Is the Everest Base Camp Trek Difficult?

All adventure lovers have a dream of doing the Everest Base Camp Trek once in a lifelong. In the meantime, there will be a question How difficult is the Everest Base Camp Trek?. In Nepal, there are different types of trekking trails that can be found, easy medium, hard, and challenging. And Everest base camp trek is considered an arduous trek in Nepal. Because many factors determine this trek is hard in Nepal. 

Although each year thousands of trekkers trek to the base camp of the world’s highest peak. And the climbers leave their footmark on the base camp and even on top of Mt. Everest and the trekking trail of the base camp. As a trekking guide, I lead trekking groups many times to the Everest Base Camp. And I always had good and enjoyable times and of course sometimes very tough situations too. 

Therefore as a trekking guide, my answer is very difficult to the question of how difficult the Everest Base Camp Trek is. But it can be different from your point of view so give me the answer to the question in the comment section. Your answer will be very helpful to the other trekkers who want to do Everest Base Camp Trek in the future. And that trekkers can plan accordingly to have a successful trip to Everest Base Camp. 

High passes and high viewpoints

The high passes in the Everet region are the hardest things to combine with Everest Base Camp Trek. Those high passes will make the Everest base camp trek very difficult. In the Khumbu region, there are three popular high passes. Those passes are Khogmala Pass, Chola Pass, and Renjola Pass. And these passes not only makes trekking hard it will make the trek beautiful too. Because from the top of the pass chances to witness the stunning views of the mountain peaks. 

And there are some high viewpoints and there are spectacular and offer breathtaking views of mountains and surrounding. Those famous viewpoints are Chhukung Ri, Kalapatter, and Gokyo Valley. Among these three viewpoints, my favorites are Gokyo Ri and Kalapatter. The reason is that I always enjoy the panoramic mountain and landscape views. 

High altitude

The high altitude is another reason that indicates how difficult is the Everest Base Camp Trek. In the Himalayas, the high altitude is a serious problem for the trekkers and sometimes it’s life-threatening too. During the Everest base camp trek, the highest elevation is 5550m above sea level – Kalapather. And base camp itself is located just 5364m high. 

Crossing more than 3000m above altitudes is always tough and walking up is even very challenging. But when doing Everest base camp, need to sleep at 5160m at Gorekshep and just below 5000 at Labuche. Hence, high altitude is one of the elements that determine how difficult is the Everest Base Camp Trek. 

Cold and snow

The difficulty index matter is the cold and snow too in the Everest region. Especially during the winter season snow, is icy and cold in the higher part of Everest. Sometimes it can be -40 degrees celsius at Everest Base Camp, so imagine how cold in there. The spring and autumn seasons are known as the best time to do EBC Trek. However, these times are also very cold during night time 

Additionally, if snowing in there even the walking trails will be full of snow and ice. To walk in the snow and ice is a very challenging task during Everest Trek. And the cold is the purposes people will get frost bit and altitude sickness sometimes. 

Walking trails

Walking trails in the Everest base camp trekking route is another factor that makes Everest Trekking very difficult. One small mistake can be the last breath in the Himalayas because most of the time needs to walk on very scary trails. Sometimes there can be dry landslides and that is what a trekker doesn’t want to face. And snow slides or avalanches can be very destructive. 

Luckily most of the trekking trails in the Everest region are well-managed and proper. So that is no need to scare that much for the hike to Everest Base Camp.

Fly to Lukla

Lukla airport stands as one of the super extreme airports in the world. Because of the sloppy and short runway located in the middle of the hills. If you have a short time and want to do Everest Base Camp Trek, you can not avoid flying to Lukla Airport. I am as a trekking guide I have seen many tourists who always pray while they are flying to Lukla. The Lukla Airport is one of the most unpredictable airports as well. The reason behind that is fly to there and from is always unsure; it all depends on the weather. 

In the end,

Everest base camp is a dream travel destination for a number of people. Because it’s a very fascinating and adventurous place to be in the great Himalayas of Nepal. Doing this trek is a great adventure experience although, a traveler needs to face different types of obstacles. Such as high altitude sickness, snow, cold, extremely dangerous trails, and high passes.