Everest Base Camp Helicopter Tour

Overview And Highlights

Enjoy the one day Everest Base Camp Helicopter Tour with us if you want to experience its magnificent splendor, but are unwilling or unable to tackle the demanding trekking routes that achieve the same goal.

Landmark Discovery Treks has been leading treks to the Everest region for many years, and would now like to offer you the alternative possibility of experiencing the region by air!

We offer to make your land arrangements (hotel bookings, your Helicopter Adventure booking, will meet you on arrival at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport and transport you to the hotel of your choice.

We will offer a full day city tour, with a professional guide to explore five of our unique cultural and architectural sites.

In addition, we can also recommend and offer guided tours to other places of interest throughout the country such as:

• A night at a hilltop hotel in Nagarkot, 30 km north of Kathmandu, for panoramic sunrise views of some 200 km of the Himalayan Range.
• A visit to Lumbini (the birth place of Buddha), in the southern lowlands towards the Indian border, and/or to the famed jungle terrain of the nearby Chitwan National Park (Fly in for a, recommended, 3 to avoid long days on crowded roads.)
• Visit the attractive lake-city of Pokhara in western Nepal, below the towering 60km Annapurna Range.
• From Pokhara, if you are walking fit, you could include a relatively easy five-day trek to Poon Hill (3000m) for a spectacular, close quarters, sunrise across the Annapurna Range, including Manaslu to the east. (Children over six years of age can manage this trek.)

An Everest 12-day Trek Outline:

The majority of trekkers choose the 12 day trek and fly from Kathmandu (1 300m) to Lukla (2 800m). [Walk treks are also possible.] From Lukla, Base Camp is eight days away. This includes two compulsory rest days; the first at Namche Bazaar (3440m) and then at Dingboche (4 360m) to help them acclimatize to the increasing altitude towards Gorak Shep (5 160m), the highest village. To prevent altitude sickness above Namche, daily altitude increases should aim for 300m/day, and not exceed 450m.)

[At 5 000m, air contains only half the oxygen of air at sea level.]

To visit Base Camp (5 340m) for views of the Khumbu icefall is a tough two-hour afternoon trek, each way, from your hotel. The summit of Everest is not visible from Base camp, but the icefall is spectacular. An early morning 1,5 - 2 hours, 200m trek up Kala Patthar (5 545m), behind the village, offers magnificent sunrise views of Everest and a host of other peaks. The trek back to Lukla takes four, easier, days and a morning flight back to Kathmandu. [Base Camp is to be moved to a new site in the next couple of years.]

The Helicopter Adventure:

Early morning helicopter flights to EBC (to avoid late morning cloud) follow much of the route described above. From Kathmandu (1 300m), fly northeast to Lukla (2 800m) over farmlands and forested hills that rise towards the snow-covered ranges visible to the north.

• Land at Lukla and refuel. [Breakfast may be taken before or after your visit to Base Camp.]
• Fly to the Everest View Hotel, near Namche Bazaar, for breakfast OR
• Fly up the valley, past impressive peaks, over Namche Bazaar (the largest village in the region) and on past hilltop Tengboche with its old and revered Buddhist monastery.
• Continue up, above the treeline, to Gorak Shep, the highest village (5 160m). Behind the village grassy slopes rise some 200m up Kala Patthar to a flag-bedecked lookout point for trekkers!
• Your helicopter will land on ‘flattish ground’ below the flags for about 20 minutes of “walking time”.

Looking north, a wall of peaks surrounds the valley glaciers with Pumori on your left and the Everest (8848,86m) - Lhotse (8 410m) - Nuptse (7 861m) massif, et al, on your right.

The icefall and Base Camp are hidden behind a ridge. Your pilot will show you the icefall and current camping terrain before or after the landing.

The glacier field below the icefall is barren, populated only by small creatures and birds except for the influx of climbers and staff for three preparatory months around the mid May climbing season (when the the jet stream regularly moves further north for a few weeks, leaving the summit region “relatively calm”. (The speed of the jet stream over the summit moves from ~129 – 225 km/hour, and faster in winter).

Fly back (with views of the “other side of the valleys” to the Everest Hotel near Namche for breakfast OR directly to Lukla for refueling for the flight back to Kathmandu.

We will then meet and return you to your hotel. Rest of the day free.

What Is Included ?

What Is Excluded?