You can stand face-to-face with Everest — without climbing it

Here is the misconception that stops people short: to experience Everest, you have to climb it. You don't. Climbing the summit costs tens of thousands of dollars, takes two months, and genuinely risks your life. But standing face-to-face with the world's highest mountain — close enough to feel small — is open to almost anyone, on foot or even by helicopter, for a tiny fraction of the cost. Here are the three ways to meet Everest.

Three ways to meet the mountain

Which one is you

If you want the whole experience — the Sherpa villages, Namche, the glacier, the sunrise from Kala Patthar with Everest ablaze — walk to Base Camp. If you have a week, the Everest View trek reaches the Tengboche ridge with jaw-dropping panoramas of Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam. And if you have a single day or cannot trek at altitude, the helicopter tour flies you into the Khumbu for breakfast with the giants and back. Three budgets, three timescales, one unforgettable mountain.

Source: Travel Himalaya Nepal.

Cover photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).