Last Updated on: 11th January 2025, 11:55 am
My husband and I trekked from Lukla to Gokyo and back in the last days of October and into the first half of November, one of the peak times for trekking in the Everest / Khumbu region.
We hired an English-speaking porter-guide through an agency and booked our Kathmandu – Lukla flights through the agency too. Otherwise, we were trekking independently. We came across several people who were trekking alone or on their own supported by a porter and / or guide.
This blog gives a day-by-day account of the trek interspersed with information that a first-time trekker in the Everest region should find useful.
Why a slow trek to Gokyo?
The reason is altitude.
The impact of altitude on our bodies is a major factor to consider when planning a trek in the Himalayas. Altitude sickness can be extremely serious and even result in death.
When planning our itinerary, we followed the recommendations of the Himalayan Rescue Association which advises a slow ascent. As far as I am concerned, they should be experts on the subject!
“Acclimatization is the word used to describe the adjustments your body makes as it ascends. You should adjust your schedule so that you average no more than 300 meters per day of ascent above 3000 meters.” [1]
An additional recommendation that I came across in different forms is:
“For every 1000 metres gained, take a rest day – especially if you have had to sleep higher than the recommended 300 metres.” [2]
Diamox (Acetazolamide) is a medication that can be used to help your body adjust quicker to altitude. We decided not to take Diamox proactively as we prefer not taking medication if we don’t have to, and we did not want to risk the potential side effects. We would use the medication reactively if needed. Many trekkers that we chatted to were however taking Diamox proactively.
The day we arrived in Namche Bazaar (3440 m), I did not feel like eating anything more than soup for dinner. By the next day, I had totally lost my appetite. This is one of the symptoms of acute mountain sickness. The appetite loss was not accompanied by a headache and was by no means serious, but it did indicate that my body needed more time to adjust.
We decided to change our original itinerary to proceed even slower and to prioritize Gokyo, the highlight of our trek.
Other useful links about altitude sickness are:
https://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/advice/general-travel-health-advice/altitude-and-travel
https://www.highaltitudedoctor.org/myths-about-altitude
https://www.princeton.edu/~oa/safety/altitude.html
A tool to understand the symptoms of acute mountain sickness (AMS) and to evaluate severity, is the 2018 Lake Louise Acute Mountain Sickness Score (see Table 1).
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6191821/#s006
Hiring a porter and guide for a trek in the Everest region
A porter is someone who carries your duffel bag.
A guide is someone who does not carry any load and who walks with you, shows you the way, arranges accommodation and explains what you see.
A porter-guide is someone who carries your bag and also guides. Our porter-guide was in the process of qualifying as a guide.
If you hire a porter or guide through an agency, then a chunk of the fee obviously goes to the agency. We therefore originally considered hiring a porter-guide on the ground in Lukla so the porter-guide could benefit from the full fee himself, but we changed our minds for the following reasons:
- We did not want to be responsible for arranging the insurance of the porter-guide
- We wanted recourse if the porter-guide defaulted in some way.
This interesting article about the circumstances of porters in the Khumbu region was written in 2008, but much of it still rings true: https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/64/11/lowland-porters-in-the-solu-khumbu/.
Days 1 & 2 – Kathmandu
Shopping in Thamel
We had one and half days in Kathmandu before we flew to Lukla. Our priority was to buy a few remaining items of trekking gear, draw cash, buy altitude sickness medication and buy a map.
Thamel is the main tourist area of Kathmandu with lots of trekking gear shops, souvenir shops, restaurants, book shops, etc.
One or two international trekking gear shops are represented in Kathmandu, but you should expect the prices to be much the same as you pay at home.
There are many shops in Thamel that sell gear that is internationally branded, but these goods are all fake. Some hiking gear is Nepali branded. Other gear is unbranded and is similar to what you can buy on cheap Chinese retail websites.
The problem is that you can’t be assured of the quality of an item and there are effectively no implementable warranties or guarantees. Also, prices are usually not marked and so comparisons can be difficult.
