Seeing Mount Everest in person does not take a permit, a Sherpa, or a summit attempt. Almost everyone who stands in front of the highest mountain on Earth does it on foot, on the Everest Base Camp trek in Nepal, in the clear weather windows of spring and autumn. This is a guide to the mountain itself, the climbing route drawn on the back of our Everest design, and the realistic ways to go and see it.
Where is Everest, and how high is it?
Everest stands 8,849 metres above sea level on the border between Nepal and Tibet, in the Mahalangur section of the Himalaya. The most recent figure, 8,848.86 metres, comes from a joint China and Nepal survey published in 2020 (Britannica). It is the highest point on the planet, though not the farthest from the centre of the Earth. That title goes to Chimborazo in Ecuador, which sits on the equatorial bulge, a detail worth keeping in your back pocket.
The mountain has three names worth knowing. Everest, after the British surveyor George Everest, who never saw it. Sagarmatha in Nepali. And Chomolungma on the Tibetan side, usually translated as "goddess mother of the world." The people who live closest to it have called it that for a long time.
The South Col route: the line on the design
The design on the back of the Everest hoodie and tee is not a stylised mountain. It is a real climbing route, the South Col, traced as a single red line from the glacier to the summit.
The route starts above Base Camp and climbs through the Khumbu Icefall, a shifting maze of ice blocks that is one of the most dangerous parts of the whole mountain. From there it runs up the Western Cwm, a high valley of deep snow, onto the steep Lhotse Face, and across to the South Col itself, a bleak saddle near 7,900 metres. The final push goes up the southeast ridge, over the South Summit and the famous Hillary Step, to the top. It is the line Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay followed on the first ascent, and the one most climbers still take today. We drew it carefully because a route like that deserves to be drawn carefully or not at all.
The first ascent: 29 May 1953
Everest was first climbed on 29 May 1953 by Edmund Hillary, a beekeeper from New Zealand, and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa who had already been high on the mountain on earlier attempts. They were part of a large British expedition led by John Hunt, and they reached the summit at around 11:30 in the morning, stayed about fifteen minutes, and started down. Hillary took the only photograph, of Tenzing on the top. There is no picture of Hillary up there, because, as he put it, Tenzing was not a photographer and the summit was no place for a lesson.
The news reached London on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, which is part of why it became as famous as it did. Seventy years on, the South Col is busier and better equipped, but the line itself has not changed.
The Everest Base Camp trek: how most people actually see Everest
You do not have to climb Everest to stand beneath it. The Everest Base Camp trek is one of the most popular long walks in the world, and it is how the vast majority of people see the mountain up close.
Photo by Prabin Sunar
It begins with a short, memorable flight from Kathmandu to Lukla, a tiny airstrip cut into the hillside at 2,860 metres. From there the trail follows the Dudh Koshi river up to Namche Bazaar, the Sherpa trading town at around 3,440 metres, then on past the monastery at Tengboche and the villages of Dingboche and Lobuche to Gorak Shep, the last settlement before Base Camp.
Base Camp sits at 5,364 metres on the Khumbu Glacier. In spring it is a small city of tents; in autumn it is quieter. For the best view of Everest itself you climb the small peak of Kala Patthar, 5,545 metres, early in the morning, because from Base Camp the summit is actually hidden behind the closer wall of Nuptse. The whole trip usually takes twelve to fourteen days, most of which is about walking slowly and letting your body catch up with the altitude.
When to go
There are two reliable windows, and one of them lines up with why the mountain is busiest.
| Season | Months | Conditions | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring (pre-monsoon) | March to May | Warming, longer days | The main climbing season; Base Camp is full |
| Monsoon | June to August | Cloud, rain, leeches lower down | Views often closed in; flights disrupted |
| Autumn (post-monsoon) | Late September to November | Cold, clear, stable | Usually the sharpest skies of the year |
| Winter | December to February | Very cold, quiet | Doable lower down, harsh up high |
What to wear, and where the design fits
On the trail itself the rule is layers: a merino base, a warm mid layer, an insulated jacket for the cold mornings, and a waterproof shell for when the weather turns. Most of the walking happens between roughly 2,800 and 5,500 metres, where the temperature can swing thirty degrees in a day.
Our Everest pieces are not technical climbing kit, and we would never pretend otherwise. The heavyweight Cotton Heritage hoodie is a brushed-cotton, fleece-lined layer for the cold evenings in a teahouse, the flight home, and the ordinary days afterwards when you still want the mountain on your back. The garment-dyed tee is the soft, worn-in piece you live in around all of it. Both carry the South Col route large across the back and nothing on the front but our mark.
If Everest pulls you in, so will these
Everest gets the fame, but it is not the hardest of the great peaks, or the most photogenic. If the South Col route does something to you, read about K2, the mountain climbers respect even more than Everest, and the Matterhorn, the one peak you can draw with a single line. All three are part of the AukCliff collection.
Frequently asked questions
Can you see Everest without climbing it?
Yes. Almost everyone who sees Everest in person does so on foot, on the Everest Base Camp trek in Nepal, or from viewpoints like Kala Patthar (5,545 m). No climbing experience or summit permit is needed for the trek itself.
How long is the Everest Base Camp trek?
Most itineraries run 12 to 14 days round trip from Lukla, including acclimatisation days. The walking is long rather than technical, but the altitude makes it serious.
When is the best time to trek to Everest Base Camp?
Spring (March to May) and autumn (late September to November) are the two clear windows. Spring is warmer with more climbers on the mountain; autumn usually has the most stable skies.
How high is Mount Everest?
8,849 metres above sea level (8,848.86 m by the 2020 China and Nepal joint survey), the highest point on Earth, on the Nepal and Tibet border.
What is the South Col route?
The South Col is the standard climbing route up Everest from Nepal: through the Khumbu Icefall, up the Western Cwm and Lhotse Face to the South Col near 7,900 m, then along the southeast ridge to the summit. It is the line Hillary and Tenzing used in 1953 and the one the AukCliff Everest design traces.
Last updated: 12 June 2026
Written by Stephen Milner, founder of AukCliff
