After my Inca Trail Trek last year, the Mount Everest Base Camp Trek appeared to be a logical next step. Obviously I knew that this trek is one among the most beautiful ones in the world; however at the same time also one among the most challenging. This didn’t scare me off but what did worry me a bit is that I read in many on-line Everest Base Camp journals that for most people the basic accommodation, the cold nights, not being able to wash yourself properly for at least 2 weeks, the monotonous food ... were the hardest to endure ...
Although I love hiking, I also love comfort so I started searching on-line for an “Everest Luxury Trek” and found the Yeti Mountain Homes, a group of luxury lodges located on the classic trekking route in the Khumbu area. I contacted them and as from that moment I was blown away by the Yeti Mountain Home experience ... a lovely lady called Pasang patiently and very professionally answered all my questions and created a customized itinerary for us.
Unfortunately there are no Yeti Mountain Homes (yet) all the way up till Everest Base Camp but Pasang made sure that we had the best possible accommodation in every place. I totally understand that when you are high up in the mountains it is impossible to have a luxury lodge but I can ensure you that it makes a world of difference staying the majority of nights throughout your trek in a luxury lodge and only a few nights in a basic one compared to staying all nights of your trek in a basic lodge.
The Yeti Mountain Home rooms are all spacious modern rooms containing a private bathroom (hot water) and a private western toilet. Although it is not possible to have heating in the rooms so high in the mountains, all beds have electric blankets ensuring a good and warm night sleep. Everything was very clean, the service was great and the cuisine delicious. There was free WIFI in the Mountain Homes in Lukla and Namche and in your room you could recharge for free your phone, camera, i-pad ...
Quite a difference with a normal lodge on the Everest Base Camp Trek that usually only has a room with 2 beds to put your sleeping bag on, toilets are shared (and unfortunately not always clean), you have to pay for a hot shower when available, you also have to pay to recharge anything (when electricity is working), you have to pay for WIFI when available etc.
Pasang arranged for us a very knowledgeable guide as well as a porter so we only had to carry our day backpacks. Our guide - Janzing Sherpa - was amazing, spoke perfectly English and ensured we had a great time.
Although the trekking was hard and probably the hardest trekking I have done in my life so far - especially around the 5000m zone - we successfully made it to Everest Base Camp as well as to the top of Kalapathar ... it was an incredible experience ... a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
While we were in Namche we heard about the dramatic avalanche on the Everest making the 18th of April 2014 the deadliest day on the Everest so far. Our sincere condolences go to the families and friends of the Sherpas that lost their lives that day. Our thoughts also go to the family and friends of Thomas Princzkel, a Slovakian tourist who went missing from Dingboche on the 21st of April 2014. That mountains can be unpredictable and dangerous showed again when we were nearly hit by falling rocks on our way back from base camp, usually this only happens during monsoon season.
This article was written by Freya Renders and originally published on Holiday Nomad. Read the original here.
*Image of view of Mount Everest via Shutterstock