I did not see the point of buying fake technical gear, so I bought all my new gear at home except for my down jacket, down mittens and micro-spikes. My husband bought lovely warm fleece pants to change into for the evenings.
On travel forums, I noted two shops in Thamel that were often recommended as they are said to sell good quality gear. I confidently headed to the first one, only to find that they had very little stock and nothing that worked for me. They were also not particularly helpful. We moved on to the second shop and they were very helpful but did not have any jackets that were a good fit. We did however buy our down mittens and micro-spikes there.
Not finding a down jacket threw me a bit – I had expected it to be an easy purchase. While contemplating where to head next, I spotted a shop sign stating that they are a manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer. Inside, they had fake branded goods but the lady in the shop did not try to misrepresent in any way and I felt that she was trustworthy. I found a jacket that fitted and from the research I had done, the jacket seemed to be good-enough quality. It cost less than 25% of the price of the genuine article. In retrospect, I do feel guilty that there is no guarantee that the down is responsibly sourced.
An option to consider is to rent some of the gear you need. There is a range of gear (including sleeping bags) that can be rented for reasonable prices.
Most of the lodges on the trek only deal in cash. My husband therefore set about drawing hundreds of thousands of Nepalese Rupees from numerous ATMs. Someone had joked that you need to account for the weight of the cash you are carrying and now I know what he meant 😉
There are a few pharmacies in Thamel and several along the main street between Thamel and Dubar Square. You can buy Diamox (Acetazolamide) and other altitude sickness medications without a prescription.
Durbar Square
Once we had our shopping under control, we walked to Durbar Square. We hired a guide who enriched our visit. Most of the historical buildings have been repaired or rebuilt after the major earthquake of 2015. A rather unique experience was seeing the Royal Kamari (Living Goddess) of Kathmandu at Kumari Ghar.
Packing for the trek
Our agency provided us each with a duffel bag. The flights to Lukla have luggage weight restrictions of 10kg in the hold and 5kg carry-on. You can pay a modest amount for additional weight, though bear in mind that you and / or your porter are going to have to carry it.
A friend lent us an electronic hanging scale which was very useful when weighing kit at home and when packing the night before flying to Lukla. Hotels generally have a scale downstairs, but it is convenient to check as you pack in your room.
Day 3: Kathmandu to Lukla (2840 m) to Phakding (2610 m)
Flying to Lukla
Most trekkers start their Everest region trek by flying into Lukla, though there are points from which you can walk in.
There was contradictory information about flying into Lukla. Over the last few years, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has moved flights to and from Lukla to Ramechhap Airport during peak seasons owing to construction and / or congestion at Kathmandu Airport. Trekkers then need to travel by road between Kathmandu and Ramechhap. It seems however that this is not an absolute ruling, and some flights still operate between Kathmandu and Lukla.
We had heard accounts of the awful road trip to Ramechhap and had previously experienced similar in India ourselves. A road trip was therefore something we were determined to avoid if at all possible. We were relieved when, after many weeks, our agency confirmed our tickets for direct flights between Kathmandu and Lukla.
Planes can only fly to Lukla when weather conditions in the mountains are favourable. Sometimes large backlogs of trekkers build up when flights are cancelled. This is one of the reasons to build a buffer into your itinerary. Helicopters are also impacted by weather conditions but have more flexibility than planes. Helicopter flights are more expensive than travelling by plane but may be worth considering if you have a tight schedule.
We had great views of the Himalayas to the north and also of the mountain villages below.
There was a little turbulence for a few minutes as we approached Lukla. Tenzing-Hillary Airport is known for its short sloping runway so there was some appreciative handclapping when we landed safely. The flying time was 25 minutes.
Lukla (2840 m) to Phakding (2610 m)
Our porter-guide was at the airport to meet us. We knew we were in the Himalayas when we came across our first yak train right outside the airport. Our guide took us to the dining room of a lodge while he finalized some matters. I headed off to a bakery to buy something to eat as I had skipped breakfast.
