Walk Kunde and the Hillary hospital

Khumjung and Kunde lie side by side on the same shelf, separated by fields and a line of chortens. The path between them is almost level, rare in Khumbu, and walking it in the afternoon light, with Khumbila above and yaks grazing the stubble, is one of the calmest hours of any trek. Kunde is smaller, with its own gompa and a cluster of stone houses at the foot of the hill.

At the western edge stands Kunde Hospital, founded in 1966 by the Himalayan Trust as the first proper hospital in Khumbu. For decades Sherpa families had relied on lamas, local healers or a week's walk to reach a doctor. The hospital, staffed for many years by volunteer doctors from New Zealand and Canada and now led by Nepali doctors, treats villagers, porters and trekkers, from childbirth and injuries to altitude illness.

You can walk past and look; the hospital is a working clinic, so we do not go in without reason. If you are unwell, though, this is where you come. On the way back, stop at a Kunde house for tea. Ask your guide which families are known for their butter tea, and why the old houses keep the animals downstairs.