History of the Everest Base Camp Route: From Early Explorers to Modern Trekkers

The history of the Everest Base Camp route dates back to approaches from the Tibetan side and long foot trek routes from Kathmandu through Jiri, which have all transformed over the years to become what they are today, the modern classic path starting with a short flight to Lukla.

For modern adventurers, the Everest Base Camp trek is a journey through time as much as it is a physical challenge. The trail crosses a territory where a prehistoric ocean floor sank to underground depths to transform into a giant labyrinthine rock and ice block. This famous route serves as a silent witness to centuries of human migration, deep spiritual devotion, and unprecedented mountaineering triumphs. Understanding the history of the Everest region requires tracing a timeline that begins deep within the Earth’s crust, winds through the ancient migration routes of the Sherpa people, and culminates in the bustling, highly organized trekking industry of the twenty-first century.

This blog is all about the history of the Everest Base Camp route and the story of trekkers: who built it, why it changed, and why part of it may be about to change again.

History of the Everest Base Camp Route at Brief: Past, Present & Future

At one time, Everest Base Camp was nothing more than a hut that served as a staging post for climbers, but it has become a popular trekking route and destination in the world. Spanning these early Tibetan routes, the historic 1953 summit via Nepal, Lukla Airport’s construction in 1964, and the worldwide era of mountain tourism. Here is a short history of the Everest Base Camp trekking route from past to present.

• The number of British explorers increases, coming in and out from Tibet to approach Everest between 1921 and 1924, as Nepal remains closed to visitors.
• 1950: Nepal opens its borders to foreign travelers for the first time.
• The [1953 British expedition under the leadership of Colonel John Hunt] opened the way through the Khumbu region, with the South Base Camp set up on the Khumbu Glacier.
• On 29th May 1953, this southern base camp was known for the first successful confirmed ascent of Mount Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
• 1964: Jimmy Roberts establishes ‘Mountain Travel’ Company, the first trekking company in Nepal. Indeed, it was a first commercial trekking company in Asia.
• 1965: The first commercial expedition and trek to Everest Base Camp walks from Jiri.
• Jiri walk-in: Before air access, any journey to the Everest region required a grueling multi-week trek starting from Jiri.
• Aviation milestone: In 1964, Sir Edmund Hillary assisted in building a small mountain airstrip in Lukla (now known as the Tenzing-Hillary Airport).
• 1979: Sagarmatha National Park is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
• 2001: The runway for Lukla is made out of concrete.
• Today: Most trekkers fly to Lukla and walk roughly 130 kilometers round trip, while Nepal studies whether to move Base Camp itself lower down the mountain.

Geological Origins of Mount Everest

The present-day Himalayas were once at the seafloor of an ancient ocean.

The Ancient Seafloor Origins

Long ago, around 80 million years ago, when dinosaurs were still afoot and abed, the Indian landmass separated from the supercontinent of Pangaea. It started to move quickly – around 4 inches a year – towards Asia. In between these two large continental plates was a huge sea area termed the Tethys Sea.

Then, some 50 million years ago, this sea completely vanished when the Indian plate collided with the Eurasian plate. All the pressure put on by this collision created folds in the seafloor and pushed up towards the sky, forming the (currently) Himalayan mountain range.

Today, evidence of this dramatic prehistoric collision can still be found near the summit of Mount Everest, where fossils of marine organisms are embedded in the gray limestone. Below this limestone sits the Yellow Band, a distinct layer of metamorphosed limestone or marble. The lower foundation of the Everest pyramid consists of black metamorphic schist and pale-colored granite.

Tectonic Collision and Uplift

The tectonic process that birthed the Himalayas is far from over. The Indian Plate continues to subduct under the Eurasian Plate at a rate of a few centimeters annually, causing Everest to grow by a few millimeters each year.

This constant geological friction is also responsible for the devastating earthquakes that periodically strike the region, such as the catastrophic 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal in April 2015.

