Name: Everest Three Passes Trek
Total Distance: ~130km
Total Elevation Gained: ~X m
Highest Elevation: 5560 m
Total Elevation Gained: ~X m
Highest Elevation: 5560 m
Crew: NePALs (Jaimie, Travis, JJ)
Dates: May 18 - 28, 2017 (Kathmandu to Kathmandu*)
Days of Hiking: 12
Days of Hiking: 12
*Theoretically back to Kathmandu. We got stuck in Lukla on the way back to Kathmandu so we would have returned otherwise.
Check out this video I made with my adventure camera:
Itinerary (NOTE: WE WERE PRE-ACCLIMATIZED):
Day 1: Kathmandu to Lukla (Fly on Airplane), Lukla to Namche Bazar - 3550m
Day 2: Acclimatization day in Namche Bazar, Khumjung Loop Hike
Day 3: Namche Bazar to Dingboche - 4260m
Day 4: Nangkartshang Peak (5100 m), Dingboche to Chukkung - 4730m
Day 5: Acclimatization day in Chukkung, Chukkung Ri (5560 m)
Day 6: Chukkung to Gorak Shep - 5149m - via Kongma La (Pass), 5535 m
Day 7: Day in Gorak Shep, Kala Patthar (5560m), Everest Base Camp - EBC (5365 m)
Day 8: Gorak Shep to Dzongla - 4845m
Day 9: Dzongla to Gokyo - 4760m - via Cho La (Pass), 5240 m
Day 10: Day in Gokyo, Gokyo Ri (5360 m)
Day 11: Gokyo to Namche Bazar - 3550m - via Renjo La (Pass), 5360 m
Day 12: Namche Bazar to Lukla - 2800m
Once we finished the Manaslu Circuit Trek, we weren't quite sick of hiking yet, so we did The Everest Three Passes Trek. The Manaslu trek was certainly less traveled compared to the Everest region trek. The food was not nearly as delicious (we called it touristy dal bhat), the culture was not as vibrant (they are not local towns, they are towns established solely for trekkers and mountaineers), but the views were absolutely unreal. Not to discredit the gorgeous, lush, green valleys that are at lower elevations - but being in the Himalayas makes you want to see the giants.. By the end of day 3 we were in the sub-alpine and remained there until day 11.
We did the trek counter clockwise but we've heard that people usually go the other way. I personally am really happy we did it counter clockwise. In my opinion, EVERY pass is easier this way. Kongma La - the "hardest" pass, has a gradual approach from this direction, and you don't have to deal with loose rocks on the ascent. Cho La - same and the routefinding would have been difficult coming up from the other direction. Renjo La - From Gokyo it is only ~700m to the top of the pass, and from the first town in the other direction it is ~1200m to the top of the pass.. no thanks!
If you do not do all three passes, I highly recommend you try at least one. It gets you off of the beaten track - there was a huge difference between being on the main Everest Basecamp Trail vs. the Everest Three Passes Trail. You are also able to see the bulk of the Everest region while doing only one trek and get the added challenge of crossing 3 Himalayan alpine passes! How sweet is that. My personal favorite was Kongma La. We went from Chukkung, over Kongma La, to Gorak Shep. The pass was absolutely stunning, the best view I've had in my life, we got treated to gorgeous weather, and there were some fun exposed (a little) sections on the way up.
There were a few super "fun" glacier crossings on this trip which added another dimension to the trek. I had never experienced this before but you basically watch the rock and ice falling into the pools of water below as you walk across it! You get used to it, it's not nearly as scary as it sounds.
The most unfortunate part of, probably our entire trip, was day 11. You may not have noticed while reading our itinerary, but it is not common to walk from Gokyo, over Renjo La (Pass), and all the way to Namche Bazar. This is ~31km WITH an alpine pass in the middle of it AND our big overnight packs... AND after 10 days of non-stop hiking (plus 10 days on the Manaslu circuit trek as well, for us). So why? - well it started out as a joke. "soooo.. Namche?" we'd joke - as we had doubled up on many of our hiking days previously. Eventually we started taking it seriously, as we reached our planned town before lunch and started dreaming about the cheese burgers we saw a couple eating in Namche on our way up. Anyways, we had a rest-day planned in Namche the next day, so we did it for the cheese burgers (and for wifi to book our Dubai beach vacation that we deserved!) and ended up hiking to a power-less Namche Bazar where there was no wifi and where all the cafes were closed! It was such a disappointment that we left to Lukla the next day (as Namche still had no power the next morning), skipped our rest day, and ended up stuck in Lukla... cue the next paragraph...
