How do we get to Mount Everest with a five day window?

Hello,

First a big thanks to anyone who responds.

A couple of us have a conference in Bangalore and we would like to get up to Mt. Everest. There are two problems.

The first is that we only have 5 to 6 days to spend.

Second and more importantly, we are in no way shape or form, decent trekkers and would therefore prefer as little difficult trekking as possible.

I have searched all around and have not been able to find that much. Most trips have involved going to Tibet and or taking more than 6 days of travel.

We would really appreciate anyone who could help us out as we plan to travel in mid October.

Cheers,
Taylor

Hello Taylor,

I think better idea for you to take a one hour small Aircraft (mountain flight)to look the mt.everest from near as well as many more mountain and after that you can try to look from another part which is 35km far from kathmandu call Nagarkot. Which is still nice and hill station, I am sure you will love it and enjoy there.....

cheers.....

There was a special helicopter that made it up there in the last year. That has always been my fantasy. A lot of air travel to and fro Nepal but its only money and time..

Talk about ambitious. How do people arrive at such crazy ideas? Is it because you earn so much money or something? I am so over wealth (of course excepting if it was in my pocket - I'm not a hypocrite.). I think there is too much of it in the west now. Its just rediculous what people are willing to spend so much money on. I say bring back socialims. Ok not really but i think the plot has been lost somewhere. Can you imagine what will be going on in the world when all the brainy indians and chinese are as rich as us. Can you imagine when half the world's population is flying all over for conferences and little side trips to Mt Everest. The end is nigh.

The mountain flight from Kathmandu is your best bet, and certainly doable. Fly to Delhi and then to KTM. In addition to the flight you will have several days to tour the Kathmandu valley. Nagarkot is a pretty spot, but the chances of seeing Everest are remote, and even if you do it is so far away as to be unrecognizable.

you want to go see one of the wonders of the natural world... but you are going to take 3 round trip flights in order to do so. that seems a bit hypocritical to me. of course, we all fly in order to travel, but to take all those flights just to see everest from a distance?

some places you just have to walk to. spend your extra time taking a wonderful indian train trip to someplace in the bangalore area.

I believe Steve Fossett will be setting up charter flights in the area soon.

If someone knocked a few hundred metres off Everest would you notice? If they never measured it's height would you still be so intent on seeing THIS mountain? Yeah I know you want to see THE highest mountain in the world, but other than that mental high of knowing you are seeing that will the trip be any better because of it? I think the 5-6 days could be better spent on the ground somewhere a lot closer to your starting point, Everest will still be there for a time when you have the time to see it properly i.e. by trekking to it's base.

Hi
OK – You have two choices, The easy one as mentioned before, That’s the Buddha Air Mountain Flight
Now – if you Really want to try something a bit more ambitious (And this Will mean you getting a bit fitter First !!)
Day 1
Fly into Lukla and trek for half a day
Day 2 Trek to Namche Bazaar – a full day but do-able !!
Day 3 Acclimatise at Namche Bazaar – you could take a short walk towards Tang Bosche and if the weather is good then catch sight of Everest.
Day 4 Do a circular trek from Namahe to one of the better viewing points above the town
Day 5 Trek back to Lukla – another longish day but again do-able
Day 6 – flight back to Kathmandu

The guy to organise this is Nirmal at Himalayan Magic Adventure
Contact details are on

My Nepal pages
See transportation Tips
I Hope that helps
Happy Travels
Rob

Just another spammer.

Im with you on that one NI.

A spammer - and I'm intrigued how many people brought into it :-)

Cheers
Zoltan

Who would? Its such an unappealing site.

The easiest way to see Mt Everest is from the air. Many companies in Kathmandu offer a one hour flight that gives you close up views of Everest (still about 5 kms away) and other mountains over 8000m. Check beforehand that you get a full refund if you are clouded in.
Leaves 7.00 - 9.30am. Book 2 or more days in advance. Costs between US$100-$130 plus Airport Tax RS170

To see Everest with a few days hiking, from Kathmandu, fly to Lukla and then 3 hour trek to stay overnight in Phakding and then the next day 6 hour trek up to Namche Bazaar (3445m), stay two nights and do a day trek up behind Namche where you can get excellent mountain views and will see Everest poking up from behind the others. Then take a day to get back to Lukla.

No offense but a plan to see Everest in 5 days is precisely why I'll never go back to EBC. Even those who fly into Lukla are cheapening the whole experience by flying in 1/2 way.

(O/T -- hi Newislander, good to see you again)

zoltan, I think we were wrong about into-thin-air, much to my embarrassment. You have to scroll down past all the spam and then there is a blog.

(hello wet-have you booked your flight yet?)

Sorry NI, I meant that the OP has got to be a spammer...

Why would 2 unfit people go from Bangalore => Tibet with only 6 days to spare to see the mountain ?

It just doesn't make any sense to me as a legitimate posting.

Cheers
Zoltan

oh surely Z, you have been around here long enough to see everything by now. Smart enough to attend a conference but dumb/selfish enough to want to do this. Its human nature to be so inconsistent. And anyway, don't you mean "troll"? For me spam = tout but ? troll.

I do not think flying in from India to see Everest is is such a bad idea. Easy to do in 5-6 days, not by trekking to Everest, but with a mountain flight (I would fly twice...). They get to see the mountain and the sights of Kathmandu. What is selfish in that? There are plenty of package tours which stay in Nepal even less than 5 days.

So: Fly to Kathmandu, see the sights, fly the mountain flight once or twice.

First, thanks to those with help..

Second, lol, I didn't expect to meet so many pretentious travelers on these boards.

We are thinking about flying from KTM to Lhasa and a group called getaway tours would basically drive us back and through Mt.E. The only problem is that is will take 8 days.

