Mount Everest and the Khumbu

Mount Everest (8,849 M), The Highest Mountain On Earth, Inside Sagarmatha National Park, A UNESCO World Heritage Site Inscribed 1979 · Namche Bazaar, Koshi

Mount Everest, Sagarmatha in Nepali and Chomolungma in Tibetan, is the highest mountain on earth at 8,849 metres, and the Khumbu, the Sherpa homeland on its Nepali side, is where most of the world comes to see it. Almost none of them climb it. They walk: the trek to Everest Base Camp is one of the most famous walks on the planet, about twelve to fourteen days from the airstrip at Lukla up the Dudh Kosi valley to Namche Bazaar, the Sherpa market town cut into a hillside, past the monastery at Tengboche with Ama Dablam behind it, and on through villages of stone lodges to the glacier. The honest surprise is that Everest's summit is barely visible from base camp itself; the view people come for is from Kala Patthar, a rocky hill above Gorak Shep. The whole valley is a World Heritage Site. The Khumbu is also crowded in peak season, altitude sickness is the most common reason trips fail, and the Lukla flight is famously unforgiving. Walked slowly, it is one of the greatest mountain journeys there is.

Sagarmatha National Park, Khumbu, Solukhumbu District, Namche Bazaar, Koshi, Nepal

Seasonal. The main trekking seasons are roughly October to November and March to May; the monsoon from June to September brings cloud and leeches, and winter is very cold high up. Entry requires the Sagarmatha National Park fee and a local Khumbu fee; rules on licensed guides for foreign trekkers were tightened in 2023 and enforcement varies - confirm. Lukla flights depend on weather, and in peak season many depart from Ramechhap rather than Kathmandu.

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