Ongoing Geological Activity

• Young Mountains: Geologically speaking, the Himalayas are young and active.
• Continuous Growth: The Indian Plate keeps pushing northward, raising Mount Everest by a few millimeters every year.
• Erosion Balance: Wind, snow, and glaciers constantly wear down the mountain, creating a dynamic balance between tectonic uplift and weathering.

The First Inhabitants: Sherpa Culture and the Beyul

The region up until five hundred years ago around the high, rugged valleys of Everest was sparsely populated. As a result of east-bound migrations from Kham province of Tibet since the fifteenth or sixteenth century, the area has been populated. The area is populated because people traveled from eastern Tibet, the Kham province and crossed over the Nangpa La pass. These immigrants came to be called Sherpas, which means, in Tibetan, literally “people of the east.

• Meaningful name: “Sherpa” is derived from the Tibetan: shar (east) and pa (people).
• The Journey: Ancestors marched difficult paths in the Himalayas, such as the Nangpa La in Kham, Tibet.
• Settlement: They settled in villages between the elevation of 2,500 to 4,000 metres in Nepal.

The Sherpas settled here, mainly in the Khumbu region (a region of mountains, stretching southwards from the mountains of Mount Everest to where the Bhote Koshi and Dudh Koshi rivers meet) and also in the lower, more fertile Solu region. Under the Sherpa belief, the Khumbu was viewed as a beyul, a sacred hidden valley in the area of refuge given by the founding guru of Buddhism, Guru Rinpoche, who had introduced the tantric teaching to Tibet.

Sherpa and Their Story at Everest Base Camp

The Sherpas who lived in the area were once hunter-gatherers, the archers foraging for bamboo shoots and wild mushrooms and taking cover in caves and basic huts. Eventually they built a traditional economy upon the cultivation of barley, bitter buckwheat and potatoes on the terraced mountainsides. They also learned to be skilled at herding yaks. The long-haired ox, known as a yak and with harsh-cutting hooves, supplied the Sherpas with milk, butter, meat, but also wool, leather and fertilizer, which are all excellent properties for yaks. Moreover the Sherpas relied on yaks for cross-border trade between Tibet and India, walking them across high passes.

Sherpa People and Their Belief towards Tibetan Buddhism

Traditional Sherpa life is permeated by Tibetan Buddhism. The stones are covered with physical manifestations of their faith in the form of strings of brightly coloured prayer flags designed to release spiritual energy by means of the wind; stone chortens with sacred relics; and long mani walls, which are skillfully composed from flat stones etched with the Sanskrit mantra Om mani padme hum.

Sherpas and Their Home: Mount Everest and Everest Region

The Sherpa consider Everest the Goddess Mother of the world, Chomolungma. The peak is considered sacred land where deities and spirits reside, and climbing gear is included in puja to appease the gods and to bless the area before climbing the high elevations of the peak.

The Discovery and Naming of Peak XV

Before the mid-nineteenth century, no one in the West knew of the existence of Mount Everest. The British’s Great Trigonometrical Survey came into being in 1802 to measure the height of places in India. Work was tedious, teams carried landmark instruments through jungle ravaged by malaria, tigers and scorpions, carrying thousands of pounds. Directed by William Lambton and George Everest, the survey systematically mapped the subcontinent up to the Himalayas.

In 1847, it was Surveyor General Andrew Waugh who saw a distant peak which he believed was the world’s highest. Nepal left British folks out, so they used an observation tower in Northern India, as far as 108 miles from Nepal, for survey.

The raw data was transmitted to Calcutta, where the human mathematicians called ‘computers’ computed complicated trigonometric equations. In 1852, Bengali computer Radhanath Sikhdar notified Waugh that Peak XV would be the planet’s highest spot. The Earth’s curvature, the deflection of plumb-line and atmospheric refraction have been taken into account in order to calculate the height of Sikhdar at around 29,002 feet.

