last night on trail (she took a Helicopter back to Kathmandu in the morning).

The group had set out from Gorakshep at different times since we were all at different speeds, Mr. Wander and I was in the middle with our main guide and one of the porters. It was pretty flat across a plain for awhile until we climbed up on the glacier ridge. From here we could see the EBC and Everest both! Although Everest looks quite small because how close we were to the mountains in front.

I was trying to just go slowly to make sure I kept my breathing in check until after one of the last bigger climb sections we took a short break. I sat down and our guide said it was only another 20-30 minutes left! I am not sure if it was the excitement of being so close, or finally getting to rest but I suddenly went from a normal hard breathing to feeling the asthma take hold. I was able to calmly ask Mr. Wander to grab my inhaler from my backpack (which I was still wearing) before I had the first wheeze, which was way louder and deeper than normal. I had to slow down the breathing a bit to take a few puffs and I recovered pretty quickly. I always started the day with the inhaler (sometimes forgetting until I hit the first hill) and had managed to never actually feel like I was wheezing.

In my prior CrossFit or training for half marathons I had gotten comfortable with the “lighter” wheezes and have learned when to pull back before it goes too far. This being so sudden was definitely different but I think has to do with elevation and a little getting distracted from keeping my breathing rhythm. We had still only been taking a half dose of the medication and for some reason in that moment I finally started to feel one of the side effects, which had my entire face lightly tingling. That could have been enough to set off the asthma as well. As I was controlling my breathing, Mr. Wander and the guide got my pack off me and gave it to the porter and wouldn’t let me carry it the rest of the way, both up and down. And to anyone worried about me after reading this (*cough* Mom), know that I was in good hands, there were helicopters quite often if necessary, but I’ve had so much practice controlling breathing after an asthma attack that it was almost controlled before I took those extra puffs.

After coming down from the ridge, we walked across part of the glacier and finally made it to Everest Base Camp! There were several large tents for the summit expeditions as they were prepping and acclimatizing to make the summit over the next month. All summits are done in May as the winds are usually the lightest and before storms start coming in during Monsoon season in India.

We ate some snacks and waited for our last member of the group to join us and got a big group photo before heading back down. It was definitely much easier and it took only a few hours before we were arriving back in Gorakshep. We ordered lunch as we were pretty hungry, it being about 2pm. Then we checked into the rooms and came back to the main area to enjoy the “Yak pancake” fueled stoves that made it nice and warm. We were well above tree line, so Yak poop is the best source for fuel for fires. The stoves were often used to boil water for tea or create warm and scented towels they gave us just before dinner in every tea house.

Next time

The EBC is the highlight of the first half of our trek. Our guide was excited because we were the first group with a 100% success rate of making it to the EBC! As the lead guide he usually goes back down with anyone having troubles and leaves the assistant guides or porters to go with those that are doing well. After the EBC we backtracked a little towards Lobuche but then split off to the west to continue our loop to the other two passes. We have many more stories and pictures to share, especially seeing Everest, she looks way more impressive when you are a bit farther away. I hope you all enjoyed part one and stay tuned for next week (as long as I can find enough good internet) for part 2! Alavida!