Most expeditions take roughly 60 to 70 days from the moment you land in Kathmandu to the moment you stagger back down, gasping for oxygen you no longer have to pay for. That’s over eight weeks of living in tents, eating freeze-dried pasta, and peeing into a bottle while hypothermia whispers sweet nothings in your ear. You don’t just “climb” Everest; you marry it for a season.
Why so long? Because the mountain loves to play hard to get. You can’t just show up at Base Camp and say, “Hey, I’m here for the summit selfie.” That’s a great way to die in a very embarrassing way. The process is all about acclimatization—a fancy word for teaching your body that less oxygen is totally fine, which it absolutely is not.
Step One: The Base Camp Tango (10–14 Days)
First, you’ll fly to Lukla, the world’s scariest airport (runway is basically a ski slope, no pressure). Then you’ll hike for about 10 days to Everest Base Camp, which sits at a cozy 17,600 feet. This part is like a nature walk for masochists. You’ll pass through villages where yaks have a better fashion sense than you, and you’ll begin to understand why your legs are screaming in an ancient language they’ve never used before.
At Base Camp, you’ll spend at least a week just sitting around. Not relaxing—sitting around intentionally. You’ll do short practice hikes up a nearby hill called Kala Patthar, then come back down to sleep. This “climb high, sleep low” trick lifts your blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity, like building a superpower, but slower and with more headaches.
