Two Valleys, Five Giants

20 Days Through the Heart of the Khumbu

Days 1 to 3  |  Kathmandu

Arrive in Kathmandu and transfer to the hotel for the expedition briefing. The first three days cover the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of the Kathmandu Valley: Swayambhunath on its hilltop above the city, Pashupatinath on the Bagmati river, and the medieval Durbar Squares of Kathmandu and Patan. These days are preparation in the proper sense: the Buddhist religious culture that began in these valley temples is the same tradition that built the gompas of Tyangboche and Khumjung and that the Sherpa communities of the Khumbu have maintained for centuries. Understanding something of it before the trek begins makes the mountain section richer.

Days 4 to 7  |  Lukla to Namche Bazaar

The mountain flight from Kathmandu to Lukla is one of the more dramatic approaches to any trekking region in the world: a small aircraft descending toward a short runway on a hillside above the Dudh Kosi valley, the mountains visible above and the valley falling away below. The trek begins from Lukla at 2,840 metres through giant fir and magnolia forest alongside the Dudh Kosi River, the sound of the water constant and the first views of the high peaks appearing above the ridgelines. Namche Bazaar at 3,440 metres is the commercial and cultural hub of the Sherpa world, its horseshoe-shaped valley filled with lodges, teahouses, and the permanent hum of a mountain trading town that has been at the intersection of the high and low Himalayan worlds for centuries.

Days 8 to 11  |  Tyangboche to Lobuche

The acclimatization day at Namche includes a walk up to Khumjung, the largest traditional Sherpa village in the Khumbu, where the Hillary School and the community’s strong Gurkha and mountaineering connections give the place a character distinct from the lodges and teahouses of the main trail below. Continue to Tyangboche at 3,860 metres, the most important monastery in the Khumbu, its position on a forested saddle with Ama Dablam rising directly above it one of the great mountain compositions in Nepal. Above Tyangboche the vegetation thins. The trail passes through Pheriche and Dingboche into the high alpine country of the upper Khumbu, the peaks growing larger and the air noticeably thinner with every day of ascent. Lobuche at 4,930 metres is the last substantial settlement before the glacier.

Days 12 to 15  |  Base Camp, Kala Patthar, and the Cho La

The approach to Everest Base Camp follows the lateral moraine of the Khumbu glacier through the Gorak Shep plain to the base of the icefall at 5,550 metres. This is not a viewpoint in the conventional sense: from base camp, Everest itself is largely hidden by the surrounding ridges. The view is of the icefall, the seracs, and the scale of the approach that climbing teams use to gain the Western Cwm above. Kala Patthar, the following morning before dawn, provides the close-up view of Everest that the base camp does not: the full summit pyramid visible above the Nuptse ridge, the mountain lit before the surrounding peaks in the first light. The Cho La crossing the day after connects the Everest and Gokyo valleys through a high snow and ice pass that requires care and a guide team with experience of the route in varying conditions.

Days 16 to 20  |  Gokyo and the Return

The Gokyo Valley on the far side of the Cho La is quieter than the Everest approach and correspondingly wider in feel. The glacial lakes along the valley floor are a series of turquoise bodies of water fed by the Ngozumpa glacier above, the largest glacier in the Himalaya. Gokyo Ri at 5,488 metres provides the panorama that closes the high-altitude section: five peaks above 8,000 metres in a single view, the glacier filling the valley below, and the full expanse of the Khumbu visible in the clear morning air. The descent retraces the approach through Namche and back to Lukla for the mountain flight to Kathmandu and the final days in the city before departure.

Day by Day

Days 1 to 3  Kathmandu  The Sacred Valley

Arrive at Tribhuvan International Airport and transfer to the hotel with a warm Sherpa welcome. The expedition briefing that evening is thorough: the 20-day route is covered in full, including the altitude profile from Lukla to Kala Patthar and Gokyo Ri, the acclimatization schedule, the Cho La crossing and what it requires, the lodge system along the route, and the daily distances and elevation changes for each section. The Everest and Gokyo combined trek is physically demanding and the preparation for it begins with understanding exactly what the days ahead will involve. Guests sit down to dinner with a clear picture of the journey.

