Dingboche to Lobuche
Lobuche’s Maximum Altitude: 4,930m / 16,175 ft
Starting Altitude: 4,360m / 14,290 ft
Total Elevation Gain: 570m / 1,870 ft
Trek Distance: 8.5km / 5.2 miles
Walking Hours: 5 hrs
Overnight at: a teahouse
Dingboche is a common stop for trekkers of Everest Base Camp. It’s your safe haven to stay in and acclimatize before heading to Lobuche. Trek from Dingboche starts with a leisurely walk down the trail surrounded by peaks like Ama Dablam, Tanbuche, and Lobuche.
After two hours of journey, the trail descends and comes across the river before following the steep hill. The trek continues until some local teahouses in Thukla come into our sight. Most trekkers stop here to have lunch and take a rest before getting underway.
After half an hour of break-in Thukla, we continue hiking once again. The trail on this section is steepest and gets only harder with the increased elevation. Climbing the trail to Dugla Pass doesn’t get any easier due to the sharp incline and low oxygen.
At the crest of Dugla, we’ll see a memorial park made in homage to lost mountaineers at Mt Everest. With deep sadness, we walk over the memories and trek alongside the Khumbu Glacier until reaching the moraine.
First-time, you can see Kala Patthar and relish the magnificent scenery around. This trek will surely get you more tired than any other days, but it also blesses you with the stunning view of beautiful landscapes, steep valleys, and towering mountains.
Making the way through sharp rocks and boulders, we carry on the way. Like the rock said, we’re 30 minutes away from arriving at Lobuche. The trek from here suddenly gets easier and less exhausting as you feel no pain.
The magnificent view over the distance will keep you busy and excited. After half an hour of trekking, we’ll finally get into the tiny village of Lobuche. It’s spread in a closed area and lies 8.5 km southwest of Everest Base Camp.
The village shares its name with the nearby peaks in the area like Lobuche east and Lobuche far west. It’s usually busy in the month of April when trekkers, guides, and porters travel the region to summit Lobuche.
It may be rugged here, but the village is quite impressive with a wonderful sight of surrounding peaks and glaciers. You can watch the gigantic rock cliffs, flat valleys, and towering mountain ridges from the village.
After enjoying the spectacular view offered by Lobuche, we’ll move into our lodge and check in the room. After freshening up, you can into the dining hall and have lunch while beholding the remote beauty.
For its remote location and poor development, the lodges and teahouses are actually quite nice. They have plenty of facilities to offer visitors and make their stay more comfortable. Climbing the trails to Lobuche often witness trekkers struggling with acute mountain sickness.
They get nauseous and dizzy with a sore headache due to the severe effects of low oxygen. Therefore, you’ll have to be more careful on the trail despite having acclimatized at Dingboche.