This week’s travel dream: A hiker’s tour of Mount Everest’s neighborhood

Hiking Mount Everest is easier to do than ever, said John Flinn in the San Francisco Chronicle. Twenty-two years after I first trekked among the peaks that surround the world’s tallest mountain, I returned recently and discovered that most everything except the strain on my now-creaky knees was less demanding—“more comfortable, safer, cheaper, too”—putting this “iconic, bucket-list adventure well within reach of the discount-at-Denny’s crowd.” Sure, the flight from Kathmandu into the Himalayan village of Lukla will always be somewhat dangerous, and bad weather can sometimes keep departure flights grounded for days. But Sherpa guides are now plentiful, scattered lodges stand where climbers previously pitched tents, and most arrangements can be made online instead of through months of back-and-forth letters.

My friend and I couldn’t have covered as much ground as we did without the Sherpa who was waiting for us when we landed in Kathmandu. Nurbu, who spoke seven languages, also proved to be “a demon card player” and an adept at shooing away the shaggy yaks known for head-butting unlucky hikers off the trails. At 9,500 feet, we got our first glimpse of Everest, “its snow-tipped summit piercing the sky.” The peak would remain in view for days, but we decided not to even make the climb to Everest’s Base Camp because the scenery was more astonishing along other routes.

Long days on the trails ended in simple lodges warmed by yak-dung-burning stoves. After Lukla, a still-primitive village where I was surprised to see a faux Starbucks doing a brisk business in caramel macchiatos, we ate mostly rice and lentils to keep up our energy. Hikers younger than 56 might have racked up more highlights, but I’ll die glad to have made the acquaintance of a mountain named Ama Dablam. At only 22,350 feet, it’s “a pipsqueak in this neighborhood,” but its “savagely elegant shape” makes it one of the world’s most beautiful peaks. “We viewed it from different angles on the trek, and it was inevitably stunning, like a Christmas tree with no bad side.”

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Adventure Magic Treks (adventurehikenepal.com) offers a guided 12-day trek to Everest Base Camp as part of a $1,150 package that includes airfare from Kathmandu.