Everest Base Camp Trail

My beautiful little friend Maya Bristol recently became the youngest Australian thrill seeker to trek to Everest Base Camp. She’s 6. I cried. Not because Maya trekked for 19 days straight (she’s used to that sort of thing with her adventurous parents), but because she did so at death-defying altitudes in the heart of the Himalayas.   Everest Base Camp stands at a breathtaking altitude of 5380m, and hiking the trail that takes you there certainly earns mega bragging rights (let’s not even talk about the nutso folk who make it all the way to the 8848m peak). If you take the Classic Trail, you’ll be following in the footsteps of Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing, the first two mountaineers who conquered Everest in 1953. You’ll start your trail in Lukla and follow a trail that leads in-between a wall of stupendously high peaks. You’ll cast your eyes on four out of the six highest mountains on earth (including Everest, of course) and will have weeks to soak up the magnificence of Nepal’s Khumbu region. Verdict – The trail to Everest Base Camp is not technical or particularly difficult, but it is long, and what makes it a real challenge is the extreme altitude. This is especially true at the very beginning when you reach Lukla by plane from Kathmandu. Acclimatization is the key to a successful hike. A guide is not mandatory, but it’s certainly recommended.