Five Important Life Lessons From Trekking to Everest Base Camp

Few experiences have had such an influence on me as trekking to Everest Base Camp.

Trekking in the high altitudes of the Himalayas for nearly three weeks isn’t for the fainthearted. Every day taught me something new. Every day taught me a little more about myself.

In this article, I give an insight into trekking in the Himalayas and share what the journey taught me about life.

Put your trekking boots on and come for the ride.

The Trek to Everest Base Camp

Trekking to Everest Base Camp is no walk in the park and challenges the fittest of people. This iconic trek is also a very achievable goal for most people. Let me explain.

The Himalayas holds a certain mystique. A rich history of mountaineering pioneers and culture located in Central Asia, is dwarfed by the highest mountains in the world. These mountains hold their own stage. They are not an easy or comfortable place to visit.

The Himalayas demand a degree of work and sacrifice to have the privilege of seeing them up close.

The most popular trek in the Khumbu Valley, the Lukla – Everest Base Camp – Lukla trail typically takes 11-12 days. You can expect to cover a minimum distance of 120km on foot depending on how many optional side treks and acclimatisation treks you choose to do. A distance of 150km is more likely.

After landing at the ‘World’s Most Dangerous Airport‘ you start your trek at 2610m above sea level in Lukla. The standard Everest Base Camp trek tops out at 5643m at Kala Patthar (for the best views of Mt Everest) or at 5364m at Everest Base Camp itself.

“The difference with trekking in this part of the world is not so much the terrain, it is the altitude. The trek itself is not that difficult. The trail is well-formed, and the villages along the way are well-supplied with tea lodge accommodation and nourishing meals.”

The true challenge lies in the oxygen-depleted altitude. At its highest point, the oxygen level is at 50% of what it would be at sea level. This environment causes varying degrees of altitude sickness in most people as your lungs struggle with the lower oxygen levels.

At best, you might get a mild headache and be a little breathless. At worst, it can make you critically ill (or worse) and require you to be evacuated by helicopter.

Despite the hazards and risks posed by trekking at altitude, most people are fine. It is something to continually monitor though, as the Himalayas can be an unforgiving environment.

There are moments when you long for the comforts of home. There are also moments when you would not wish to be anywhere else. These mountains put a spell on you.

The Himalayas are the most spectacular natural environment I have ever been to.

It also taught me more about life than I ever thought possible

Life Lesson #1 - RESILIENCE

On most days, I felt like turning back at some point.

This started on Day Two when I started getting mild altitude headaches. The steep climb into Namche Bazaar after lunch was my first test. The grinding, winding trail heading up the ‘Namche Hill’ never seemed to end.

Every day, I faced a ‘Namche Hill’ to some degree. Some were easy, but some were relentless. In the first couple of days, as my body tried to adjust to the altitude, I wondered what I had let myself in for.

“Doubts began to creep in as to whether my body could handle it.”

I would need to look deep inside myself and rely on my resilience to stare down those moments when it all got too hard. After all, I could turn back at any time.

That was never an option

The same resilience I relied on as my journey continued is no different to the real world. The trail is a metaphor for life in many ways.

“For every gut-busting climb, there was sometimes a reward at the top. A reward with the most spectacular views on the planet.”

Sometimes there would be no reward. Sometimes, those hills would keep going up. When I thought I was at the top, my head would drop as all I saw was another climb. In those moments, I relied on the fact that it wouldn’t go on forever. And it didn’t. I just had to keep going.

Life is like that. The ups and downs of life never last forever. Your resilience is what keeps you going and moving forward. The easy option is to quit.

The rewards for moving forward are far greater.

One of my favourite stories from the trail is also one of the most inspiring stories of resilience I have ever seen. It was the day I climbed Nangkartshang Peak at 5083m, an optional acclimatisation trek about halfway to Everest Base Camp.

That sunny morning, I was climbing on my own. Altitude headaches were pounding every inch of my head. I was tempted to turn back on many occasions.

