UKC

I am really interested in doing the trek to Everest base camp for charity but not sure where to start, all advice and ideas welcome

In reply to philpaynter: this kind of thing has been well covered on other threads in here.
general opinion is that if you are covering all costs yourself and "all" the money you raise will go to a charity then just book the trip through one of the numerous operators and start letting folk know what you are doing, ie friends , relatives and workmates, if its a credible charity you might even get a few donations of here.If the charity is something local and worthy let your local paper know and it might raise the profile of it and get you some donations.

if its of the type where much of the money you raise will be put towards your trip costs be prepared for a bit of abuse.

In reply to buzby: Thanks thats cool no i am covering the costs myself and every this i raise will be going to charity so i will do some more research.i thought i would ask and get some ideas

In reply to philpaynter: good on you then, whats the charity?

In reply to philpaynter:

Start in Lukla !!

In reply to SiWood:

NO! Start at home, go to airport, fly to Kathmandu then Lukla :0P

In reply to SiWood:

That's cheating, You need to start a sea level preferably with the sit start.

In reply to philpaynter: I started in Jiri not Lukla. Most people fly to Lukla as it is the nearest point you can fly to so speeds up the whole process.

But, you can get a bus from Kathmandu to Jiri and start walking from there. The advantage of this is that you get match fit at lower altitude and also aclimatise more slowly. The "pre lukla" walk is lovely and very quiet and is also where the lads set off from when they did the first succesful attempt on Everest.

Ignore all of this if time is an issue though as it will add 7 days walking to get to Lukla. (but does avoid an air fare)

Also, if you are lucky enough to have time, do explore the other valleys once you have walked to Gorak Shep, you can return to Dingboche and then walk toawrds Island peak along the Chukung Valley which is spectacular and for my money the best view from Chukung peak (Ama Dablam and Lhotse). You can also do the Gokyo Lakes as well. To do all of this will take a considerable amount of time if you don't want to rush it and enjoy it. I would guestimate at least 4 weeks, but would say 5 weeks to aclimatize and enjoy it.

You will be pretty fit on your return to UK!

In reply to philpaynter:
give us a call. no obligations at all but we can send you a sample itinerary, previous client experiences,fitness plan and very comprehensive kit-list for starters.
cheers

In reply to Rolfe Oostra - 360 Expeditions: Great will do

In reply to philpaynter:
I did the 3 High Passes in april with explore (http://www.explore.co.uk/holidays/details/high-passes-of-everest) taking in Chukkung Valley, Khumbu Glacier and Gokyo. Guess that takes the hassle out of booking everything seperately but is probably more expensive.
I wrote a blog about it too
http://tankgetshigh.wordpress.com/
Good luck and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

In reply to philpaynter:

I have used Access Himalaya (a Nepali company) five times and can not fault them. All you need to do is sort your flights to Kathmandu and they sort the rest. http://www.access-himalaya.co.uk/index.php

They also run there own charity.

http://www.access-himalaya.co.uk/community-project.php?action=view&id=7
http://www.access-himalaya.co.uk/community-project.php?action=view&id=1

Rich :@)