In 1865, Scott Waugh suggested that the mountain be named after the previous person in charge. Sir George Everest raised his objection by the following arguments: First, writing the name in Hindi was impossible, second, the newly launched official policy of retaining the autognome names in the new language is not applicable and third, there are existing local names such as Tibetan ‘Chomolungma’ and the Nepali ‘Deva-Dhunga’. However, Waugh’s suggestion won out and the Royal Geographical Society officially changed the Mount’s name to ‘Mount Everest’ in 1865.

The Era of Isolation and the Northern Approach

For centuries, Nepal kept its borders closed to almost all outside travelers. When British mountaineers turned their attention to Everest in the early 1920s, the only door open was Tibet.

• 1921 British Expedition (A new route was discovered): Led by Howard-Bury, this team first mapped the Rongbuk Valley and discovered the route up the North Col (7,020 m).
• 1922 Oxygen & Tragedy while using Bottled oxygen: Climbers broke the 8,000-meter barrier using bottled oxygen, but an avalanche claimed seven Sherpa lives, the first recorded deaths on the mountain.
• 1924 Mallory & Irvine: A final push from the Northeast part: George Mallory and Sandy Irvine made a final push up the Northeast Ridge on June 8, 1924, vanishing into the clouds and leaving a legacy that defined early high-altitude mountaineering.

None of this made Everest a trekking destination yet. The high passes these expeditions crossed had already carried Tibetan and Sherpa traders for generations before climbers arrived.

Nepal Opens Its Doors and the Southern Route Is Born

In 1950, a major geopolitical shift transformed Himalayan exploration when Nepal ended its centuries-long isolation and opened its borders to the world. Concurrently, China closed access to Tibet, forcing mountaineers to abandon the northern approach and pioneer the modern southern route via the Khumbu Icefall.

Scouting the New Frontier (1950–1951)

• 1950 Reconnaissance: Charles Houston and Bill Tilman led a small Anglo-American expedition, becoming the first Westerners to approach Everest from the south and confirming a viable route existed.
• 1951 Shipton Expedition: Eric Shipton led a British team that successfully navigated the treacherous Khumbu Icefall, proving that climbers could reach the Western Cwm and the South Col.

The Near-Miss and the Breakthrough (1952–1953)

• 1952 Swiss Expeditions: Raymond Lambert and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay forged a path up the Southeast Ridge, reaching an astonishing 8,595 meters before extreme exhaustion and lack of water forced them back.
• 1953 British Triumph: Drawing heavily on the Swiss route and logistical lessons, a British expedition led by John Hunt culminated in Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay achieving the first successful summit on May 29, 1953.

The Triumphant 1953 Ascent of Mount Everest From EBC

Relieved by the Swiss failure, the British mobilized a massive, military-style expedition in the spring of 1953. Led by John Hunt, an army officer with superb organizational skills, the team included fourteen Western climbers, twenty Sherpa guides, and 350 porters who hauled ten tons of food and equipment to the base of the Khumbu Icefall.

On May 26, Charles Evans and Tom Bourdillon launched the first summit assault, reaching the South Summit at 28,750 feet before malfunctioning oxygen sets and exhaustion forced them down. Three days later, on May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay set out from a camp at 27,900 feet. After crossing the South Summit, they negotiated the perilous Cornice Traverse and confronted a formidable forty-foot vertical barrier of smooth rock and ice. Hillary wedged himself into a narrow crack and painstakingly inched his way up using his crampons. This feature was forever after known as the Hillary Step.

At 11:30 A.M., Hillary and Tenzing stepped onto the summit of Mount Everest, 101 years after the mountain was first identified as the highest on Earth. The news of their success reached London on June 2, coinciding precisely with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The ascent sparked a global sensation; Hillary was knighted by the Queen, and Tenzing was revered as a national hero in Nepal and India.

History of the Everest Base Camp Route: What Trekking From Jiri Actually Involved

The 1953 team reached the mountain without airstrips or roads. They walked from Jiri, a market town east of Kathmandu and the absolute limit for vehicle travel. This journey entirely on foot, later known as the Pioneers’ Route, remained the only way in for the next decade.

