Everest Three Passes Trek - 17 Days

Your Everest 3 Passes Trek begins with a flight to Lukla. In the busy trekking seasons (March, April, May, September, October, and November), flights from Kathmandu to Lukla might be redirected through Manthali Airport. To catch the early morning Lukla flight from Manthali, we'll pick you up from your hotel around 12:30 am and take you on a 5-hour drive to Manthali Airport. From Manthali, you will fly for about twenty minutes before stepping on Lukla.

You can hire a helicopter from Kathmandu to Lukla to skip the Kathmandu-Manthali-Lukla route. The cost is around 550 USD per person, provided the helicopter expenses are split among five passengers.

During, December, January, February, June, July, or August, you will directly fly from Kathmandu to Lukla. After breakfast, we'll take you to Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) for a 40-minute flight to Tenzing Hillary Airport in Lukla.

After arriving at Lukla, you descend to the Thado Koshi River and cross a few suspension bridges before reaching Phakding. The trek will be short and enjoyable as you will also be acclimatizing. In Phakding, we will take you for a visit to the local Rimishung Monastery.

We will begin early in the morning at Phakding and move north along the banks of Dudh Koshi River, passing many suspension bridges -including Hillary Suspension Bridge.

Our path also takes us through Monjo Village, deep forests, and rocky trails to Sagarmatha National Park Check Post, where we will register our permits and climb up into the forest. From this forest, you will see Mt. Everest for the first time. However, we will continue the trek until we reach Namche Bazaar - the destination for the day. 

Today will be an acclimatization day at Namche. We recommend you to explore Namche Bazaar. This town contains numerous Wi-Fi-linked cafes, restaurants, souvenirs, and gear shops. There are other options - visit the Sagarmatha National Park visitor center, traditional Sherpa settlements, Hillary School, Khumjung monastery, Dingboche Airport, and Everest Hotel. 

We leave Namche Bazaar and head to Thame following Bhote Koshi and past the pine and rhododendron forests. On the way, you will also get to see the mud-plastered stupa at Phurte. As you move ahead you will come to Thamo and Thamo Gompa, and from here the path drops steeply to Khumbu Hydroelectric Plant, ultimately leading to the Thame, which lies at the end of Khumbu Valley. 

Thame is home to many famous Sherpa mountaineers, including Apa Sherpa, who holds the world record for summiting Everest 21 times. It is also a childhood home of Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, one of the first men to climb Mt Everest. The other person is Edmund Hillary. 

This day you will be walking around the villages while enjoying the views of the landscape, vegetation, and mountains. During sparkling mornings light-painted rocks, lichens, yaks, and snow-capped peaks look surreally vivid. The last village in the valley is Taranga, but we continue the hike through Marulung (4200m) village and finally to Lungden, the destination for this day. In our spare time, we can visit Nakpa Valley that used to be the old trade route to Tibet. Additionally, we can hike to Cho Relmo Lake as well.

It will be one of the most exciting days for you as you will be walking through the first pass in the route - Renjola Pass. We leave Lungden behind to continue our journey forward to the Gokyo Lakes region, depending on the season, you will be able to observe different human activities like yak herding. 

Once you reach the Renjo La Pass, you will be able to see the majestic views of high peaks like Mt. Everest (8848 m), Mt. Lhotse (8516m), Mt. Makalu (8463m), and Mt. Cho Oyu (8201m). You will also see the third major Gokyo Lake (among five) - Dudh Pokhari, and the Gokyo village lies alongside this lake. The path then descends and lets you enter the Gokyo Valley, but you need to be careful because the trail might be icy. 

Acclimatization provides us time to climb the Gokyo Ri Viewpoint from where you can see the mesmerizing views of the Everest region - including Thonak Tsho Lake and the Ngozuma Tsho Lake.

Three kilometers north of Gokyo lies Ngozumpa Tsho glacier (5,000m), and within five minutes walk lies Scoundrel's Viewpoint. From here, you get fantastic views of Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, and Makalu.

On the north of the fifth Gokyo Lake, you can see astonishing views of the Cho Oyu Base Camp and the Ngozumpa Glacier - the longest glacier in the Himalayas.

We will be back on our trek on this day, walking past the Ngozumpa Glacier, but the trail is rocky and passes through several ups and downs. We will be walking down the valley on the eastern glacial moraine as the scenery becomes stunning and inspiring for you to move forward. Eventually, we arrive at the collection of lodges known as Thangnak. This place lies in a serene setting optimally placed for Cho-La high pass crossing.

