The first test of my Three Passes trek happened before I took a step. We spent a day waiting for a flight to Lukla that never left. The next morning started at 4 a.m., followed by another five hours at the airport. Eventually we got on a plane, landed in the mountains and walked to Phakding. Anyone who has planned a Himalayan trek down to the hour may want to read that part twice.
This was my second trip to Nepal. In 2017, I had walked through the Everest region to Base Camp, and seven years later I wanted to see more of the country beyond that familiar trail. I was also in the middle of ten months of travel, with Aconcagua waiting near the end of it. The Three Passes route felt like useful preparation, but that was only part of the reason I was there. I had missed these mountains.
I joined a small group through Discovery World Trekking with trekkers from Vietnam, Colombia and the United States. We had a guide, and I carried my own gear. That was partly because Aconcagua was on my mind and partly because I wanted to know what I could manage with a full pack. At altitude, a backpack has a way of giving you a very honest answer.
From Lukla to the first pass
Our seventeen-day itinerary began with the walk from Lukla to Phakding, then followed the river toward Namche Bazaar. We crossed high suspension bridges and climbed roughly 600 metres on the way into town. The walking was not technical, but the combination of the ascent, the pack and the thinner air made it clear that the easy part of the trek still expected something from us.
We stopped in Namche to acclimatize. Our “rest day” included a three- or four-hour hike to a viewpoint, which tells you something about how rest is defined in the Himalayas. Clouds hid Everest, but the walk did what it needed to do. From Namche we continued through Thame and on to Lungden, where breakfast came at 5 a.m. and the weight of my backpack became a topic of ongoing personal interest.
From Lungden we climbed to Renjo La, about 5,360 metres above sea level. The ascent took hours. At the top, prayer flags moved in the wind above turquoise water and snow-covered peaks. We descended toward Gokyo, tired enough to be quiet and surrounded by the kind of landscape that photographs never quite manage to explain.
Across the glacier
After Gokyo, we crossed the Ngozumpa Glacier toward Thangnak. It was a shorter day on paper, though walking over a glacier does not feel especially ordinary while you are doing it. Then came Cho La at about 5,420 metres. We started early, climbed hard and eventually dropped toward Dzongla on the other side.
By then, the days had stopped blending into a generic idea of a beautiful Himalayan trek. Each one had its own personality. One was a long grind under a pack. Another meant finding a line across ice and rock. Another began in the dark because there was a high pass between us and the next warm meal.
We continued to Gorak Shep and climbed Kala Patthar for sunrise. Everest finally appeared after hiding behind clouds earlier in the trip. It was worth the cold start and the climb, although by that point I was also deeply interested in sitting down and eating something hot.
The third crossing
Kongma La came next. At about 5,535 metres, it was the highest of the three passes and our final major crossing. Reaching it felt less like conquering anything and more like being temporarily allowed into a place much bigger than us. We took in the view, caught our breath and started down toward Chhukung.
From Chhukung we returned to Namche, then walked the long final stretch back to Lukla. The route had taken us over three passes, across a glacier, past the Gokyo Lakes and around the high valleys of the Khumbu. It had also involved a surprising amount of waiting, eating, repacking and wondering why I had chosen to carry everything myself.
What stays with me is not a grand lesson about conquering mountains. It is the odd collection of things that made up the trip: an airport before dawn, a group of strangers becoming familiar faces, the satisfaction of reaching Gokyo with my own gear on my back, clouds hiding Everest one day and the mountain appearing on another.
I went back to Nepal because the first trip had not felt like enough. After the Three Passes, I had the same problem.