The second most unfortunate part of our trip was getting stuck in Lukla on the way out. A combination of the Everest Marathon coming down from Namche, bad weather, and a recent fatal plane crash in Lukla created the perfect conditions for grounded flights. The first day we tried to fly, we were flight #7 and flight #6 was the last take off... the second day, we were flight #5 and flight #4 was the last to take off... bad luck, bad weather. The third day we were flight #14 so we basically lost hope. We waited until 1pm - a time we decided that if we were not on-call yet at the airport, we more than likely would not leave on an airplane that day - and then we called a helicopter. Which isn't cheap. It was a tough decision to make, and once we did.. for the first time in the 4 days, the weather was too poor for even a helicopter to fly. So... we woke up on our 5th day in Lukla, which also happened to be the first morning that the town was completely socked in. Spirits were low. However we ended up being in the first helicopter to leave town that morning ~11AM and landed at the Kathmandu airport exactly 3 hours before our flight to Dubai. Straight to check-in. Phew, that was close.
The blue boxes show where I was when I sent messages from my GPS device to my Map Share. I sent a message at every town we slept in. Click to zoom. (Note: Lukla is not shown on this map.)
Check out this video I made with my adventure camera:
Itinerary (NOTE: WE WERE PRE-ACCLIMATIZED):
Day 1: Kathmandu to Lukla (Fly on Airplane), Lukla to Namche Bazar - 3550m
Day 2: Acclimatization day in Namche Bazar, Khumjung Loop Hike
Day 3: Namche Bazar to Dingboche - 4260m
Day 4: Nangkartshang Peak (5100 m), Dingboche to Chukkung - 4730m
Day 5: Acclimatization day in Chukkung, Chukkung Ri (5560 m)
Day 6: Chukkung to Gorak Shep - 5149m - via Kongma La (Pass), 5535 m
Day 7: Day in Gorak Shep, Kala Patthar (5560m), Everest Base Camp - EBC (5365 m)
Day 8: Gorak Shep to Dzongla - 4845m
Day 9: Dzongla to Gokyo - 4760m - via Cho La (Pass), 5240 m
Day 10: Day in Gokyo, Gokyo Ri (5360 m)
Day 11: Gokyo to Namche Bazar - 3550m - via Renjo La (Pass), 5360 m
Day 12: Namche Bazar to Lukla - 2800m
Once we finished the Manaslu Circuit Trek, we weren't quite sick of hiking yet, so we did The Everest Three Passes Trek. The Manaslu trek was certainly less traveled compared to the Everest region trek. The food was not nearly as delicious (we called it touristy dal bhat), the culture was not as vibrant (they are not local towns, they are towns established solely for trekkers and mountaineers), but the views were absolutely unreal. Not to discredit the gorgeous, lush, green valleys that are at lower elevations - but being in the Himalayas makes you want to see the giants.. By the end of day 3 we were in the sub-alpine and remained there until day 11.
We did the trek counter clockwise but we've heard that people usually go the other way. I personally am really happy we did it counter clockwise. In my opinion, EVERY pass is easier this way. Kongma La - the "hardest" pass, has a gradual approach from this direction, and you don't have to deal with loose rocks on the ascent. Cho La - same and the routefinding would have been difficult coming up from the other direction. Renjo La - From Gokyo it is only ~700m to the top of the pass, and from the first town in the other direction it is ~1200m to the top of the pass.. no thanks!
If you do not do all three passes, I highly recommend you try at least one. It gets you off of the beaten track - there was a huge difference between being on the main Everest Basecamp Trail vs. the Everest Three Passes Trail. You are also able to see the bulk of the Everest region while doing only one trek and get the added challenge of crossing 3 Himalayan alpine passes! How sweet is that. My personal favorite was Kongma La. We went from Chukkung, over Kongma La, to Gorak Shep. The pass was absolutely stunning, the best view I've had in my life, we got treated to gorgeous weather, and there were some fun exposed (a little) sections on the way up.