The Kathmandu Valley in the days before a Khumbu trek is worth more attention than it usually receives. Swayambhunath, the hilltop stupa above the western edge of the city, has been a centre of Buddhist practice for over two thousand years. Its white dome and the golden tower above it, surrounded by prayer flags that carry the wind across the valley, mark a site that is as significant to the tradition that the Khumbu gompas maintain as any monastery in the mountains. Pashupatinath on the Bagmati river is the most sacred Hindu site in Nepal: the cremation ghats, the sadhus, and the continuous activity of a living temple give it a quality that photographs do not convey. The Durbar Squares of Kathmandu and Patan are medieval royal court complexes built in the Newari tradition, their carved timber and stone representing a craft tradition of exceptional refinement. The Everest permit and Sagarmatha National Park fees are arranged during these three days.

Stay: Luxury Hotel in Kathmandu

Days 4 to 7  Lukla to Namche Bazaar  The Sherpa Heartland

The flight from Kathmandu to Lukla departs in the early morning before the valley cloud builds and closes the airstrip. The aircraft climbs east over the middle hills, the terrain below rising rapidly as the foothills give way to the approach ranges, and descends toward the Lukla strip in a final approach that follows the hillside closely enough to make the runway visible only in the last few seconds. It is a short but memorable flight. Lukla at 2,840 metres is a busy, functional staging point for the Khumbu, its single street of lodges and equipment shops full of trekkers arriving and departing, porters organising loads, and the general purposeful movement of a place that exists to facilitate the journey above.

The trail from Lukla follows the Dudh Kosi River through forests of giant fir and rhododendron, the river running fast and cold below suspension bridges that carry the path from bank to bank. The valley is deep and the forest is dense in the lower sections, the peaks above visible in fragments through the canopy. As the trail gains altitude toward Monjo and Jorsale, the forest opens and the first distant views of the high Khumbu peaks appear above the northern ridgeline. The entrance to Sagarmatha National Park at Jorsale is where the park fees are collected; above it the valley narrows to a gorge before opening again at the base of the long climb to Namche Bazaar.

Namche Bazaar sits in a natural amphitheatre on the hillside above the Dudh Kosi gorge, its tightly packed lodges, bakeries, and expedition outfitters filling a horseshoe-shaped bowl at 3,440 metres. On clear mornings, Everest is visible above the ridge to the north from a viewpoint above the town, a distant white pyramid above the nearer peaks. The acclimatization day here is not wasted time: the walk up to Khumjung at 3,790 metres gives the legs the additional elevation they need while the body adjusts to the altitude of Namche. Khumjung is the largest traditional Sherpa village in the Khumbu, its community shaped by a long history of mountaineering employment and Gurkha service, its Hillary School a tangible landmark of the connection between this valley and the outside world.

Stay: Best Available Mountain Lodges

Days 8 to 11  Tyangboche to Lobuche  Into the High Alpine

The trail from Namche to Tyangboche descends first into the Dudh Kosi gorge before climbing the far side through mossy forest to the saddle at 3,860 metres where the monastery stands. Tyangboche is the most important religious institution in the Khumbu, its setting on a forested platform with Ama Dablam rising 2,000 metres directly above it and the full Everest massif visible to the north one of the most extraordinary mountain compositions in Nepal. The monastery was rebuilt after a fire in 1989 and the building is well maintained, the monks conducting daily practice in a gompa that draws both Sherpa pilgrims and foreign visitors. The sunset on the Everest group from the saddle at Tyangboche, when the cloud clears in the late afternoon, is one of those views that is worth the trip from Kathmandu on its own terms.

Above Tyangboche the vegetation changes progressively. The mossy forest gives way to open juniper scrub, then to the alpine meadows of Dingboche at 4,220 metres, where the Imja Khola valley branches east toward Island Peak and the Chhukung glacier. The high peaks are fully visible now on all sides: Lhotse to the north, Ama Dablam to the south-east, Makalu on the eastern horizon. The air above Dingboche requires a measured pace and the acclimatization schedule keeps the group at this altitude for a day before continuing to Lobuche. Lobuche at 4,930 metres is the last settlement before the glacier terrain of the upper Khumbu, a cluster of lodges on a moraine ridge with the Khumbu glacier visible to the east and the pyramid of Pumori above to the north-west.