Ahead of me on the rocky, dusty trail was a member of a Polish trekking party, they were easy to spot in their uniformed white shirts. I was gaining ground on her and figured when I caught her, I would stop there and turn around. I had had enough.

Eventually, I reached the Polish woman. She was slumped up against a rock, utterly exhausted. As I stopped beside her, I appeared to frighten her. Neither of us said a word as she looked at me almost in desperation. She then shifted her head, looking up the hill towards the summit. Without a word, the woman got to her feet and shuffled a couple of steps uphill before pausing again, resting on her trekking poles.

“Her pain and exhaustion became a source of motivation for me. I could at least move and walk freely. In front of me stood a woman who looked like she could barely take another step continuing to go up.”

So I did. The summit got closer and closer. Reaching the top was one of the most satisfying feelings on the whole trek. It was where I shed my first tear on the trail. The inner demons that had followed me for the first half of this journey, had been defeated.

As I made my descent, something caught my eye. About 100 metres below the summit, I spotted a familiar white shirt. It was the Polish woman.

She had tears coming down her dust-covered face as she struggled forward, step by step. Her face broke into a tired smile as she saw me, knowing she was nearly at the top. I pointed to the top of the peak and raised my trekking pole. She raised hers.

The resilience the woman in the white shirt showed was inspiring. She seemed no chance of reaching the summit that day. But she did.

No matter how hard things get, we can continue to put one foot in front of the other.

By taking small steps every day, we can all achieve remarkable things.

Life Lesson #2 - PATIENCE

The Everest Base Camp trail is a long one.

The route I took to Everest Base Camp, returning via Cho-la Pass took 18 days, instead of the usual 11-12 days.

The fastest and most valuable thing you learn on the trail is to take your time. The longest day I had was ten hours. The shortest was three hours.

That is a long time to spend either on the trail or an even longer time at a tea house where there is little to do other than rest, read or play cards with other trekkers. Time slows down like nowhere else on the planet. You lose track of the days and develop a mindset that slows down and makes you more present.

“The present is where the true beauty of the Himalayas is. By being patient and appreciating every step in the mountains, you enjoy the experience more.”

Western society doesn’t typically reward patience. There are always deadlines, places to be and meetings to attend.

On the mountain, time works in your favour. The slower you go, the better your body adjusts to altitude. The slower you go, the more you appreciate the beauty of your environment.

Being patient on the mountain was vital. Being patient with both the people and the environment was important for making the most of the journey.

You shared the trail with the same small group of trekkers every day. The teahouses were a mixture of nationalities from all over the world who all had different experiences and perspectives.

It was easy to moan and complain at different times. It could be about the next climb, the herd of yaks on the trail or your roommates snoring. The sooner we learned that complaining would get us nowhere and to show a little patience with everything, the better the situation would be.

“We had to be patient with each other and our environment. We were all challenged in different ways. No two people had the same experience.”

Since I returned home, I found myself exercising this newfound patience more than I thought I would. The little things don’t annoy me as much as they used to.

Patience is something you need to practice.

Your life becomes a lot less complicated when you focus on what you can control.

Life Lesson #3 - FRIENDSHIP

A group of six strangers from four different countries met in Kathmandu before the trek.

Nearly three weeks later, we had created a lifelong bond through our shared experiences, struggles and successes on the trail.

We knew more about each other than we ever thought possible. We exposed our vulnerabilities to each other in unexpected ways. We relied on our new friends to pick us up when we needed it.

“That was only our small group. We encountered many others along the way who shared the journey with us. As we got to know each other, we all became a closer-knit group. Some of their reasons for doing the trek were very personal.”

For others, it was just a bucket list thing. Our motivations were as different as our nationalities. But, we all became part of a larger team. We all had the same goal.

To make it to Everest Base Camp (and beyond) and back to Lukla.

Some didn’t get there.

For those people (and us who stayed) it was heartbreaking. Saying goodbye to our friends as they boarded the helicopter before being taken back to Kathmandu was always the saddest sight.

The friendships we forged on that trail were tighter than many I have formed at home. By being challenged as a group, a unique bond is formed. Even if it is unlikely I will ever see any of them again.