Walking from Jiri was the defining feature of early Everest travel. Jiri sat roughly a week’s walk from Lukla, the start of today’s Everest Base Camp trek. Reaching the mountain meant adding a week on each end, completely without tourist teahouses.

Early travelers relied on camping instead of lodges, requiring tents, cooking equipment, and a full kitchen staff. The path repeatedly climbed and dropped over forested ridgelines before reaching the high country around Namche Bazaar, utilizing rope-and-plank bridges for river crossings rather than modern steel suspension bridges.

Explore Vision Nepal is a rising trekking agency recognizing the historical significance of these early routes. A few Nepal-based operators still run a Jiri to Everest Base Camp itinerary for trekkers seeking an experience closer to the 1953 team’s journey. This stretches the standard 12 to 16 day trip to nearly three weeks, offering a slower, quieter approach through hill country unseen by most modern trekkers.

Jimmy Roberts and the Birth of Commercial Trekking

The person most responsible for turning Everest travel into an actual industry was not a climber at all, at least not primarily. Lieutenant Colonel James Owen Merion Roberts was a retired, decorated British Army officer who had spent years commanding Gurkha regiments and serving as Military Attaché at the British Embassy in Kathmandu from 1958 onward. He had also walked extensively through Nepal’s hills, including an early trek alongside the mountaineer Bill Tilman.

By 1961, Nepal’s government had formed a Tourism Development Committee, signaling that it saw commercial potential in visitors beyond expedition climbers. Roberts moved first. In 1964, he founded Mountain Travel, Nepal’s, and Asia’s, first commercial trekking company. His first clients arrived in early spring 1965: three American women living in Calcutta, whom Roberts later described as a sporting trio of enthusiasts. They followed the Jiri route to Everest Base Camp, the same walk-in the 1953 expedition had used.

Roberts’s model was simple but became the template the entire industry still runs on: a Western trip leader paired with a Sherpa sirdar, or foreman, who managed a team of cooks and porters, running the trip as a fully supported camping expedition. Mountain Travel remained the only trekking company in Nepal until 1968. Roberts is still known across the industry as the father of trekking in Nepal.

Why Did the Everest Base Camp Route Change After 1964?

In 1964, the entire route to the Everest Base Camp was changed, but why?

The biggest event that transformed the Everest Base Camp route more than any other happened in 1964, when Sir Edmund Hillary began building an airstrip at Lukla, which is important to learn while talking about the history of the Everest Base Camp route.  His idea for a swift delivery to local schools and a hospital was not an activity of trekking tourism, but instead was part of his mission in the Himalayas through his Himalayan Trust.

Because farmers refused to give up productive, good flat land, the strip was built on a sloped/inclined site. Hillary and local Sherpas leveled the mountainside, all by bare hands. The airstrip remained grass for years, welcoming its first plane in September 1971 and remaining unpaved until 2001. It is called Tenzing-Hillary Airport since 2008.

The Beginning of Everest Base Camp after Lukla Airport

This airstrip made the route totally different. The two-week trek from Kathmandu may now begin in under an hour on a single-hop flight. Lukla has a 527-meter-long runway, a climb of almost 12 percent, and is completely surrounded by mountains, making it still one of the world’s most difficult airports. However, in a couple of years, Lukla airport was not an alternative to the old path any longer, it was the path to Everest region.

Route Comparison Table Classic Approach via Modern Standard EBC Trail

The classic approach via Jiri (the old pioneering trail) and the fly-in approach via Lukla (the modern standard trail) offer fundamentally different experiences in length, scenery, and physiological impact.

The old trail crosses several major foothills before eventually joining the new trail at Chheplung, just below Lukla village, From that junction forward, both routes follow the exact same path up through Namche Bazaar to Base Camp.

