Kala Patthar () is a notable landmark located on the south ridge of
Pumori in the Nepali
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
above
Gorakshep. Although not a proper
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
, with a
prominence of only , the ascent of Kala Patthar is very popular with trekkers in the region of
Mount Everest
Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...
since it provides the most accessible closeup view of Everest. Due to the structure of the Everest
Massif
A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...
, its high summit is blocked by
Nuptse from much of the surrounding region.
The views of Everest, Nuptse and
Changtse are spectacular from Kala Patthar and there are glimpses of the northern flank and summit of
Lhotse
Lhotse ( ; ; ) is the List of highest mountains#List, fourth-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. At an elevation of above sea level, the main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of Chin ...
. The world's highest webcam,
Mount Everest webcam, was located here. Kala Patthar is considered the highest altitude most will reach without a climbing permit, which must be obtained in Kathmandu, at the Nepal Mountaineering Association.
Description
The ascent of Kala Patthar begins at
Gorakshep (), the original base camp for Mt. Everest. After a brief dip to an ancient lake bed (which now contains a small lake and a helipad), the ascent makes its way up a series of steep switchbacks before levelling off somewhat as it traverses to the eastern side of the mountain. The trail then becomes steep once again until it reaches the wind-swept summit ridge. From there, a five to ten minute
scramble over boulders takes one to the top, which is marked with
prayer flag
A Tibetan prayer flag is a colorful rectangular cloth, often found strung along trails and peaks high in the Himalayas. They are used to bless the surrounding countryside and for other purposes.
Prayer flags are believed to have originated with ...
s. There is also a geocaching trackable named Kala Pattar Yeti attached near the summit. Its trackable code is GS9EBG. The full ascent usually takes between 1.5 and 2 hours. If the attempt is made starting from
Lobuche, an additional two to three hours (one way) is required.

The elevation is commonly listed as . One source lists the height as 5,600 meters/18,373 feet. Portland State University Assistant Professor Dr. Luis A. Ruedas took a Garmin eMap GPS unit to the summit on 6 December 2006. These units can average a series of individual satellite readings, making them more accurate than single-reading machines. Averaging 48 readings at 0625h Nepal local time, temperature −20 °C, the GPS recorded the location of the summit as 27°59.750'N, 86°49.705'E (datum: WGS84), and elevation as . Even accounting for the fact that the summit may have approximately one meter of stones added as a celebratory cairn, this is a significant discrepancy with previously recorded elevations. The same unit was consistent concerning previously recorded elevations for Gorak Shep and Everest Base Camp. In October 2008, a GPS with WAAS recorded the summit at 27°59.751'N, 86°49.705'E (datum: WGS84) with an elevation of , confirming the 2006 data.
It is possible that since Kala Patthar is merely a minor summit on a ridge leading to
Pumori, different people may have measured different summits. There is a minor summit along this ridge near 27°59.51'N, 86°49.62'E with an elevation of approximately . The summit traditionally referred to as Kala Patthar is, however, completely festooned with prayer flags, making it quite readily recognizable. It is that summit that was recorded as . It is quite clear that the point trekkers climb to is a local maxima on the Pumori ridge, not the summit of Kala Patthar proper. This point is clearly higher than the summit of Kala Patthar, but the name has remained in popular use.
Climate change
In December 2009,
Madhav Kumar Nepal and the Nepali Cabinet held a short cabinet meeting at the base of Kala Patthar as a response to
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Mountains of Koshi Province
Five-thousanders of the Himalayas