go high

In the land made famous by Mount Everest, luxurious lodges and new trekking routes are elevating the visitor experience and safeguarding an ancient culture.

- Gisela Williams

On A CRISP MORNING in October, I flew, with some trepidation, on a small commercial plane from the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, to the town of Lukla, often described as the gateway to Mount Everest. Lukla's Tenzing Hillary Airport is the first thing that comes up when you type "world's most dangerous airport" into Google, mostly thanks to its incredibly short, L-shaped runway. But by the time we began our descent into Lukla, which sits at an altitude of 9,350 feet, I was so spellbound by my first sighting of the Himalayas that I barely noticed the landing.

It was a fitting introduction to a trip designed to highlight Nepal's extraordinary mountain landscapes, the forces that threaten their future, and the people looking for new ways to protect them. My journey was to begin with an eight-day trek along a new circuit of the Everest Base Camp Trail, sleeping in upscale lodges along the way. Then I would fly west to stay at the highly anticipated— and extremely remote-new Shinta Mani Mustang, a hotel designed by Bill Bensley, one of the biggest names in Asian hotel design.

Soon after we disembarked, our group-about a dozen intrepid middle-aged international travelers strolled down Lukla's main avenue. Thousands of colorful prayer flags were strung up overhead, and every storefront seemed to be a café or a shop selling gear and souvenirs. We made a quick stop at Lukla Lodge, a small hotel with mint-green shutters. As we sipped milky, cardamom-infused masala tea on the terrace, Namgyal Sherpa, the host for our trip, gave us an overview of the places we'd be staying. Namgyal and his family own Mountain Lodges of Nepal, a collection of more than a dozen small hotels, including the one in which we were sitting. "This lodge was the first one my father built, twenty-four years ago," Namgyal said. (The family's operations extend to Nepalese tour operators, expedition companies, and even regional air transportation.)