How to Plan Your Everest Base Camp (EBC) Trek

Hello everyone! I hope you’ll are doing great and enjoyed my first article “Everest Base CampTrek”. If not, do go and take a look.

We covered the basics of EBC Trek in that article and today, in this article, we’re about to go into planning stage. Remember the outcome of any project will be as good as its planning. So if you didn’t spend enough time on the planning stage, you won’t likely to get the desired output. I know planning is utterly boring but it’s the most essential part of anything, especially when it comes to a serious trek like EBC.

Would you believe if I were to tell you that I spent more than 5 months planning my EBC Trek? In fact I was dreaming about it for more than a year before I really got down to the planning. As I type this article for you, I can see why I was able to execute my trek so well and, the secret was my relentless planning. Trust me on that.

Anyway, I’m not going to make this article text-heavy as I’ve done 3 Videos where you can watch and make your own planning. I’ll just summarize the important points below.

Travel Agent - You must find a reliable and experienced Travel Company. I know it’s a daunting task and more often than not can go horribly wrong. However I got lucky with mine “Welcome Nepal Treks”.

Trekking Guide - The most important of all is the Trekking Guide. I was really lucky to have found Ngima Lama Ongel (pronounced Neema). He was such a humble and wonderful person with a wealth of knowledge and experience about EBC Trek. In fact he’d done the EBC Trek more than 50 times. I couldn’t recommend him enough.

Your Budget - This will come with the input from Travel Agent/Guide and make sure not to under budget as you have no way of getting money beyond Namche. There is no harm carrying extra as you can never predict what emergencies you will have.

Itinerary - You must also have a good itinerary which you should draft with the consultation of your travel agent/guide and also having read articles like mine or watched videos online. Don’t try to do too much in a short time as it can cost you the entire journey. These high altitudes are unforgiving and you have to give enough time to your body to acclimatize.

Travel Insurance - You must also have a Travel Insurance. I went with “World Nomads” and even though I never got to used it, their insurance was cheap (US $88) and I had read great reviews of them. Mind you, if you ever end up in a very bad spot where you won’t be in a situation to walk, only option out of Khumbu Region is by helicopter which is insanely expensive. It could be as much as US $2000-$5000. So having travel insurance is absolutely necessary unless you’re ready to spend that much money in case of an emergency. If you don’t have to use their service, so much better which means you have done the trek successfully or you’re alive with no injury.

Porter - Finding a good porter is also high on this list. Usually your travel agent/trekking guide finds you one so unless you plan to go on your own, this shouldn’t be an issue. If you do want to go on your own with only a porter, you can find them at Lukla. Failing which there are porters at Namche Bazaar as well but getting to Namche without a porter is a task I never want to undertake. There are horses too for rent but they can cost around US $100 a day.

Baggage - Your baggage is the next one. This comes in two parts, firstly what you should carry (Good News: I’m doing a comprehensive article on this soon) and secondly how heavy it is. Usually if you travel in a group, they assign one porter for two trekkers up to a maximum of 30kg, meaning 15kg per trekker. Even the flight to Lukla allows 15kg per trekker on the airfare and every extra kg you have to pay 100 NPR (Nepali Rupees) or US $1. At the same time think about your own backpack and its weight too. I wouldn’t recommend anything more than 6kg.

Accommodation – This is once again a job for the travel agent/guide unless you go on your own. However, be sure to clarify with your agent where you’ll be staying under what conditions and what’s included and what’s not included. Most of the time trekkers end up with issues due to not having this conversation with their agent in advance and getting it in writing.

Well, I think above are the key points you should consider before attempting the EBC Trek, in fact before any trek. They will help you enjoy the trek and come back safely.

Thanks for reading and once again, I do hope this is useful for you to undertake your EBC Trek.

Take care and travel safe!

Sri Abeywickrema – Trek with Sri

P.S. Do comment with your feedback and questions if you have any and I’ll try my level best to answer them.

Related Articles: Everest Base Camp Trek

Exciting News: In the next article I’m going to give you my complete EBC Trek Itinerary.

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