Adventu.re

I’ve seen this over and over, trekkers trekking for weeks on their vacation trek of a lifetime to Everest Base Camp on a standard Everest Trek expecting a view of Everest, only to find, doh, they can’t see the mountain. Granted, from the nondescript dusty hill of 5,545 meter Kala Patar, a few miles West of base camp, you can see the summit pyramid of the peak, but to me, that view isn’t even as impressive as the view from the base of Mount Rainier. You’d think that the word would get out, but no.

The view of Everest from Gokyo Ri.

More and more trekkers are discovering that trekking to Gokyo affords the best views of Everest (and more).

If you’ve only got 2 weeks, give base camp the miss, and head for Gokyo. If you’ve got 3 weeks, trek to base camp, sure, but make sure you head back out over the Cho La Pass to check out the best views of Everest from Gokyo Ri and from Scoundrel’s View.

Hiking a couple of hours from Gokyo village to the top of Gokyo Ri at 5.483 meters, hikers are rewarded with a beautiful, early morning view of Everest, but also a panorama of 4 of the world’s 14 8,000 meter peaks, Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, and Cho Oyo.

Hiking a half day North of Gokyo, to 5th lake you can get an amazing view of Everest few people see, and can actually see the Northwest side of the Mountain, the Great Coulour, as well as the Hillary Step. Best of all, you don’t even have to climb anything to see it, although, granted, you’ll be hiking gradually up near 5,000 meters. Here’s what Everest looks like from Scoundrel’s View at 5th Lake:

Everest from 5th Lake, Gokyo Valley, Nepal

If you really want a view of Everest, hike up the unnamed valley due west of 5th Lake, and go as high as you can (watch out for rockfall here). This is what you’ll see, an absolutely unreal view of much of Everest’s Northwest side:

Everest from high above Fifth Lake Gokyo, at approximately 5,700 meters.

For more information check out InsidrInfo.com’s page on trekking to Gokyo.