There were a few super "fun" glacier crossings on this trip which added another dimension to the trek. I had never experienced this before but you basically watch the rock and ice falling into the pools of water below as you walk across it! You get used to it, it's not nearly as scary as it sounds.
The most unfortunate part of, probably our entire trip, was day 11. You may not have noticed while reading our itinerary, but it is not common to walk from Gokyo, over Renjo La (Pass), and all the way to Namche Bazar. This is ~31km WITH an alpine pass in the middle of it AND our big overnight packs... AND after 10 days of non-stop hiking (plus 10 days on the Manaslu circuit trek as well, for us). So why? - well it started out as a joke. "soooo.. Namche?" we'd joke - as we had doubled up on many of our hiking days previously. Eventually we started taking it seriously, as we reached our planned town before lunch and started dreaming about the cheese burgers we saw a couple eating in Namche on our way up. Anyways, we had a rest-day planned in Namche the next day, so we did it for the cheese burgers (and for wifi to book our Dubai beach vacation that we deserved!) and ended up hiking to a power-less Namche Bazar where there was no wifi and where all the cafes were closed! It was such a disappointment that we left to Lukla the next day (as Namche still had no power the next morning), skipped our rest day, and ended up stuck in Lukla... cue the next paragraph...
The second most unfortunate part of our trip was getting stuck in Lukla on the way out. A combination of the Everest Marathon coming down from Namche, bad weather, and a recent fatal plane crash in Lukla created the perfect conditions for grounded flights. The first day we tried to fly, we were flight #7 and flight #6 was the last take off... the second day, we were flight #5 and flight #4 was the last to take off... bad luck, bad weather. The third day we were flight #14 so we basically lost hope. We waited until 1pm - a time we decided that if we were not on-call yet at the airport, we more than likely would not leave on an airplane that day - and then we called a helicopter. Which isn't cheap. It was a tough decision to make, and once we did.. for the first time in the 4 days, the weather was too poor for even a helicopter to fly. So... we woke up on our 5th day in Lukla, which also happened to be the first morning that the town was completely socked in. Spirits were low. However we ended up being in the first helicopter to leave town that morning ~11AM and landed at the Kathmandu airport exactly 3 hours before our flight to Dubai. Straight to check-in. Phew, that was close.
Day 1 - Flying into Lukla, the most dangerous airport in the world. Low flying twin-otter, check out that mountain on the left (Photo: JJ)
Day 1 - Made it to Namche! (Photo: JJ)
Day 3 - Namche to Dingboche (Photo: JJ)
Day 3 - You have to circle clockwise around religious structures. Even if it means its the harder way. (Photo: JJ)
Day 3 - Where is Dingboche?!??! We're tired. (Photo: JJ)
Day 4 - Tired after doing Nangkartshang. Grabbing a mid-morning snack and.. still *have to* trek to Chukkung! (Photo: JJ)
*have to* because we didn't actually have to.
Day 6 - Kongma La (Pass) Day. Looking back at Ama Dablam (6,812m) (Photo: JJ)
Day 6 - Kongma La (Pass) Day. Love this pano. (Photo: JJ)
Day 6 - Kongma La (Pass) Day. I wanted to swim in this lake. Reason/logic/common sense got the better of me. (Photo: JJ)
Day 6 - Kongma La (Pass) Day. (Photo: JJ)
Day 6 - Kongma La (Pass) (Photo: JJ)
Day 8 - Khumbu Glacier (Photo: JJ)
Day 8 - Shortest/easiest but most beautiful day. (Photo: JJ)
Day 8 - Crazy scenic views today. (Photo: JJ)
Day 8 - Chilliiiin' (Photo: JJ)
Day 9 - Clouds chasing us up Cho La (Photo: JJ)
Day 11 - So blue!! (Photo: JJ)
Day 11 - Bye Gokyo (Photo: JJ)
Day 11 - Heading up Renjo La (Pass) (Photo: JJ)
Day 11 - Last view of Everest (Middle back) (Photo: JJ)
Day 11 - on Renjo La (Pass) (Photo: JJ)
Day 11 - A friend on Renjo La (Pass) (Photo: JJ)
Day 14 - Celebrating Prakash's birthday in Lukla and not on an airplane (Photo: JJ)
Day 16 - The happiest (and poorest) campers (Photo: JJ)
Day 16 - Good riddance, Lukla. (Photo: JJ)
