How difficult is the trek to Everest Base Camp

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Take On Nepal - Take on Nepal, Trekking, Trekking in Nepal, Visitor Experiences

Is Everest Base Camp hard ?

A common sentence we hear throughout the trek to Everest Base Camp is “this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done!”.  Trekking to Everest Base Camp is tough and it requires a high level of fitness and an even higher level of mental strength. We go to great lengths to prepare all of our trekkers for what is an enormous challenge. We won’t sugarcoat the experience to get your business, in fact we don’t want you to join one of our groups unless you’re prepared for it. We pride ourselves on having an unusually high success rate and we want to keep it this way. Honesty is our policy!

Trekking to Everest Base Camp is not a tourist experience, this is something you need to prepare and train for. Some of the challenges you will face are:

High Alitutde Sickness: This is the most common problem facing our trekkers, we urge you to take Diamox, it’s a preventative and most importantly it works and will dramatically increase your chances of reaching Base Camp.

Diahorrea and Vomiting: It would be unusual to complete the trek without experiencing at least one bout of diahorrea and vomiting, sometimes both together. This is caused by your sudden change in diet and hygiene, you won’t be showering everyday and the facilities along the trek are basic.

Exhaustion: You will be trekking for a minimum of 6 hours every day for 12 days, you will become tired and sore but the fitter you are the easier this will be for you. Proper training will reduce your chances of suffering from exhaustion.

Extreme Temperatures: Many of our trekkers are from Australia and have not experienced the extreme cold that comes with trekking at altitudes above 4000m. Our comprehensive packing list needs to be followed to ensure you stay warm during this trek.

We don’t want this information to put you off trekking to Everest Base Camp, we promise you that this will be one of the most memorable experiences of your life, it will likely rank as one of your greatest achievements. You will laugh, cry and return from this trek a changed person. Your perspective will shift, trekking through the Himalayas is incredible, a must do. But you must be prepared for this and we are here to step you through the it all.