Day 5: Helicopter to Phakding

Hiking time: 5-6 hours
Difficulty Level: Moderate

After final administration requirements, we’ll fly via helicopter to Phakding. We’ll follow the Dudh Kosi, ascending 2,300 ft./700 m through Himalayan pine and Doedar cedar forests, to the celebrated village of Namche Bazaar (11,300ft./3,444 m). The village of Namche is an historic trading post where Nepalese and Tibetan traders exchange salt, dried meat, gold and textiles. Besides being a superb place to shop for traditional crafts, Namche remains the central trading post in the Khumbu, attracting Himalayan and lowland merchants. Our group will spend two days in Namche, affording us the opportunity to acclimate, visit local markets and spend time with friends in town. On the hike, we’ll capture our first glimpses of Everest and neighboring peaks.

Man what a day 1 of the trek we had. Too cool to really put in to words. The 1 hour heli ride to a small village was incredible. Had lunch at at small village that probably had 50 residents but 5 restaurants!  The whole mountain is supported by one trail. Move over for hybrid cows and donkeys. We don’t understand how towns and villages are supported with no roads. We are confused!  Hiked six hours thru the forest straight uphill and came to Namche. Final destination and it’s a big town on the side of the mountain. It’s incredible. Again we are confused. It appears out of nowhere. Great hotel with incredible food. What a day!

-Paul Raulet

We woke up today uncertain whether we’d finally make our way to the trail. After an hour delay, looking at the cloud cover we finally headed to the airport and loaded up onto the heli. Our hour long flight from Kathmandu to the small village of Phakding was one of the most incredible flights of my life. After landing we started on our first trek of the trip. We went over numerous high suspension bridges following a trail along a beautiful river of ice melt from the Khumbu glacier which sits at our final destination of Everest Base Camp. Our hike was about 3,000 feet of steep vertical gain and took us 6 hours. We arrived in the dark to the magical town of Namche and were blown away by how big, special and unique it is. Our tea house called Hotel Namche greeted us with a warm lodge, a great meal and good conversation debriefing a challenging but very special day together. We can’t wait for tomorrow to keep going and see more beautiful mountains together! 

-Nate Zuercher