From Rope Bridges to Steel, Camp to Modern Building: How the Trail of Everest Itself Evolved

Everything downstream of the Lukla airstrip changed how the trail itself looked and functioned. Some of the clearest shifts after that were:

• Accommodation: Early travelers camped; for this trek, there are several family-owned teahouses and lodges, some of which now feature WiFi, deluxe room with hot showers, along with baking ovens.
• Bridges: Early Sherpas constructed the bridges with wood and rope; these have now been replaced by steel cable suspension bridges across the Dudh Koshi and its tributaries.
• Protection Status: Sagarmatha National Park was established on July 19, 1976, and now covers 1,148 square kilometers of the corridor the trek passes through.
• Recognition: In 1979, the park was recognized as Nepal’s first World Heritage Site for both its natural aspects and its Sherpa culture.
• Regulation: Since 2002, a formal buffer zone and a permit system restrict the number of visitors and subsequent construction along the route.

That conservation push did not come from nowhere. As commercial trekking grew through the 1960s and 1970s, so did mountaineering: Jim Whitaker became the first American to summit Everest in 1963, and by 1978, trekkers, not merely climbers, were showing up at Base Camp itself.

If you are planning an itinerary, do you want to explore the overland jeep alternative via Salleri/Surke, which cuts out the Lukla flight without the full 24-day walk, or would you like to review the acclimatization schedule for the standard Lukla flight? We at Explore Vision Nepal can plan your customized trekking with the historic route to Everest Base Camp.

Modern Commercialization and Mountain Traffic

Everything changed when David Breashears led Dick Bass, a wealthy, inexperienced Texan businessman, to the top of Everest in April 30, 1985, at the age of 55. It demonstrated that financially unprivileged people were able to climb the very top of the mountain on Earth with the help of a guide.

In the early ’90s, high-elevation leading was a profitable business. People such as Rob Hall of Adventure Consultants and Scott Fischer of Mountain Madness started companies to bring paying customers to the top. In 1996, Hall charged clients $65,000. Per capita, the fee in Nepal was raised to $70,000 for a team of seven climbers, but the high demand resulted in the mountain being as crowded as it could be the following spring, with 30 different teams.

This quick commercialization ultimately led to the infamous disaster in May of 1996 in which dozens of climbers got caught in the Death Zone of a storm. The spring season’s death toll went up, with Hall, Fisher, and a few clients and guides being lost in the crossing.

Ironically, the tragedy actually sparked an increased commercial interest in Everest. In 2000, 145 people reached the summit; by 2010, that number swelled to 536. Two hundred climbers and two hundred guides tried to reach the summit at the same time on May 18, 2012, thus making it deadly traffic on the fixed rope, with four people’s deaths on that rope.

The threat of the Khumbu Icefall was exposed on April 18, 2014, when a large serac broke. The deadliest single incident occurred on the mountain, killing sixteen Sherpas who were carrying supplies. The tragedy raised awareness of the disproportionate dangers faced by Sherpa workers and thus sparked strikes, as closure of the climbing season for the year.

The Cultural Landscape: Respecting the Trail

One of the most important aspects of a trek that is on here is the interaction with the locals. There are certain cultural guidelines that should be adhered to for tourism to be positive.

• Religious Monuments – Pass on the left of prayer walls (mani walls), chortens, and other Buddhist symbols.
• Rotate your prayer wheels clockwise for the sake of bringing good will. When entering a sacred place such as the Tengboche Monastery, take off your shoes on entering the monastery and dress suitably, without touching religious objects.
• Be aware of the sacredness of the hearth of a Nepalese house if anyone invites you in. Do not toss items into a fire, or sit near the fire, unless invited to do so.
• When taking pictures of locals, be sensitive and always ask permission, for Greetings: Be discreet and ask permission for photography. ‘Namaste’, meaning “I salute the God within you” should be uttered with palms pressed together, and done so with a sincere smile.

So, has Everest Base Camp Actually Moved?

This is a recurring question: Has Everest Base Camp moved from its place? The truthful answer is in several parts.

Firstly, there have been two “base camps,” actually, since Everest is on the border between Nepal and Tibet. The Everest North Base Camp in Tibet (5150m) was established by Sir Harry Ingram’s British expeditions into the Himalayas in the 1920s, and is a completely different location from the South Base Camp in Nepal (5364m), which has been developed since 1953 and is fully accessible now to trekkers.

