Everest Region Trekking

The Everest region Trekking is an interesting and justifiably famous place, not only for its proximity to the world’s highest mountains but also for its Sherpa villages and monasteries. This makes the Everest Region one of the most popular trekking destinations in Nepal.

The Sherpas first arrived in the Khumbu region over 400 years ago from eastern Tibet with a way of life adapted to the harsh environment. The Sherpa economy was traditionally based on livestock, trade, and the cultivation of potatoes, buckwheat, and barley. Conservation is interwoven with survival in the Himalayas. Sherpa’s environmental practices encompass forest management, composting to create natural fertilizers, and the seasonal movement of yak herds to prevent overgrazing.

Sherpas are followers of Mahayana Buddhism. The main monasteries are found at Pangboche and Thame with the largest at Tyengboche, which houses a library and cultural center. Attractive prayer flags, mani stones, and mani walls abound. Stupas are sacred sites, to be circled in a clockwise direction. The white peaks that fill the skies are considered to be home to the gods. Major Buddhist festivals are the village celebrations of Dumji, generally in June, and Mani Rimdu in November and May.

The impressive glaciers, rivers, and sculpted scenery of Khumbu support a series of vegetation zones. Below 3200m oak or pine dominate, replaced higher up by birch and the famous rhododendrons and junipers. The scrub is found up to 6000m, and above that only mosses, lichens, and alpine plants survive. These zones provide habitats for a variety of wildlife, including a number of endangered species such as snow leopard, musk deer, wolf, blood pheasant, and the locally abundant Impeyan pheasant. Other animals that may be seen are Himalayan Thar, weasel, mouse, hare, Himalayan griffon (vulture), and Tibetan Snowcock.

The summer climate is cool and wet, and winter is cold and dry. Almost all of the annual precipitation, averaging near 1000mm, falls during the summer monsoon, from the end of May to September. Climatically, the best time to visit this area is from October to mid-December and late February to May. From mid-December to mid-February the temperature often drops below freezing and there is heavy snowfall.