EBC VIA CHOLA PASS TREKKING

We booked a 2 week trek to Everest Base Camp and over Cho La pass to Gokyo - plus flights in and out of Lukla - through Himalaya Hub Adventures in April ‘18. We had read a bit about the trek before going and had decided that we wanted a porter/guide with us.

We initially contacted Himalayan Hub on Facebook and the replies from Puru were very fast and comprehensive. He answered all of our questions quickly and clearly and coped with us changing our plan/itinerary at least 3 times! He made sure the trip was just how we wanted it.

At first we were quoted for an all-inclusive trek with a porter and guide and whilst reasonable this was a little expensive for us so we decided on a porter/guide and to pay for tea houses and food/drink ourselves. Going alcohol and meat free for the entirety of the trek, this worked out significantly less expensive for us overall.

We unfortunately had trouble both ends of the trek flying in and out of Lukla due to weather, and Puru was extremely easy to contact and helped re-organise flights both ways using his contacts. We ended up needing to take a helicopter back to KTM and Puru arranged this through appropriate channels. After we were back in Kathmandu he helped us extensively to gather paperwork for insurance purposes due to the delayed flights & extra expense of the helicopter. Nothing was too much trouble.

The porter/guide he organised (Kunga Sherpa) was excellent! His English was great and he was knowledgable about the area. He also accommodated us walking quickly and us choosing our tea-houses to stay in along the way. He was fine with us walking 34km in one day from Gokyo to Namche Bazaar despite the other Sherpas thinking we were mad! He was also a very nice guy - we had a good time with him.

We would definitely recommend Himalaya Hub Adventures for organising your trekking trip. The level of customer service was excellent and they went above and beyond before and after the trek to make sure we were happy. Thanks for all your help throughout :)

General advice re: Lukla. There are many delays and cancellations due to weather with often little or no updates from the airlines about what is going on. We lost one day at the start and were delayed 2 days at the end of our trek. As mentioned, we ended up chartering a helicopter as we needed to continue our trip- this was very expensive ($1000) and felt very much like we were being taken advantage of by the helicopter companies and touts at Lukla. Advice would be either to make sure you have plenty of days to spare either end of the trek and are mentally prepared to continue staying in teahouses in Lukla, or to have good insurance that will cover the cost of a helicopter back to Kathmandu. Beware paying in cash to a tout at Lukla!