You can achieve remarkable things as a team when you all go in the same direction.

Life Lesson #4 - MINIMALISM

For nearly three weeks in the Himalayas, we had a luggage allowance of 15kg.

We dealt with warm sunny climates in the valley, up to -15 degree temperatures up Kata Patthar. If I had packed the ‘checklist’ we received before leaving, it would have been closer to 30kg.

Learning to live in an environment where I had only two sets of clothes, one for the day and one for the night, was difficult to get my head around.

In the end, it was easy. I learned how to live with less.

“After three weeks in the mountains, I understood how little the stuff we all desire and hold so much value, actually matters. There are no televisions in the mountains, no radios. Just the mountains and the people.”

It was refreshing to sit in a teahouse or on the trail and chat with someone different every day. Like we used to. The conversations were different too. People talking about their experiences that day. People talking about their loved ones and their lives at home.

Without our distractions, our comforts of home and just the bare minimum on our backs, you feel a weight off your shoulders. The only thing you need to do is keep walking. Life became simple again.

From seeing what I saw and felt on the way to Everest Base Camp, I now understand what Tyler Durden said in Fight Club.

‘The things you own, end up owning you.’

Life Lesson #5 - GRATITUDE

According to the World Bank study in 2021, Nepal had a GDP per capita of $1,222.90 making it one of the poorest countries in Asia.

Life is hard. By our comfortable western standards.

“You couldn’t tell though. The smiles on the faces of the Nepalis are bigger than anywhere else. The beautiful, generous nature of the people I met is my most enduring memory of Nepal.”

The people of Nepal humbled me. The life that I lived was the complete opposite of theirs. Materially or physically, I wanted for little. In Nepal, every dollar earned is precious. It can mean the difference between food on the table or not.

Our porters, Raj & Bishal, were farmers when not on the trail and would curiously ask about my life back home. They would look at me with quizzical looks on their faces as I told them about my office job, the food I ate and the technology we used every day.

Every time we had those conversations, I felt uncomfortable. It was awkward because I realised what we take for granted, is so different from what they do.

Yet here they were, smiling all day long, laughing and joking while carrying large backpacks while I would be grimacing through another hill, or craving a decent steak dinner.

Those moments gave me clarity. My perception of what I thought was important in my life, was so different to what life was like in Nepal. Yet by some strange metric, they seemed happier than I was.

I realised what I took for granted at home every day was a life they had never experienced – maybe only seen on TV or heard about.

These moments started an overwhelming sense of gratitude for what I had left at home. The comforts I missed sure, but also for my family who waited for me to return.

“I realised the little things that happen at home every day, the little things you take for granted, are what is important. My life has been blessed in that sense. Our love for family was the one thing we all shared.”

We lead different lives to my Nepali friends, vastly different. But the one thing we have in common is a sense of gratitude. For our families and our lives every day. In the end, that is all that matters.

If you can appreciate the little things that come along every day, the hug from a friend or the smile from the shopkeeper, you can lead a much happier life.

Raj, Bishal and others I met along the trail taught me that.

Coming Home

Arriving back in New Zealand after three weeks away, I knew Nepal had fundamentally changed me.

At the time, I didn’t know how. I just knew life was going to be different. There wasn’t any ‘aha’ moment on my journey. Far from that. It was only in the months and years following the trek, that I could reflect and begin to understand that it all happened slowly.

“By learning and living these five lessons during this unforgettable experience. I had started an irreversible cycle of change.”

Sometimes, I revert to the pre-Nepal Marc, the ungrateful Marc. Or the Marc who wants the newest phone or new clothes. Fortunately, that Marc doesn’t hang around long these days. The stronger version of me comes back. When he does, life is so much better.

You don’t need to go to Nepal, or anywhere, to discover these five life lessons. These lessons have been around for thousands of years.

You can start practising them today, by applying them every day, to your life.

They won’t be life-changing overnight, but I promise if you start being aware of them, then slowly but surely, amazing changes can happen.

Namaste.