Stay: Best Available Mountain Lodges

Days 12 to 15  Everest Base Camp to Cho La  The High Crossing

The walk from Lobuche to Gorak Shep follows the lateral moraine of the Khumbu glacier through a landscape that has simplified to rock, ice, and altitude. Gorak Shep at 5,140 metres is the last stop before base camp, a flat sandy plain above the glacier where the lodges serve meals and hot drinks to trekkers in varying states of acclimatization. The approach to Everest Base Camp continues along the moraine to the edge of the icefall at 5,550 metres. The base camp itself is not a fixed point: it moves slightly with the glacier each season, and outside the expedition season from March to May it is largely unmarked. What is fixed is the character of the place, the scale of the icefall above, the sound of the glacier moving, and the knowledge of the mountaineering history that has accumulated here since the first reconnaissance expeditions of the 1950s.

Kala Patthar at 5,644 metres is the morning after base camp, a predawn start from Gorak Shep in the cold and dark to be at the summit by sunrise. The view from Kala Patthar is the closest the Everest route comes to a direct sight line on the summit: the full pyramid of the world’s highest mountain above the Nuptse ridge, lit from below by the rising sun while the surrounding peaks are still in shadow. It is the view that is on the cover of every Everest trekking guide and in every documentary about the region. Seeing it in person, in the cold and the thin air, with the glacier below and the ridge above, is a different experience from any reproduction of it.

The Cho La crossing leaves the Lobuche valley and climbs steeply to the pass at 5,422 metres on a route that gains altitude quickly through loose boulder fields before reaching the snow and ice of the upper slope. The pass itself is a narrow col with a short fixed rope on the steepest section. Crampons and trekking poles are recommended, and the guide team carries the necessary equipment. The descent on the Gokyo side is long and loose, the trail dropping through scree and boulder fields to the floor of the Ngozumpa glacier. The crossing should be attempted in the morning before cloud and afternoon wind develop on the high ground.

Stay: Best Available Mountain Lodges

Days 16 to 20  Gokyo to Kathmandu  The Return

The Gokyo Valley is different from the Everest approach in character and in the quality of its solitude. The trail follows the eastern edge of the Ngozumpa glacier, the largest glacier in the Himalaya, through a series of glacial lakes that are the defining feature of the valley. The first lake, Longponga Tsho, is below the trail. The second and third lakes are alongside it. The fourth, Thonak Tsho, and the fifth, Ngozumpa Tsho, are above Gokyo village. Each lake is a different shade of turquoise depending on the mineral content of the meltwater that feeds it, and the glacier beyond each one is visibly larger than the last. Gokyo village at 4,790 metres is smaller and quieter than Namche, its lodges filled with a fraction of the traffic that the Everest route carries.

Gokyo Ri at 5,488 metres requires an early start from the village, the ascent taking two to three hours on a well-marked but steep trail above the third lake. The summit is a broad ridge rather than a single point, and the panorama is correspondingly wide. Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, and Cho Oyu are all visible from the top, four of the world’s six highest peaks in a single view. The Ngozumpa glacier fills the valley below. The route back to Namche descends through the lower Gokyo Valley and retraces the approach trail through Dole and Mong La to Namche Bazaar, where a final night in a familiar lodge marks the transition from the high mountain section to the return. The walk from Namche to Lukla takes a long day, and the mountain flight the following morning returns the group to Kathmandu in time for a final day in the city.

Stay: Best Available Mountain Lodges then Luxury Hotel in Kathmandu

The Sherpa Standard

Every SherpaHolidays expedition is fully supported from arrival to departure. Here is what that covers for this journey.

Accommodation and Meals

• Kathmandu: 4 nights at a luxury hotel in Kathmandu on a bed and breakfast basis.
• Mountain Lodges: 14 nights in the best available mountain lodges along the route, selected for comfort, cleanliness, and views.
• Full Board on Trek: All meals throughout the 14-day trekking section, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner, prepared daily at each lodge.

