Mt. Everest

In 2025, Nepal raised the summit climbing permit fee from $11,000 to $15,000 per person, a nearly 40 percent increase, and introduced a new requirement that every two climbers must be accompanied by a licensed Nepali guide. The government simultaneously cut permit validity from 75 days to 55 and mandated that all climbers must have documented experience above 7,000 metres before receiving a permit. For most of the people reading this, none of that is immediately relevant. The summit of Everest is for the very few. The trek to Everest Base Camp, however, is accessible to anyone in reasonable cardiovascular health who is willing to walk 130 kilometres round-trip, sleep in teahouses, and take acclimatization seriously.

The two experiences are separated by thousands of metres of altitude and tens of thousands of dollars, but both start with a flight into Lukla.

The Height Question

Everest stands at 8,848.86 metres (29,031 feet), a figure agreed upon by Nepal and China following a joint survey completed in 2020. That survey finally settled a dispute that had lasted decades: China had historically measured the rock height only, while Nepal included the snow cap, producing different numbers in different official sources. The 2020 measurement added about 86 centimetres to the previously accepted figure of 8,848 metres.

The mountain grows. GPS instruments installed on the summit since the late 1990s show that Everest continues to drift a few inches northeast per year as the Indian-Australian Plate presses into the Eurasian Plate, a collision that began around 40 to 50 million years ago. The Himalayas have been rising for roughly 25 to 30 million years and are still doing so.

One detail many guides skip: the mountain’s English name commemorates Sir George Everest, British Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843, who actually opposed having his name applied to it (he noted that local populations could not easily pronounce it). The Survey of India established in 1852 that the peak was the highest on Earth. The Nepali name is Sagarmatha (“forehead of the sky”) and the Tibetan name is Chomolungma (“goddess mother of the world”); both are in wider daily use than “Everest” among the people who live in the mountain’s shadow.

The Base Camp Trek

Everest Base Camp at 5,364 metres is the destination for the vast majority of visitors to this region. The classic route from Lukla takes 12 to 14 days round-trip through a series of Sherpa villages, crossing rivers on suspension bridges and climbing progressively through rhododendron forest, birch scrub, and eventually the barren glacial moraine above the tree line.

The trail passes through Namche Bazaar (3,440 metres), the Sherpa capital and the principal hub of the Khumbu region, with Saturday markets, trekking gear shops, cafes with strong espresso, and a surprisingly good bakery. Namche is where most trekkers spend a mandatory acclimatization day, and it is the last place with reliable Wi-Fi and a broad menu before conditions simplify considerably. From Namche the trail continues to Tengboche (3,860 metres), site of a gompa (monastery) with Everest visible from the courtyard on clear mornings, then to Dingboche (4,410 metres), Lobuche (4,910 metres), and finally Gorak Shep (5,164 metres), the last settlement before Base Camp.

Permits

As of 2025, TIMS cards are no longer required for the Everest Base Camp trek; that is a useful simplification. Two permits are still needed: the Sagarmatha National Park Entry Permit (NPR 3,000, approximately $22 for foreign nationals) and the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality Permit (NPR 2,000, approximately $15). Total permit cost is roughly NPR 5,000 ($37) for most foreign trekkers. Since 2025, permits must be purchased via Nepal’s government-approved digital payment gateway; carry the confirmation on your phone. You can obtain them in Kathmandu, at Lukla, or through a licensed trekking agency.

Teahouses: The Accommodation System

The Everest trek runs on a teahouse system that means you carry only a daypack: lodges provide beds, meals, and storage for heavier gear. The cost of a basic room on the lower part of the trail runs $3 to $5 per night; at Gorak Shep, the highest permanent accommodation, a basic room costs $8 to $10. Most teahouses offer solar charging for electronics at $1 to $4 per hour.

At Namche, the range is wider: standard teahouses from around $10 per night for a basic room, up to $250 to $350 at the Everest View Hotel, a genuine hotel at 3,880 metres with mountain views from every room. The Everest View Hotel requires a short detour from the main trail but is worth considering for the acclimatization rest day if budget allows; the 360-degree panorama from the terrace is among the best in the region.

The teahouse model means you eat where you sleep. Dal bhat (rice, lentil soup, vegetables, pickle) is the trekking staple and costs around $5 at lower elevations, rising to $10 to $12 at Gorak Shep. It is the right call nutritionally for high-altitude trekking: carbohydrate-heavy, salt-forward, and refillable at no extra charge in most teahouses. Most places also serve pasta, noodles, soups, pancakes, and reasonable espresso at Namche. Carry cash in Nepali rupees; card acceptance is limited above Lukla.

Getting There

The trek begins at Lukla (2,860 metres), reached by a 35-minute Yeti Airlines or Tara Air flight from Kathmandu. Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla is one of the most technically demanding airports in the world: a short upslope runway ending against a cliff, with a sheer drop at the approach end. Flights cancel frequently in poor visibility. Budget extra days at either end of your trip for weather delays. Alternative routes exist (a longer overland approach is possible), but most trekkers fly.

A fully guided 14-day package from a reputable Kathmandu operator including domestic flights, guide, porter, accommodation, meals, and permits typically starts around $1,500 per person. Going independently is possible but the guide requirement for summit climbing (not the trek) does not apply; trekking guides on the EBC route are a genuine safety asset for navigation and altitude illness management but are not compulsory for the base camp trail.

The Alternative: Gokyo Valley

The most useful crowd-dodge on the Everest circuit is the Gokyo Valley route, which branches west at Namche and follows a separate valley to Gokyo Lake at 4,790 metres and the summit of Gokyo Ri at 5,357 metres, which gives views of four of the six highest mountains on Earth. The two routes can be joined at Cho La Pass (5,420 metres, a serious crossing requiring crampons in icy conditions) for a complete circuit that is significantly more varied than the standard out-and-back to Base Camp. Both routes start and end at Lukla.

Sherpa Culture

The Sherpa people are an ethnic group from the Solu-Khumbu district who migrated from Tibet roughly 500 years ago. They are not, as is sometimes assumed, a generic term for high-altitude porters: Sherpa is a specific ethnic identity, and using it as a job title erases a significant cultural distinction. The Khumbu region is their homeland, the gompa at Tengboche is their monastery, and the trails that make the trek possible were built and are maintained largely by Sherpa communities. Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, who reached the Everest summit with Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953, is from this community; his son Jamling and grandson Tashi have both also summited.

Timing

The two main trekking seasons are pre-monsoon (March to May) and post-monsoon (September to November). October and November offer the clearest skies and most stable conditions for mountain photography; March and April are green with rhododendrons in bloom at lower elevations. The monsoon season (June to August) brings cloud, rain, and leeches below 3,000 metres; the mountain is invisible from Base Camp for most of those months. Winter treks (December to February) are possible and uncrowded, but temperatures at Gorak Shep can reach minus 20 degrees Celsius at night, and many teahouses close.

The single most useful preparation for the trek: spend at least two full days in Kathmandu before flying to Lukla, allowing some adjustment to altitude (Kathmandu is at 1,400 metres), and plan your itinerary to include two acclimatization days rather than one. Altitude sickness at 4,500 metres is dangerous; the cure is descent, and no view from Base Camp is worth a helicopter evacuation.