What Are the Difficulties of Everest Base Camp Trek

Trekking to the mountain base camp is an adventure journey so it won’t be very easy that people might think sometimes. Everest base camp is a beautiful mountain trip where you can see stunning mountain views and more. But there are some difficulties that you will face.

This is not very hard trek but still, some things will make even a bit uneasy on the Everest base camp trek. Then, what difficulties you will face on Everest base camp trek? Let’s check here now.

Altitude Difficulties

The most important thing that you should know about the Everest base camp trek is the altitude problem. Coming from the sea level and going to high Himalayan land is a challenge. There will be less oxygen in the air as much as you visit high mountain areas. It makes it difficult to walk and might get sick with not enough oxygen.

The trail doesn’t look steep but still will be difficult to walk because of the altitude problem. You will have earlier symptoms if you got the altitude sickness. Headache, vomiting, loss apatite, can’t sleep well, fatigue while resting, hard to breathe and a few other symptoms occur when altitude starts effect.

You need to walk slow, drink enough water, sleep well, eat well, start taking altitude tablets after 3500m of elevation are the earlier prevention of altitude sickness. If the problem begins, you have to stay one more day rest at the same place, descend as soon as possible or take advice from a guide or the local health assistant from the place where you are.

Taking good travel insurance from your country which covers any emergency evacuation above 6000m of elevation is highly recommended for the Everest base camp trek.

Physical Difficulties

Trekking is a physical activity so you need to be fit enough to walk through the mountain trails with lots of up and downhills. A few hiking training should not be enough to trek to the Everest base camp trek. The trail along the Everest base camp is with rocks so walking on a clear trail and with rocks makes different.

There are some long downhills which are not good for the knees to the trekkers. And some small stones make it difficult to walk and might fall over. So, you need to be careful while descending with lots of small stones and take knee supporter, trekking pole and anklet with your trekking equipment.

Accommodation, Food, Drink and Toilet Difficulties

You can get easily the accommodations in each stop during the trek. There are plenty of lodges with some comfort and luxury accommodation. You may have attached bathroom in some places. The bed in the guest house is good enough to spend the night and they are clean. But, it might be a bit narrow beds in some places so, don’t expect the bed as you will have in cities. Knowing this about available accommodation, it came to know that you don’t need to take a tent with you.

But there will be some difficulties to secure your place in some places. Places like Tengboche, Lobuche and Gorakshep have limited lodges that might not enough in some days during the high trekking season. You need to book at least one day earlier in advance.

You will have a food menu everywhere where you stay and stop for lunch while you will be hiking. The problem is, you will see the same food items in every food menu and the only difference is the price. As you go to higher places, the cost of the food also goes high. Meat items should not be fresh every time than it is good to stay with vegetarian food while you will be trekking towards the base camp.

You can get bottled water in the places where you stay, during walking and in the groceries. You can buy bottled water if you would like to but it may be costly. A bottle of water may cost up to 500 NPR but you can get them 100 NPR in the lower area. You can drink normally available water filling in your empty bottle but don’t forget to use purification methods.

As I have mentioned that you can get attached bathroom in some places. If you don’t get attached bathroom, you will still have an indoor toilet in every lodge. You don’t need to go out of the building to use the toilet. But, don’t expect sitting toilets everywhere. Toilets in higher areas might be smelly with cold temperatures because they might be frozen.