Everest's summit
In front of you.
Vyacheslav Argenberg — CC BY 4.0 · Vyacheslav Argenberg — CC BY 4.0 · Gerd Eichmann — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Goutam1962 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gerd Eichmann — CC BY-SA 4.0
Kala Patthar is a dark rocky rise in the Himalaya that looks straight at Everest. A brown slope of stones climbs above the flat of Gorak Shep, white Pumori rises behind it, Everest and Nuptse stand in front with the Khumbu Glacier below, and prayer flags flutter on the rocks. Its Nepali name means «black rock». It is not a true mountain, with a prominence of only about 10 m on Pumori's south ridge, but it gives the most accessible close view of Everest's summit, which Nuptse hides from most of the area. From it you see Everest, Nuptse and Changtse, with glimpses of Lhotse. It is the highest point most visitors reach without a climbing permit. You start the climb from Gorak Shep at 5,163 m, cross an old lake bed, then zigzag steeply to the top. Most people climb at dawn or before sunset to see the light on Everest. The rise is about 22 km in a straight line northeast of Namche Bazaar, on the Everest trek. The air is very thin and the cold intense, so go slowly, and do not climb if you feel symptoms of altitude sickness.
In front of you.
Behind the rise.
The glacier.
Above Gorak Shep, south ridge of Pumori, Sagarmatha National Park
At dawn or before sunset.
No, the park permit is enough.