Of Everest’s three faces, the east—or Kangshung— is unquestionably the most beautiful and least visited (this catalog’s lucky writer has led seven treks to the Kangshung and only once saw another trekking party, far in the distance). Most experts consider the Kangshung trek one of the two or three finest treks on earth.

Our signature trip to the Kangshung takes us along the magnificent Lhasa–Kathmandu road to Gyantse, Shigatse, and Shekar, where we meet our Nepalese Sherpas. (We employ Sherpas, as well as Tibetans, up there, bringing the full amenities of Nepalese trekking to Tibet.) From Shekar we drive to Kharta and begin trekking in alpine desert, our gear carried by laconic yaks. Soon we’re reveling in that surprisingly uncommon Himalayan commodity: true wilderness, headed to what we think of as Our Own Private Everest. Crossing a 16,000-foot pass, we suddenly enter a delicate subtropical forest, gazing up at the ice citadels of Makalu and Chomolonzo (this salmagundi of alpine sceneries, from typically Tibetan dryness to lush forest, all of it topped off with towering ice peaks, is one of the Kangshung trek’s great attractions).

A few days later we enter the Kangshung Valley and the aura of Everest. We spend a couple of days hiking and catching rays of mountain beauty at Pethang Ringmo, a high pasture closely flanked by looming peaks, including Everest itself, front and center. You will search the world in vain for a more heart-stoppingly gorgeous spot.

We loop back to Kharta and the Tibetan rainshadow (after having been out of sight of human habitation for 10 or 12 days) and drive to a night by the fabled Rongbuk Monastery, set exquisitely beneath Everest’s North Face, and another night at Tingri, which Galen Rowell called “the Tibetan camp of our dreams” on the trip that got GeoEx started. And then we spiral down from Central to South Asia and the comforts of Kathmandu.

Days 1 & 2: USA to Beijing • Day 3: fly to Lhasa • Days 4 & 5: Lhasa • Day 6: Lhasa to Shigatse via Gyantse • Day 7: Shigatse • Day 8: Shigatse to Shekar • Day 9: Shekar to Kharta • Days 10–20: on trek • Day 21: camp at Rongbuk • Day 22: camp at Tingri • Day 23: Tingri to Zhangmu • Day 24: cross border, drive to Kathmandu • Day 25: Kathmandu • Day 26: fly to Bangkok • Day 27: return to USA

• General Description
• Health Precautions
• Photo Gallery
• Reading List
• Travel Conditions
• Weather Information

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