Everest Three High Passes Trek

Your arrival in Kathmandu is the first day of the trip. We will welcome you at the arrival gate of Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu and transfer you to the trip hotel. You will have free time mostly on your own today. We will surely offer you necessary guidance on wandering around on your arrival time. We will also brief you about the entire adventure trip and answer your questions if you have any. Feel at comfort; relax and try to acclimate in the Nepalese atmosphere. Things may look and feel completely strange to you but that’s the beauty of a new place so find yourself at easy and slowly soak into the local ambience.

Kathmandu has a history of more than 2,000 years. We will take you for a tour of the historical, cultural and spiritual places in Kathmandu that are enlisted in the cultural heritage list. A guided visit to Swoyambhunath, Patan Durbar Square, Pashupatinath and Boudhanath will give you an understanding of the history, culture, spiritual practice and lifestyle of Kathmandu valley. It will be a good starter of the trip. An insightful day of exploring the cultural and historical wonders of Kathmandu will come to end after returning back to the hotel around late afternoon.

We drive to airport for our morning flight to Lukla. With the excitement of being in the region of the highest mountain in the world, we board a small, fixed winged aircraft and set off on an adventurous yet worthy aerial journey to Lukla. Soon after an incredible flight experience, we will find ourselves at the amazing mountain town of Lukla, the gateway to Everest. We will meet all our supporting crew members at Lukla before setting off on the first day of trek. Once we sort out our stuffs, we start the trek to Phakding today. After about 4 hours of easy trek on gentle and gradual downhill trail, we reach Phakding on the bank of a beautiful mountain river called Dudh Koshi. The very first day of Everest trail walking will take us past some beautiful cultural and spiritual wonders in the forms of prayer flags, chhortens, mani walls etc.

We enjoy our breakfast with the serene sound of flowing Dudh Koshi before starting our second day of the trek to Namche Bazar today. The walk today mostly involves uphill effort with some steep going up. We cross several suspension bridges today on the trail as we proceed towards the destination. We check into the Sagarmatha National Park entrance check point just above the beautiful village of Monjo before continuing up towards Namche bazar. Once we reach Namche bazar, a prosperous mountain trading town in the Everest region, we will be able to observe and experience more of the amazing culture and life style of beautiful and famous Sherpa people. A nicely settled town in the terraced slope, Namche bazar showcases some spectacular views of mountains like Thamserku (6,6232m) and Kongde Ri (6,187m) to its west.

We spend an extra day here at Namche today for acclimatization as we are already at 3,440 meters above sea level with a large portion of the stretch left to go higher in the days to come. As this is an acclimatizing day, we will go for a hiking trip to Everest View point right above Namche bazar to have the very first glimpse of the Mt. Everest. This spectacular view point brings the wonderful mountain views including Mt. Everest that keeps us motivated to go higher towards the base camp. Once we return back to Namche bazar after the hike, we can explore the town going through one end to the other of the town. We can indulge in some conversation with locals there; surf internet cafes; or simply relax and save the energy for the days to come.

From today onwards, we leave the trail towards Everest base camp and take the one towards Thame village. This trail ultimately leads us to the first of three passes – Renjo La. The walk to Thame today is a peaceful strolling along the trail that has fewer trekkers and beautiful surroundings. That means we will have a perfectly wonderful atmosphere to enjoy the trek. We finally reach the destination for the day to stay overnight. Thame is the village that has given birth to several famous Sherpa climbers including the first man to successfully climb Mt. Everest – Tenzing Norgay Sherpa.

The trek today is another peaceful walk along the trail stretch of Thame to Lungden. Each day on the trek, we are gaining elevation and it is going to be our first overnight stay over 4,000 meters on the trip. The view of incredibly beautiful surroundings of nature and mountains makes our walk full of experiences. We eventually reach Lungden to settle into a lodge and explore the surroundings for the day.

On this adventure trek of crossing three of the high passes in the mountains, we are going to go over the first of them. We start the uphill walk towards Renjo La pass early in the morning. It may feel a bit challenging to walk up towards a mountain pass that stands at the elevation of 5,340 meters above sea level, but it is really worth going for. Once we reach the pass, what we see from there will blow our mind. View of the magnificent mountains in the Himalayas is simply stunning that leaves us speechless. Later, we trek all the way down to Gokyo Lake to stay overnight at the elevation of 4,750 meters above sea level.

We will spend the whole day today in the surroundings of Gokyo. The day starts with early morning hike to Gokyo Ri, one of the best viewpoints on the trip. Gokyo Ri offers a breathtaking view of the mountains, glaciers and lakes. The early morning effort to hike brings is a surreal experience of watching at the mystical and hidden magnificence of the mountains. Later, we walk back down to the Gokyo Lake and spend the afternoon exploring and enjoying its surroundings.

After a full day exploration and easy afternoon at Gokyo Lake, we will continue the trek. We will trek to Thagnag today. It is a short walk to the base of the Cho La pass where we stay overnight. In about four hours of time, we will reach the overnight destination for the day. The rest of the day will be to get ourselves ready for the adventure of crossing another pass tomorrow.

We are going to trek over the second pass of the Everest three high passes trek today. Our adventure starts early morning with an uphill walk towards Cho La pass that stands at the elevation of 5,420 meters above sea level at the mountainous surroundings. Crossing the pass today is a bit tricky business since we have to be extremely careful while traversing the trail to and through the pass. Nothing technical but a bit of more carefulness will allow us enjoy the wonderful day today. The view of the pass is another spectacular thing to enjoy on the whole trip. We eventually reach Dzongla to stay overnight.