Secondly, the South Base Camp is not built on a solid foundation. It is located on the Khumbu glacier, which flows downhill gradually. This means this location (the marker stone and the trekkers’ photograph) is just slightly different each year.

The more pertinent question is ‘whether Nepal formally moves the site’?

The tourism department has been researching shifting Everest South Base Camp 200 meters to 400 meters down from 2022 as crevasses are opening up on the glaciers due to the melting ice, and people coming in the peak months of the year put more pressure on waste management. There is huge opposition against this proposal.

Almost 95 percent of those at one consultation were against the move because it would mean climbers had to cross the Khumbu Icefall at first light when avalanches are more likely to occur during the day. There’s no final decision to date; anyone suggesting that Base Camp is gone is “talking out of turn,” as they say.

Walking the Historic Route of EBC Today

The modern Everest Base Camp trek typically starts as it has since the early 1970s: a flight to Lukla followed by a 10 to 14-day, 130-kilometer round-trip walk. The standard route is a meticulously structured progression through diverse climatic zones.

• Lukla to Phakding: The trek descends gently from the Lukla airstrip (2,860 meters) toward the Dudh Koshi River, passing farming communities and pine forests to reach Phakding (2,640 meters).
• Phakding to Namche Bazaar: Crossing the river on several high steel suspension bridges, trekkers enter Sagarmatha National Park at Monjo. Passing Jorsalle village, a steep 2,000-foot ascent leads to Namche Bazaar (3,440 meters), the vibrant Khumbu capital, for a two-night acclimatization stay.
• Namche Bazaar to Tengboche: The trail traverses high above the river, offering breathtaking views of Everest, Lhotse, and Ama Dablam. After dropping to Phunki Tenga, a grueling climb through rhododendron forests reaches the famous monastery at Tengboche (3,860 meters).
• Tengboche to Dingboche: Dropping to the Imja Khola (River), the path climbs steadily above the tree line through Pangboche, ending in Dingboche (4,410 meters) for another acclimatization day.
• Dingboche to Lobuche: Ascending into the alpine desert, trekkers cross Thukla Pass, marked by stone chortens honoring fallen Everest climbers. The trail follows a lateral moraine to Lobuche (4,910 meters).
• Lobuche to Gorakshep and Everest Base Camp: The final push navigates the rocky Khumbu Glacier to Gorakshep (5,180 meters), where a rough path leads to Everest Base Camp (5,364 meters).
• Kala Patthar: Because the Nuptse ridge obscures Everest from Base Camp, trekkers must climb nearby Kala Patthar (5,645 meters) for the classic, unobstructed summit view.

Why History of the Everest Base Camp Route Still Matters for Today’s Trekkers

This history is not background trivia, it fundamentally changes how you experience, look, and trek. Knowing Namche Bazaar was a historic trade hub explains why it remains a working market rather than a purely tourist stop.
If one realizes that Namche Bazaar is a historic trading center, it becomes easy to understand why it is still in business rather than a purely tourist hub to explore.

Understanding the Lukla airport was built for local schools and a hospital further reframes why flights demand real caution and frequent weather delays. Additionally, the regulations shaping every modern itinerary trace directly back to the 1976 park declaration.

For anyone planning this journey, this history is essential to understand. The relocation of Everest Base Camp is still an evolving story, not a settled decision, and the broader Everest route remains a living chapter rather than a closed one.

Let Explore Vision Nepal (EVN) help you connect this rich history to your own trekking experience and adventure. Discover how the classic Everest Base Camp route has evolved from the original approach into today’s standard route, beginning with a short flight to Lukla. Our experienced guides will lead you through authentic Sherpa villages, home to the people who have shaped this region for generations, offering a practical itinerary rooted in history you may never have expected. Along the way, witness the breathtaking natural vistas of the Everest Khumbu region.

Connect with Explore Vision Nepal, Nepal’s best and leading local trekking company, to plan your next adventure to Everest Base Camp — and explore the many incredible routes the Everest region has to offer.