We eventually set off after 11:00, but did not get far before we stopped at the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality Office just outside Lukla. We applied for our municipal Khumbu trekking permits and were issued with our Trek Cards. This site provides good information re the permits required for trekking in the Everest region: https://nepalpeakadventure.com/permits-for-everest-base-camp-trek/.
Much of the way between Lukla and Phakding is an uneven stone-paved path which I find difficult to walk on. We also had to keep our eyes peeled to avoid stepping in the animal droppings, of which there was a fair amount the first two days.
The rules when you come across a mule or dzo (zhopkyo) (male cross between yak and cattle) or yak train are as follows:
- Stay on the mountain side of the path unless you don’t mind being pushed off the mountain!
- Don’t turn your back on the animals as you may be unceremoniously bumped.
- Make sure that your feet are not stepped on.
Our guide recommended when and where to stop for lunch. This was an advantage of having a guide that I had not previously considered.
The teahouse was very slow, and our food took ages to arrive. The morning had started sunny, but it clouded over while we were having lunch – I thought we may have to walk in rain. It didn’t rain but the afternoon was humid, and I finished the day wet from sweat.
When we met our guide that morning, we told him that we only wanted to stay in lodges that had a room with attached (en-suite) bathroom available. On this basis, the majority of our lodges were recommended by our guide.
Most of the accommodation establishments in the Khumbu region seem to refer to themselves as lodges. I will refer to the places where we stopped for lunch by the more traditional name of teahouses, though some of them were also lodges.
On the first day you lose trek altitude as Phakding is lower than Lukla.
Our measurements
Distance: 7.5 km
Cumulative elevation gain: 270 m
Nett elevation gain: (2610 m – 2840m) -230 m
Day 4: Phakding (2610 m) to Namche Bazaar (3440 m)
Our breakfast took a while to be ready as a large group got priority, so we left at 08:00, a bit later than planned.
We encountered many mule and dzo (zhopkyo) trains today. Today was also a day of suspension bridges – we crossed several as we moved back and forth from one side of the valley to the other. I have a reasonable fear of heights so some of the crossings were rather hair-raising for me. The long bridges bounce as trekkers and pack animals cross.
We purchased our Sagarmatha National Park permit at the Park office just past Monjo. It was busy but it took less than 15 minutes to get our permit. A short way thereafter, we stopped for lunch in Jorsalle at a teahouse with a view over the river.
Part of the path after Jorsalle had been washed away in the glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) of August 2024. The detour was not long but required some dusty scrambling.
If I remember correctly, the Larcha Dovan notice board is before the last bridge – the Hillary Suspension Bridge (also marked as Larja Bridge on the map). According to the elevation on the noticeboard, there is an elevation gain of 500 m from there to Namche. This is the main ascent to Namche and much of this part of the walk is on a broad path in the forest.
Our map marks the viewpoint after the bridge as “First View Point of Mt Everest” but it was cloudy each time we were there.
I was slow on the Namche hill but was reassured as there were others walking at the same pace. Our lodge was in the uppermost section of Namche so there was an additional 60 m of ascent for us.
It became very cool early in the afternoon, and it felt as though it may rain but we were lucky again. In fact, we had no rain for our whole trek.
At the end of the day, my hair was still wet from sweating earlier. The first two days were however the only days that I sweated on the trek. We decided to have a hot shower (in a common shower) to warm up as our bathroom only had cold water. The gas-heated water was boiling hot (there was no capability to mix with cold water) and there was nowhere to hang clothes, making it an inconvenient experience.
I was not hungry at dinnertime, but I did eat a bowl of delicious tomato soup.
Our measurements
Distance: 11.8 km
Cumulative elevation gain: We measured 1000 m but did lose gps signal along the way. Other sources say about 1150 m.
Nett elevation gain: 3440 m – 2610 m = 830 m
References:
- https://www.himalayanrescue.org/ – retrieved 202501
- https://www.princeton.edu/~oa/safety/altitude.html – retrieved 202501
- https://wilderlife.nz/2019/06/khumbu-off-the-beaten-trek/ – retrieved 202501
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Slow trek to Gokyo – Part 2 – Namche Bazaar