Overview
Everest Base Camp Heli Tour is a tour package in which you ride aboard a helicopter to Everest base camp instead of having to hike all the way. In this EBC Heli Tour, you might not get the thrills of having walked there, but still get the thrills of getting to the Everest base camp, plus getting an aerial view of the summit of Mount Everest – the others that do, are the ones who make it to the top.
In addition, Everest Base Camp Heli Tour takes you to the starting point of where mountaineers make their attempts to scale to the top, you are taken to Kalapathar or Gorak Shep all depending on a number of factors and land there for a few minutes, giving you the opportunity to get spectacular crazy views of Everest from different angles and flown over to other parts of the Everest region which are on the Everest region Trekking route. Then it lands at Everest View Hotel, where you get the opportunity of a hearty breakfast and a view of Mount Everest.
The Everest base camp helicopter tour starts early at five-thirty am at your place of lodging and where you are driven by private vehicle to the helipad in Kathmandu. If all is right – that is the weather condition is right in the Everest region, you take off for your Everest Base Camp Heli Tour. Please take into consideration, the weather in and around Everest changes in a matter of hours. In such a case, the ride is canceled and rescheduled for another day. It is advisable, that you have a few extra days in hand.
If all goes right, then the helicopter gets airborne and heads towards Lukla, the main airport in the Everest region where most of the flights that are carrying people, who will be taking Treks in Everest Region for refueling – which takes about fifteen to twenty minutes. The next stop would be either Everest Base Camp or Kalapathar. Both of which you get to see, but land at one only. Questions might be asked, why? At certain parts of the year, due to the mountaineer training to the summit or conquer Mount Everest, the land area available in the Everest base camp is very small. That which is left is mainly priorities for helicopters bring in supplies for them. If there is no flight scheduled in them, you might get the opportunity of landing for a few minutes to take pictures. You might ask, again, “why only a few minutes?” This is because of your own safety. The same would be if it was Kalapathar. Both places are above the five thousand meter mark and the oxygen level is very less than what your lungs are used to. It can be fatal to the very healthiest of people – you first need to acclimatize at lower levels in steps to be able to live there for more than half an hour. Plus the helicopters, are equipped with an oxygen mask, in case, altitude sickness catches anyone on board. With excitement, you might overlook some vital details, but with us, we take your comfort with the highest importance. Not only does the thin air lead to altitude sickness but also being extremely chilly up, so please bring warm clothing to cover every part of the body.
Having to flown to Kalapathar and Everest Base Camp and landed for a while at one, depending, we then fly to Everest View Hotel in Syangboche for breakfast while taking the panoramic, spectacular view of Everest with the sun creeping over it. Everest View Hotel is special in its own way. It first was built in the year 1968, not mainly for financial gains, but for the fact, that the ridge that it was built on gave a view of Everest and the other surrounding areas of the Khumbu region as if was portrayed onto a screen. It is actually a ninety-minute walk uphill from Namche Bazaar, the central hub and trading point of the Sherpa. Building such a structure back then, was even a gigantic task even for the sturdy Sherpa people back then.
Having had a hearty breakfast with a warm cup of tea or coffee along the breathtaking view of all nature is capable of building, where man is in no comparison, the Everest Base Camp Helicopter takes to the sky, make you feel ascension to heaven and flies further away to Lukla for refueling for your flight back to Everest. The airport here, which in truth is called Tenzin Hillary Airport, is the gateway to the Everest region, without which, it would be impossible for hiking in Everest to happen for so many, as then the nearest point would be Jiri to begin. After about 3.5 to 4 hours in the regions either flying overviews to last your entire life or landing at places, like Everest base camp, Kalapathar, and Everest View Hotel, we are eventually in Kathmandu. You, then, return by private vehicle to the point, we picked you up from.
There is much that one can take away from Helicopter Tour to Everest Base Camp. The foremost is getting the opportunity to fly over Everest Base Camp or Land there for a couple of minutes, all depending on a number of factors. This is the place where those attempting to scale to the peak, stay, till the courage gives them, the go. Practically seeing the peak of Everest. Going to places like Kalapathar, Gorak Shep, Tengboche which has one of the oldest monasteries in the Khumbu region, Landing at Tenzing Hillary Airport, the gateway to the Everest region and the crowning glory of it all, having breakfast at the Iconic Hotel called Everest View Hotel built on a ridge with a cinematic view of Everest and the surrounding areas. Plus getting to view the flora and fauna right from the Mid-Himalayas to the High Himalayas. All done and completed in a couple of hours for you to return back with your version of what Everest has been to you in a short span of time.
What are things worth noting about this tour?
Man and machine are dictated to the facts of a machine’s limitation for which it serves you well. The helicopter, which is a machine to lift vertically into the air and fly forward, does so on the density of the air, hence lessen the air for the force to lift higher and less oxygen for combustion of its engines. So the pilot has its limitation at these altitudes. So when the weather plays spoilsport, the tour might be canceled that day: it becomes dangerous or you might not get the proper fun of taking such a tour of iconic worth. Then again, you could either be allowed to land at Kalapathar or Everest Base Camp. The first option is the Everest Base Camp, but that is only possible if there is landing space. Everest Base Camp is a busy place with all the activity going on. In that case your land at Kalapathar and circle over the base camp. In whichever place the pilot opts to land, you step aground for about five to seven minutes for the apparent reason that places are at a height of more than 5000 plus meters above sea level. Usually, it is when a person gets to 3000 plus meters that he must acclimatize to the air level, else longer periods could turn out fatal. So, this is precisely why the pilot does not allow his passengers to stay longer. Plus in case, you might feel the effect while fly, there are oxygen masks. Helicopters are not like places that are able to fly higher under no discomfort due to the cabins being pressurized. So the higher we climb, the colder it gets, please boot and suit, yourself for extreme cold climate.
Since a tour of this kind can be canceled for precautionary measures to be rescheduled the next day, it would advisable to have a few days on hand if you happened to be a tourist to the country. We hope you understand, that your security and comfort, are of utter importance.
Trip Highlights
- Get close & personal with the scenic heli-flight over the worlds tallest mountain series
- Fly over Everest Base Camp (5364m/17598ft)
- Enjoy panoramic view from Kalapather (5545m/18192ft)
- Witness majestic views of Mt. Everest including Ama Dablam, Thamserku, Kantega, Lhotse, Nuptse