Everest Base Camp via Gokyo

Arrive, meet the crew, and repack under supervision — the airline kit list and the mountain kit list are different documents. Evening briefing over dhal bhat; the city provides the soundtrack.

The famous short runway delivers the Khumbu without preamble. A gentle first afternoon down-valley along the Dudh Kosi's prayer-wheel villages settles flight nerves and boot laces alike.

The hillside amphitheatre capital of the Sherpa world, reached by suspension bridges and one long relentless hill. First sight of Everest through the pines at the top, if the afternoon cloud allows.

Height gained and given back: up to the Everest View Hotel terrace at 3,880m for the classic panorama, bakery reconnaissance in town, and the first oximeter league table of the trip.

We leave the Base Camp highway at Sanasa and climb into the quieter valley: rhododendron, musk deer if you're lucky, and the first proper thinning of both air and crowds at Dole.

A deliberately short day along yak pastures with Cho Oyu filling the valley head. Afternoon talk at the rescue post on altitude — the good kind of scared straight.

Past the sacred first and second lakes to the third, with the village on its shore beneath the Ngozumpa glacier's grey miles — the largest in Nepal. Sunset turns the water to hammered metal.

Pre-dawn up the zigzags to 5,357m: Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu in one sweep, the lakes like turquoise coins below. Afternoon rest, hydration, and the glacier briefing for tomorrow.

A short, strange day crossing the glacier's rubble waves to the stone shelters at Dragnag, positioning for the pass. The ice groans underfoot like a ship; the guides grin like they always do here.

The crux: away at four, up scree to the 5,420m notch, then the glacier shelf — crampons on, rope available, exposure managed — and the long boulder descent to Dzongla under Cholatse's absurd north face.

An easy contour above the Chola lake to Lobuche, merging with the main trail and its yak convoys. The Khumbu glacier's moraine wall now leads the eye all the way to the amphitheatre.

To Gorak Shep, drop bags, and out along the moraine to Everest Base Camp, 5,364m — prayer flags, icefall towers, and in spring a canvas city with its own bakery rumours. Back for the coldest night of the trip.

The alarm nobody resents: up the brown pyramid to 5,545m for sunrise on the south-west face, close enough to read the routes. The best view of Everest there is, full stop. Then down, and down, to Pheriche.

Descent with oxygen returning like a tide: juniper, dwarf birch, and the monastery on its saddle where the afternoon puja is open to anyone willing to sit still. Bakery. Do not skip the bakery.

The long, cheerful unwinding of the way in: bridges recrossed, hills that were mountains a fortnight ago, and a final night in Lukla where the crew party is traditional and the dancing is not optional.

The morning flight back to Kathmandu, weather willing (we hold two buffer days on every departure), hot showers, and a farewell dinner that starts with toasts and ends with route maps on napkins.