I was lucky to start out the 2018 new year with a bang doing the EBC tour with Advanced Adventures. It was an incredible journey. 

From the moment we got to Nepal we were so well taken care of. We didn’t have to worry about anything as everything was sorted for us I.e transportation, accommodation, food. 

I would highly recommend doing your tour with this company. Even higher, I recommend Tej Karki as your guide. He took such amazing care of us throughout the trek. He was not only a guide, he became a good friend. Guides definitely make or break the trip, and we definitely would not have made it to EBC and Kala Pathar without him. I can’t recommend Tej enough if you want a safe and unforgettable journey!

Brittainy Gebo
Sydney Australia

Top notch! Totally professional, from management, to guides, to porters, to the locations preparing our food, to handing us our key to our to our room when we arrived, to serving us with two hands our meal. I can't praise this organization enough to give you a sense of how truly well-run it is. Their planning is excellent.

We were a group of 21 people. Chet got us on the first two flights to Lukla on the day we were to leave. Once there, Hom, our main guide, took over and was joined by 4 assistant guides who managed our group impeccably--one guide in the front with the faster hikers, one guide at the tail with us slower folks, and two guides spread in over the middle, with Hom appearing up or down the line as needed.

We were quite spread out. They kept a sharp eye on us all. I was pegged fairly early on the trip as someone of need. I have MS, am 71, and I randomly tip over. I lose my balance. Twice the assistant guide Kalu broke my fall before I landed. I didn't even know he was nearby--he appeared from nowhere. One of these saves occurred over a yak-pie. I was sooooo appreciative!

My friend Carol was wanting to use the internet late one night and went to the dining room for a connection. There sitting around a long table were Hom and all the porters having a meeting. Carol said this must have been about 11:00 p.m..

The afternoon we were to make it to Everest Base Camp, by noon out bags had arrived and we had already checked in to our rooms. One would think the porters would have the afternoon off, but nope. Hom instructed them to help us to the Base. A young porter asked if he could carry my pack for me. I obliged. He took also one of my hiking poles to carry, then took my free hand and glided me across the tops of the boulders and rocks, choosing the route just as he would go. It was great fun. We flew! I travelled at least twice as fast as I normally do. He has long legs and I was completely under his good control. It was a hoot!

We all found the Nepali people to be completely disarming, gentle and unassuming. It was never about them, and always about our safety. They would open up about themselves if we asked. We learned that many had walked two days to come for the job. There are no motorcycles or bicycles; just porters carrying goods of all sorts, yaks, something looking like a yak but not exactly one, and on our last day, we saw a few horses. 

Hiking to Everest Base Camp is an amazing journey; I'm ready do do it all over again. It is so vertical! I totally recommend Advanced Adventures as tour guides; you will love them, you will love your trip!

Sakkar Azizuddin
Pat Jiwani
eajiwani@gmail.com

USA

The trek itself was amazing and we really enjoyed the challenge of the mountain climbs !

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always dreamed of going to Mt Everest.  I wanted to use a Nepal based tour group for my visit and found Advanced Adventures via Google.  I found Chet had an excellent grasp on English and he was really easy to deal with.  So my husband and I made our booking and started to train…  I have to admit I was nervous about someone actually being there at the airport when we arrived in Kathmandu, rather than some rogue website!  But all went to plan and we were greeted at the airport by our Guide and shortly thereafter met Chet Bhatta.

From the moment we were picked up at the airport, everything ran really smoothly and any last minute questions or concerns we had were quickly put at ease.  We flew in on time to Lukla airport and started the great walk.  The trek itself was amazing and we really enjoyed the challenge of the mountain climbs.  We made sure we did as much training as we could fit in before we left and it paid off.  Our guide was Eaklal and our Sherpa was Suresh.  They were excellent to deal with and we very well looked after.  Most days Suresh would beat us to the next teahouse and for the whole trip we never waited for than 5 minutes for our bags to arrive.  Eaklal spoke English really well and they were both more than happy to spend some free time playing some awesome Nepal card games that they taught us.

We mostly struggled with the cold.  We come from sunny Qld so the temperatures as low as -20 were a bit of a shell shock.  Although we knew how cold it could be, we thought that the teahouses would have fireplaces burning part of the day and night…  This is not the case.  Rather, most had ‘pot bellied stoves’ that we saw would only be fired up mostly between 5pm and 9pm.  This is due to the limited amount of fuel ie yak dung.  So it was hard to get warm once you stopped walking for the day.  But the amazing people, food and scenery far outweighed and concern about being cold.

The teahouses were pleasant and the food was actually really good.  It was such a good feeling to get to base camp – a big tick off the bucket list!

We had amazing weather walking up to base camp but some cloudy/foggy weather for part of the trip down.  We were lucky enough to hitch a ride back to Kathmandu via a helicopter – this was truly breathtaking flying over the Himalayas in a helicopter.  And this did not cost us an extra cent.  I am confident this only happened because of the good relationships and reputation that Advanced Adventures have.

We will certainly be recommending to our friends to make this amazing trip and to use Advanced Adventures.
 
A big thank you from Kelly and Denver Parker.
 
Mr. & Mrs. Denver & Kelly Parker
Email- kd.parker@bigpond.com

PO Box 706 Mackay QLD 4740 Australia
EBC Trek- March/April, 2014