Secondly, does anyone know where Rongbuk valley is and how easy it is to get there from KTM and also how far away it is to Mt.E???

Thanks in advance and if anyone has experience with getaway tours; input is welcome.

btw, it is not that we are fat, it is just not in good hikinh shape for Mt. Everest, lol...

Rongbuk valley is just north of Everest Tibetan side BC. To get there and back to Kathmandu I suggest you get a flight to Lhasa and 4x4 trip back to Kathmandu via Rongbuk valley...

There are still places in the world where you can not get in a few days, and if you would do it with unlimited funds (helicoper to EBC) it would kill you.

PS. copypaste "Rongbuk valley" to Google...

Pretentious? Really? What you propose strikes me as incredibly wasteful. Flying all that way just to gawk out the window of a plane. That's barely even an experience. You've obviously got too much money.

I really had no idea trollers are on all boards despite theme or topic...

Can anyone recommend a good website to buy tickets? I am having trouble on orbitz and travelocity.

Cheers

NI,

You were right... troll it was - I was trying to get work done while typing & had a mental block.

Also like the comment about pretentious travellers... :-)

Z.

The only way to get to base camp in 6 days would be to fly in and out of Lhasa, and take a chartered Landrover to the Tibetan basecamp. Big money though.

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<hr>Pretentious? Really?<hr></blockquote>

NI- How about 'pompous"... is that better?
You may well recognize the 'waste' in whatever form - carbon footprint, etc., in the OPs travel plans, but the way you present your argument... pompous as hell! I happen to agree with your sentiment, but your manner is as embarassing as your false accusations.
Trouble is, there's just toooooooo damn many of you on TT! Why can't you just offer advice instead of judgements? No honest person that comes on these boards for help (whether you agree with their plans, ideas, motivations or whatever) needs all the snot that so many career TTers like yourself (9.29 posts per day!? When do you have time to travel?) fling at them.
You haven't asked for it, but I have some advice for you anyway... step away from your screen for awhile, get out and refresh your better senses.

Z- Why would two allegedly intelligent people come on a forum to post judgements of other people's motives as selfish, only to come off so thoroughly self-important as to illigitimize for many the very arguments you're trying to make?

These just doesn't make any sense to me as legitimate postings. ;-))

Whatever.
D

HardBubble - interesting comment...
Wouldn't put it past Fossett to do that, regardless, let's hope they find him soon. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/08/fossett.ap/index.html
(Steve Fossett - millionaire aviationist/adventurer... exactly the kind of guy I'm sure NI & Z would love to be, but since they can't, love to hate.)
D

Oops, sorry, here's a clickable link...

Dude, in your face extravagance is a bugbear of mine. It gets my hackles up. If people have to take expensive side trips (and stay in rediculously expensive hotels (especially in this part of the world)), I'd rather not know about it. I think the extravagance of your AVERAGE westerner is out of hand. And its not all about the environmental damage. Its mostly about the ongoing contrast between the rich and the poor.

You might like to think that if i worked more i would have fewer posts and be able to travel like OP. Its not that simple. And there's no guarantee that i'd make fewer posts. There are people on this forum who have over 30 posts a day, and they do it from work! There was a time when i had about 15 posts per day. If you have a frenzied conversation with a few people in the space of an hour or two you could find you had just made 5 posts for the day and that's just one thread. It happens, a lot in parts of TT.

Apart from that, you are entitled to your opinion.

Aldrith, If you fly to Lhasa, you will have to stay there at least 2 nights and better 3 nights to acclimatize before you dare start the drive back to Nepal. Even on the Friendship Hwy (without the side trip into Rongbuk Monastery and North Everest Base Camp, you will have 5 high passes to cross. Two of those passes are over 5000m and the others are in the 4600 to 4800m range. Coming from Bangalore (and especially if you also live at a relatively low elevation) you will be at a high risk of suffering from altitude sickness. You would need at lest 2 and probably 3 days in Kathmandu for the tour organizer to get you on a group visa for Tibet (they can get Tibet travel permits in advance but will need your original passports before they can finalize the Chinese Group Visa). Once that is all arranged and you fly to Lhasa and acclimatize for 2 or 3 days before starting the drive back to Nepal - you will have already used up your available time. It will then take a minimum of 5 days to drive back via Rongbuk Monastery. The views of Everest from the Tibet side are quite spectacular. You don't have to walk at any point if you don't want to - so that solves many of the problems - but there is no easy way to get around the time requirement nor the need for time for your body to adjust to the altitude. I'm surprised that any company would even suggest that this is possible in the short time you have available. Most Lhasa trips that include Rongbuk and North Everest Base Camp take a minimum of 9 nights/10 days.
You can take a fly in/fly out trip to Lhasa of 4 nights/5 days and see Mt. Everest from the air, but you just don't have time to do the overland trip.

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<hr>I'd rather not know about it.<hr></blockquote>
Then why bother even opening the thread???? You could see from the first few lines what it was all about. Sorry, my friend, but regardless of having already professed yourself on this thread to not being a hypocrite, I see soooo much hypocrisy in your posts. (Talk about a bugbear!) But the bigger point I wish to make is that the way you express yourself, IMO, does absolutely nothing to prompt meaningful conversation with OPs or any others, about the points you're trying to make. (And please don't reply just to tell me that you're not trying to make a point, or that the OP in this case is beyond meaningful conversation.)
'Nuff said. (And my sincere apologies if I've contributed in ANY way to hijacking this thread!)
D

Well i had no expectation of winning you over. Just as well.

About hypocrisy: What i meant was, I am not sure what i'd do if I had so much money. I just hope I would spend it better.

Dude, you are an idiot.