As you will no doubt already know, Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world at a height of 8,850 m (29,035 ft). Of course, we don't call it Mt Everest. Most Nepali people refer to the mountain as Sagarmatha, meaning "Forehead in the Sky". Speakers of Tibetan languages, including the Sherpa people of northern Nepal, refer to the mountain as Chomolungma, Tibetan for "Mother of the World".

Sagarmatha - Everest lies on the border of Nepal and Tibet. There are two standard routes on the mountain. The first is the south east ridge climbed from Nepal, which was the route taken by New zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on the first ascent in 1953. The route starts with the Khumbu icefall and climbs up the Western Cwm to South Col, from where the south east ridge is gained. The second route is the north ridge climbed from Tibet, and scene of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine's 1924 attempt. We offer expeditions to both sides.

The itinerary
The following is our itinerary for climbing from the Nepal side. Please contact us for details of climbing from Tibet.

Day 1 is your arrival in Kathmandu and we prepare for the expedition on day 2. Day 3 is the start of our acclimitization trip, flying to Lukla and trekking to Phakding, Namche, Tengboche, Pangboche, Dingboche, Chukhung, Lobuche and finally Gorak Shep at 5170m. The return trek and flight sees us back in Kathmandu by day 17.

There are then two days in Kathmandu to organise ourselves, and we are off on the main expedition. We drive to Everest Base Camp (5150m) over 5 days taking in Zhangmu, Nyalam, and Tingri. By day 25 we are settling into base camp living. Over the next week we establish our advanced base camp at 6380m and continue to acclimitise. Climbing on the upper mountain and on to the summit starts on about day 33.

We drive back to Kathmandu by day 65.

Is this trip suitable for you?
Sagarmatha - Everest is the highest mountain in the world and is not easy. It is a very serious peak and bad judgement or even bad luck can be fatal.

Himalaya Guides is a professionally led "non-guided" expedition for experienced mountaneers who want to work as part of a team to tackle the mountain. We say "non-guided" because, compared to guiding operations on alpine-scale peaks such the European Alps, our leader and climbing Sherpa team working with you will not be able to protect your every move. You must therefore have broad mountaineering experience so that you are capable and willing to move between camps unassisted. You will have good support on the mountain from our climbing leader and Sherpa team. Our guiding and climbing experience can be viewed here.