Remembering Edmund Hillary on Nepal trek

The world said farewell to one of the 20th century's greatest explorers, Sir Edmund Hillary, this week after he died on Friday, aged 88.

Since the day he reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953 he has achieved even greater respect for his humility and tireless work for the people of Nepal.

The route he followed to Everest Base Camp is now the busiest in the country and Hillary himself bemoaned the damage being done to the environment of this region.

An alternative, and far more beautiful adventure holiday, takes you up the nearby Gokyo valley. The views of Chomolunga are just as good and there are no big tour parties with their long yak trains.

The first step in most Khumbu treks is to get to Lukla, which has become the gateway to the Khumbu region since an airstrip was built here by Hillary and the Sherpas in the mid-sixties.

In fact the Nepali government has this week announced they will rename Lukla airport after Hillary and his climbing partner Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

Most trekkers fly from Kathmandu to Lukla, although it is possible to trek in from the village of Jiri (this takes up to ten days).

If you choose to fly you will need to take care to spend more time acclimatising to the altitude as you ascend further into the mountains.

The general rule each day is to avoid sleeping more than 300 vertical metres above the level you slept at the previous night. You can climb higher during each day, for example taking side trips, but you should descend to a guesthouse by the evening.

Our porter's name was Lhakpa Sonam Sherpa and he turned out to be a reliable and friendly young man, whose company we very much enjoyed. He was a bit of a Sherpa-lothario, always chatting with the pretty ladies working at the guesthouses.

The landscape in the lower reaches of the Khumbu region is all vertiginous, craggy hillsides and glossy coniferous forest.

Once you get above Namche Bazaar the scene changes to arid alpine wilderness. As we trekked higher there were increasing amounts of snow - enough to make everything look beautiful.

Everywhere the pint-sized Sherpa people carry their loads manfully, and womanfully; everything from food supplies and trekking equipment to industrial ovens.

The first stop after Namche is Khumjung and the very first school built by Hillary. A statue of the great man stands beside the basketball court. There is also a large medical clinic in this village, providing vital health services.

The Himalayan Trust founded by Hillary has built 30 schools, two hospitals and 12 clinics around the Khumbu region, benefiting thousands of people.

Gokyo is literally breathtakingly beautiful. At 4,800m there is only approximately 55 per cent of the oxygen available at sea level. We stayed here four nights, enjoying the beauty, the food, and doing daily treks.

The tiny village lies on the shores of a deep turquoise lake, surrounded by snowy hills and mountains. These mountains are merely "subsidiary features" in the greater landscape of the Himalayas.

I found the climb up to the Gokyo peak at 5,300m very hard work. A couple of feet of lovely fresh snow overnight made the going a little slow.

Although there is nothing technical about this walk up a hill, it is quite alarming when you stop for a breather and find that your respiration does not normalise.

The view from the top was spectacular and worth every painfully indrawn breath. I didn't know in which direction to look first.

Up to Everest and Lhotse rearing up beyond the mountain range in the foreground. Or down into the valley with its perfect nameless lake.

Across to Cho Oyo: magnificent with its glittering fluted cirque. Or across to the Rowaling range and impressive Pachermo.

Finally, back down the way we'd climbed to the Gokyo valley, through the fluttering prayer flags to the village and the sacred lakes we passed on the trail yesterday.

It seemed impossible to top this vista but the next day we trekked up the valley towards Cho Oyo, crunching frozen juniper under our feet, and then along the moraine wall of the huge Ngozumpa glacier.

It is difficult to describe the wonder of the landscape of lakes and mountains from the "scoundrels' viewpoint", which is at about 5,000m.

Sitting on top of a boulder looking down at the glacier and up at the range of peaks felt like being on the very edge of the earth.

Beyond that knife-edge sharp line of fluted mountains from Cho Oyo around to the enormous bulk of Everest and Lhotse must surely be an endless void.

Details:

The best time to trek in Nepal is either in the autumn (September/October) or spring (March and April).

The route described above took 16 days, including a number of rest days for acclimatisation.

A flight from Kathmandu to Lukla takes around 40 minutes and costs around US$90 for a return ticket.

If you don't want to pay commission to trek organisers in Kathmandu it is possible to hire a porter when you get to Lukla. A group of young men meet each flight and negotiated daily rates range from US$7 to US$10 (plus a decent tip at the end of the trek).

The guesthouses are well run and serve good hot food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The facilities are basic but clean and there is no need to make any reservation arrangements.

A useful guidebook is Trekking in the Everest Himalaya by Jamie McGuiness (published by Trailblazer).

Natasha von Geldern