Leadership and Support

• Expedition Guide: One experienced, licensed English-speaking trekking guide with deep knowledge of Sherpa culture, the Khumbu geography, and the Cho La crossing, for the full duration of the trek.
• Sherpa Support Team: Professional porters at one per two guests, handling all personal luggage and expedition logistics throughout.
• Staff Ethics: Comprehensive insurance, fair wages, and appropriate equipment provided for all guides and porters as standard.

Transport and Permits

• Private Transfers: All airport collections and city sightseeing transfers in Kathmandu by private vehicle.
• Heritage Access: All sightseeing entry fees for Kathmandu Valley historical and religious sites.
• Staff Flights: Return flight tickets for the trekking guide on the Kathmandu to Lukla route.

What Is Not Included

• International airfare to and from Kathmandu and Nepal entry visa fees
• Guest flight tickets for Kathmandu to Lukla and return, available as a supplement
• Everest Conservation fees and Sagarmatha National Park entry fees
• Lunch and dinner in Kathmandu
• Travel and emergency evacuation insurance, which is mandatory for this expedition. We can recommend providers.
• Tips for guides and porters, personal trekking equipment, and souvenirs

Five Things That Define This Expedition

Everest Base Camp

Standing at 5,550 metres at the foot of the Khumbu Icefall is not the same as standing on a summit, but it is not simply a symbolic gesture either. The base camp marks the point from which every successful ascent of Everest has begun since the first expeditions of the 1950s. The icefall above is genuinely dangerous, the seracs audibly shifting, and the scale of the mountain above the surrounding ridges communicates something about altitude and human ambition that is difficult to access any other way. Most people who stand here have spent two weeks walking toward it. The approach makes the arrival matter in a way that a helicopter transfer could not replicate.

Kala Patthar at Sunrise

The predawn climb to Kala Patthar is a Khumbu ritual: the cold start from Gorak Shep, the headlamps on the trail in the dark, the slow gain of altitude in air that is half the density of sea level, and then the arrival at the summit ridge as the light begins. The view of Everest from Kala Patthar is the clearest and most direct available to a trekker in Nepal: the full summit pyramid above the Nuptse ridge, the South Col visible, the route of ascent legible. The photograph taken here at first light is the one that ends up on the wall. More importantly, the experience of being in that place at that hour, at that altitude, is one that stays longer than any photograph of it.

The Cho La Pass

The crossing that connects the Everest and Gokyo valleys is what separates this expedition from either single-valley trek. The Cho La at 5,422 metres is a genuine high-mountain pass: a snow and ice slope on the ascent, a long loose descent on the far side, and a summit col where the wind is constant and the views extend across the full upper Khumbu in both directions. It requires the right equipment, proper acclimatization, and a guide team that knows the route. On the far side, the Gokyo Valley opens below with the glacial lakes visible from above and the quality of quiet that comes from a valley that receives a fraction of the Everest route’s traffic. The crossing is demanding. It is also entirely worth it.

Gokyo Ri and the Five Giants

The summit of Gokyo Ri at 5,488 metres provides the panorama that many experienced Himalayan trekkers consider the finest viewpoint available on foot in Nepal. From the top, Everest at 8,849 metres, Lhotse at 8,516 metres, Makalu at 8,485 metres, and Cho Oyu at 8,188 metres are visible in a single sweep of the horizon. The Ngozumpa glacier fills the valley below, its lateral moraines and crevassed surface extending from the high peaks to the lower valley in an unbroken field of ice. The glacial lakes of Gokyo are visible beneath the trail. On a clear morning at altitude, with this view available in all directions, the effort of the preceding two weeks resolves into something uncomplicated and worth every step.

Tyangboche and the Living Sherpa Tradition

The monastery at Tyangboche is the most important religious institution in the Khumbu and one of the finest positioned buildings in Nepal, its saddle between the forested ridges framing Ama Dablam directly above and the Everest group to the north. The monks who maintain daily practice here are part of a Tibetan Buddhist tradition that the Sherpa people brought across the Nangpa La from Tibet several centuries ago and have preserved in this valley without interruption since. The villages of Khumjung and Kunde above Namche, the mani walls along the trail, the prayer flags that mark every high point and river crossing: all of these are expressions of a living religious culture that happens to exist at the base of the world’s highest peaks. Walking through it is one of the less expected rewards of the Khumbu.