There are some more challenging treks to cover today as we will be trekking on rocky trails and the glacial moraines - eventually reaching Dzongla. However, the exciting part is - you will be crossing Cho La Pass (5420m / 17,783ft) that connects Dzongla and Thagnak. This pass provides spectacular views of Everest and the other Himalayas. After enjoying the views from there, you will be descending to Dzongla for the night.

After spending the night at Dzongla, we will wake up the following day and continue our trek. Today's destination will be Lobuche. At Lobuche, we will rejoin the classical Everest Base Camp Trek. But first, we start the day by following the moraine and descending alongside Chola Lake. As we proceed, we will see memorial statues of the climbers who passed away in this region. The hike to Lobuche should be very enjoyable. We will just follow the trails of Imja Khola Valley to reach Lobuche.

Finally, on your eleventh day, you will reach Everest Base Camp. The trek begins by trekking through the lateral moraine of Khumbu Glacier until we arrive at Gorak Shep.

We will leave our belongings at Gorak Shep and climb up north to Everest Base Camp. The camp itself forms the base for mountaineers ascending or descending the Everest mountain.Reaching Everest Base Camp (EBC) is not easy, and by reaching EBC, you have shown how determined you are. In a way, it is a victory over yourself -a triumph of determination, a positive attitude, and perseverance. We will stay on EBC for some time soaking in the magnificent views that only a few on earth ever will. After clicking several pictures, we will descend to Gorak Shep, where we will stay for the night.

You were at Everest Base Camp the previous day, but despite reaching EBC, you couldn't really see Mt. Everest. So this day provides you the chance to see Mt. Everest up-close and in all glory.

To catch the dawn breaking at Everest, we wake up early in the morning and hike to Kala Patthar (5,555m) - the famous Everest View Point. We will stay at Kala Patthar for some time, enjoy the sunrise over Mt. Everest and then descend to Gorak Shep for breakfast. After having breakfast, we will hike back to Lobuche, the destination for this day.

Today, you will be crossing the final among the three passes that lie on your trail. This pass is considered the most difficult among these three passes. The trek starts from Lobuche. The ascend to Kongma La Pass is easy with the path dotted with frozen lakes, and a mummy-wrapped crane marks this pass. From the pass, you can see Lhotse, Lhotse Shar, Makalu, Baruntse, and Ana Dablam.

We descend from the Kongma La pass to the eastern side of Nigyang Khola Valley and into the Chukhung Village. Sherpas use this area as a yak pasture, but there is no permanent habitation. Recently, this region has gained popularity as a trekking peak, and the trekkers often use Chhukhung for acclimatization purposes.

We descend the Imja Khola valley, trek through the village of Dingboche, famous for its stone-walled potato fields, alpine pastures, and continue forward. On the way, you will also see Kharkas (highland sheds) at Tsura, Orsho, and Shomare.

As we continue our hike, we will reach Pangboche Village - the place for year-round settlement in the valley, and then to Tengboche. From the Tengboche viewpoint, you can see awe-inspiring views of distinctive peaks like Amadablam (6856m), Everest (8848 m), Nuptse (7861m), Lhotse (8501m). We will also be visiting Tengboche Gompa - the oldest monastery in the Khumbu region.

The trail to Namche Bazaar takes us through forests inhabited by highland wildlife like pheasants, musk deer, mountain goats, or even snow leopards. We will be climbing on the steep slopes around which lie chortens and prayer flags. From the path, you can enjoy the view of the tip of Everest and the backside of Lhotse.

Our final day of trekking will lead us back to Lukla. After breakfast, we will be hiking down a steep trail that descends to the Hillary Suspension Bridge. However, we continue walking through several local villages in the Dudh Koshi River Valley until we reach Lukla. It is your sixteenth day of trekking, and your trekking is almost over. We hope you enjoyed the whole trek thoroughly.

If everything goes according to the schedule, you will return to Kathmandu on this day. You will fly to Manthali or Kathmandu, depending on the trekking season. It's likely that if your trek is in March, April, May, September, October, or November, you'll board a flight to Manthali, and we will then drive you to Kathmandu. During other months (December, January, February, June, July, and August), from Lukla, you will directly fly to Kathmandu.

To avoid the Lukla-Manthali-Kathmandu route, you can partner with four other individuals to book a helicopter. This will cost you approximately 550 USD extra per person.

We hope your trek will be a relaxing one, and you will probably be looking back at the time spent in the Everest region. We will organize a farewell dinner on this day.