Why such a long trip?

I had a friend ask me about the length of the trip, surprised that it is so long. Here's some background info:

The vast majority of that is acclimatization, ascending slowly so your body gets used to it. It will be mid-May before they even do a summit attempt. Weather windows come into play around that time, so there's a lot of wiggle room, but until then it is all about getting your body ready. He went a week ahead of his team because he wants extra time for that. So he's the first one there. He's in Kathmandu (5,000 ft, similar to Denver) until Saturday. He is in quarantine until he gets a negative covid test, which is scheduled for tomorrow. He also has the lead Sherpa coming over tomorrow to go through all his gear in case he needs to buy anything else in Kathmandu. The expedition leader (an American) arrives on Friday, so Peter will see him, and then Peter will fly to Lukla (9,000 feet, like Breckenridge or other CO mountain towns) on Saturday. From there it is a two-day trek (there are no roads in or out of Lukla) to Namche Bazaar (11,000 feet, there are no US towns at this elevation) where he'll spend some time. That is actually a town (we've been there before when we trekked in this region). He can either wait for his team to catch up to him there, or start the final trek to base camp which is another 6 days walking beyond Namche Bazaar.