The short answer is “not really” Can,t Possible stay overnight EBC. To be specific though, I’m referring to Base Camp from the Nepali south approach and not the Tibetan/China north approach. These are two distinct camps. I’ll be talking about my experience from the Nepal side (which I think is the more common approach).

Anyone can hike into the general vicinity of Base Camp. However, for climbers who plan on making a summit attempt they try to keep you separated from the general population of other climbers, who aren’t attempting the summit, so that you don’t accidentally catch an illness, which is then spread to the rest of the climbers making a summit bid. So it’s almost like they quarantine those attempting to summit Everest by keeping Base Camp setup in it’s own little area that’s a few hundred meters away from where most climbers stop to take a picture at the official Base Camp sign.

These pictures should help demonstrate.

This is a shot of Khumbu Glacier (the stretch of rock covered ice in the middle of the picture). It’s a huge glacier field that marks the path towards Everest Base Camp. We were at about 16,500 feet here. Notice my climbing crew in the lower left hand corner of the picture. Off in the distance is Base Camp. The perspective is skewed though. It looks close but we still had about 4 more hours of trekking to go before we got to Base Camp. It was slow going at that altitude

No, there will be more on that. I can and will write dozens more posts on the trek, the route, the towns and villages and most importantly, how to arrange your own trek. Don’t go with a tour group, that’s our most important tip.

Today’s post is just about the difficulties and hardships of trekking to Everest Base Camp. They are worth it a million times over but I need to get them down before they evaporate from my mind forever, as they will. I will remember these 3 weeks as a fantastic experience, a privilege and a challenge enjoyed by few. It was stunning up there.

We trekked to Everest Base Camp without a guide or porter, we don’t think they’re necessary after trekking in Nepal a few times, but you may prefer to take one.