Our walk for the day takes us to Lobuche. A peaceful trail with magnificent views leads us to the destination where we will meet many other trekkers to the Everest Base Camp. As we meet the trail of regular Everest base camp trek, now the trail and the region will be more crowded. We will spend the rest of the day exploring and enjoying the surroundings of Lobuche.

We are eventually going to make it to the Everest Base Camp today after these many days of trekking in and amidst the wonderful Himalayan peaks. Our determined and sincere effort to be at the base of the highest mountain in the world is going to materialize this afternoon. We are going to stand at the place where many climbers have spent days and nights training, preparing and attempting the summit of the formidable Mt. Everest. We walk to Gorakshep, a small settlement on the glacial lakebed in the Everest region, where we are going to spend overnight today as the highest overnight stopover for the trip. After relishing our lunch at our tea house, we set off on the walk to the Everest Base Camp. A slow paced walk on the moraine and boulder strewn gradual path up to base camp is going to test our excitement and stamina. Anyway we are going to get to the base camp regardless of the difficulty of walking at the elevation. We click countless pictures and enjoy the moment of being at the classic Everest base camp before making a return trip to Gorakshep for overnight stay.

We get up early, really early, in the morning to hike up to Kalapatthar, the highest elevation on the trip, for a breathtaking view of Mt. Everest, Lhotse and other Himalayan panorama up close with spectacular sunrise over those mighty peaks. This never-seen-before view and sunrise on earth is going to blow our mind away alluring us to stay there forever. Alas, we wish we could! We have to make a return trip back to Gorakshep for breakfast. We start the trek back to Lobuche after breakfast.

We are going to trek over the third and the final pass of the three high passes trek in the Everest region. Our early morning walk will take us to the impressive Kongma La. We again need to go for a challenging uphill trek towards the pass early in the morning. But we will surely love what the pass has to offer us. We, later, trek down to Chhukung to stay overnight

After crossing all the three high passes of the trek, we will now continue on the walk back towards Lukla. Our trek for the day will take us to a beautiful Sherpa village in the region - Pangboche. We will reach Pangboche village with ample time to explore the place. Once we reach Pangboche, we will spend rest of the day exploring monastery and village.

We will trek back to Namche bazar today to stay overnight. The trek takes us past Tengboche village where we can stop to visit the famous Tengboche monastery. We finally trek back to Namche through peaceful trail stretch Tengboche to Namche and take rest of the time at leisure.

It’s the last day of trekking when we trek to Lukla today. The lower we walk, the farther we are leaving the iconic Everest base camp behind physically but we are carrying a beautiful memory of being there. We cross suspension bridges and walk past Phakding and advance towards Lukla. Once we reach Lukla to bring our trekking part to an end, we duly thank our supporting team members. If it were not for their amazing effort, our journey would be very difficult. We celebrate the joy of making it to the base of the highest peak in the world.

We take a morning flight from the Lukla airstrip leaving the mighty mountains behind us. Another exciting flight with adventure takes us back to the city civilization. Once in Kathmandu, we spend leisurely time back in the chaos of the city after so many days of serene mountain air and incredible adventure.

As the last day on this beautiful adventure trip, we will drive you to the airport for your departure flight as per your flight schedule. If this is not your departure day, the service for this trip ends here. If you have extra days to spend in Nepal and need any other assistance, please do let us know. We will certainly help you in whatever way we can.

The walking adventure to the Everest three high passes trek goes through the trail that meanders up and down the mountains frequently. Although this is not an extremely difficult trip, you will certainly feel some challenges of walking in the high altitude during the trip. We would rate it as a moderate trip in difficulty level. You definitely need to go through the challenge of walking several days in the mountain wilderness to experience the majestic charm of the Mt. Everest and other mountains in the region. This is certainly a challenging adventure since it entails walking over mountain passes over 5,000 meters above sea level.

Walking hours vary from day to day on this trip. You walk from 4-8 hours every day depending on the distance you cover. You can expect the walking hours to be around 6 hours on average.

Since it is walking adventure trip, you do not need any climbing skills, experience or equipment. However, you will need a high level of determination to traverse the mountain trail in the wilderness for several days. This is just a trekking trip, not a climbing adventure.

The walking route to the Everest three high passes trek is a well-trodden and popular trail. You will find enough guest houses and lodges along the trail where you normally spend the overnights. Guest houses and lodges along the route are basic accommodation with dining facilities where the trekkers spend overnight. These guest houses and lodges are comfortable but not super luxurious. The overnight places for each day are specified in the itinerary. However, your trip guide can change the overnight places on his/her sole discretion if s/he thinks it necessary for your comfort and better experience.

Dal Bhat is the staple food in the mountains. This combo of rice, lentil soup, vegetables, curry etc. is available everywhere you go. In addition to this Nepali food, you can enjoy momos, noodle soup (Thukpa), chowmein, pizza, sandwitch, Sherpa bread, soup, bakery etc. along the trail. Options of vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods are also available. We highly recommend you to go for vegetarian food during the trek.

When you go for the walking adventure trip, you will pack two different bags – one big backpack that your porter will carry for you and the other, a small daypack for yourself to carry with necessary things that you need for the day. You can refer to our Things to Carry page for a complete guide on what you need to have when you are in the mountains.