Annapurna out, Everest in

by site editor Rick McCharles

For years the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal has been one of our top 10 hikes in the world. I loved my own trip there in the 1990s.

But, year after year, road building has degraded the experience.

Here’s one of Andrew Ostrowski’s photos from the ‘Circuit’ …

We’ve replaced Annapurna on the top 10 with …

Everest Base Camp / 3 Passes

There’s NO shortage of information on how to hike to Everest Base Camp (5,320m / 17,450ft) in Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal.

But the best route is fairly new, via three high passes:

Kongma La (5,535m)
Cho La (5,380m)
Renjo La (5,388m)

You can do one, two or three of those.

If 3 Passes are not challenging enough, you can opt to side-trip 3 trekking peaks:

Gokyo Ri (5,483m) … similar vista to Renjo La
Kala Pattar (5,545m)
Chukkung Ri (5,550m)

Pokalde Peak 5806m (19,048ft) is an option, too. But requires a Climbing permit as does the much more popular Island Peak 6,189 m (20,305 ft).

The sacred Gokyo Lakes is a superb side-trip. Don’t miss it.

The focus of that page is the difficult 3 Passes route. For independent trekkers.