Everest Base Camp
Trip Start
Nov 23, 2005
1
91
133
Trip End
Feb 27, 2007
Everest Base Camp,
China
Friday, July 21, 2006
We were all up by the ugly hour of 6am and on the road by 6:30. The road closes and does not let any more traffic through after 7am so they can do construction. It seems to be the theme of China, construction is everywhere. We had a long days drive ahead of us. We would be going to Everest today, it was the only thing that kept us excited despite how early we had to get up. We would be stopping at Rongbuk monastery which is 8km down the road from Everest Base Camp. There are only a few monks residing at the monastery now.
We started into a valley. It was one of the longest valleys we have ever seen. The mountains were beautiful, some of the peaks were covered in snow. In front of the mountains were areas of bright yellow rape creating a pretty scene. We passed by nomads living in black yak hair tents. We spotted herds of goats and sheep as well as the occasional yak. The goats were really cute with their long furry coats. We stopped in a small village for something to eat. It looked like something out of a western town. We had some jasmine tea and a piece of Tibetan bread, which was more like a pancake. If you don't finish all your tea or beverage the lady just comes around and throws it out on the floor of the restaurant. In this village we had to go to some kind of official building to get our permit for entering the Everest Base Camp area.
We started to climb over a pass, the height of it was 5220 meters. The road was a series of switchbacks going up the side of the mountains.
Base Camp
The views below were stunning. We could feel that we were getting quite high in altitude. Our ears were popping a few times and our chests felt heavy. We came to a place where we stopped and had our first view of the snow capped Himalayan mountains in the distance. We all stood in silence taking in the view. It was hard to believe we were really looking at the Himalayan mountains! This area had a Tibetan family living in tents. They were trying to sell us things. There was a grandma, daughter, two older granddaughters, a young toddler, a baby and some older boys who may have been brothers. The boys were playing around and rough housing, they nearly knocked us over once. The grandma and the older granddaughters were fascinated with us. The grandma pointed to my eyes several times. Then yet another boob grabbing! It was one of the girls. I guess the people here just can't get over the fact that other females around the world are larger in this area. The group of them were trying to sell us beads, necklaces and lots of fossils with sea creatures. There are tons of fossils in this area. It is hard to believe it was supposed to have been the sea at one time. We started the descent down the other side of the pass. After many more hours of driving we finally came to a sign saying to turn left for Qomolangma. We don't recall ever seeing anything that says Mount Everest. That is an English name given to it, you will only here the locals refer to its proper Tibetan name of Mount Qomolangma. We passed through a couple of small Tibetan villages.
Base camp 2
These people live in such remote areas. It seemed like it would be an okay place for the summer, but the winters would be bitterly cold and harsh. At one point on the road the driver pointed out and said Qomolangma, we couldn't see much of the mountain, it was covered in cloud. It was exciting nonetheless to know that it was behind it though. We drove for a while longer and finally reached Rongbuk. There is a small hotel there with some modern amenities. They have a dining area and some basic rooms. We assume with water and heat, but never confirmed. They had no rooms left for the night. The couple we were traveling with were going to go stay up in the tents at the base camp. We decided it was not a good idea for us. Jack had not been feeling too well all day and we did not want to take a chance sleeping up any higher than necessary. We were going to be sleeping up 1200 meters higher than the night before as it was. Once you get above 3000 meters in height you are not supposed to sleep higher than 400 meters from your previous night. The atmospheric pressure at base camp is about half of that at sea level, so you can imagine the effects it has on your body
We only had one other option for sleeping, that was at the monastery. They had a long building with a dozen or so dorm style rooms. The beds were 40 yuan each, so we just payed 160 for all four in a room so we could have it to ourselves. This worked out to about $22 Canadian. The beds were basic skinny frames with a piece of foam on them. Nothing else was in the room.
Base camp 3
It was all cement and no heat! There are no washing facilities, day number 3 with no water! The bathrooms were in a plaster shack. They were nothing more than a building with a raised floor and a hole in it. They burnt a pile of coal inside, we are not sure if this was to keep it warm or to keep the smell down. They were disgusting, the smell was horrific and people were not even hitting the hole, feces was all over the floor! We would just find a spot to go outside and avoid them all together. On the way to this area we had another tire go partially flat. We couldn't put the spare on because shortly after we had it fixed from the last flat, it burst out it's air while it was on the back of the truck. We certainly were not having good luck with the tires on this truck. On top of this the truck seemed to be having problems starting. It was all very disappointing because instead of giving us a discount on the price of our trip the agency said we would get a "new" vehicle. This truck was far from new. So the truck had been driven over 100km with a slightly flat tire. It seemed the driver was not going to get it fixed and planned to make it back to the next town in the morning and then have the tires repaired. We all said we would refuse to get in the vehicle until it was repaired. A phone call was made by Thomas to the owner of the agency. Instead of dealing with the situation at hand of the tires, the guy was going off instead about us going to Sakya when it wasn't planned and saying we would owe more money, despite he had lied and said the road was closed.
Base camp 4
In all we had gone 50km out of our original trip plan, it was a big deal to him though. We couldn't seem to convey to him that we needed the truck to be fixed. The phone conversation ended without us knowing if anything was resolved. We would have to wait until morning to see what would happen.We had enough time left in the day to go up to the base camp. Vehicles are no longer allowed to go up to the camp. You have to either walk the 8km's or take a horse cart. At this altitude and the fact that it was freezing, we were not about to make the 16km round trip on foot. It was quite a steady uphill walk to get there as well, so horse cart it was. We must have been having really bad luck, we ended up getting a horse that seemed to have a lame back leg. We felt really bad for it, the owner didn't seem to take any notice of it. We started up the dirt road. The driver was a Tibetan guy with the long braid and red scarf in his hair. He kept looking back at us and starring. He was a little weird. At one point on the road we got a really great view of Everest, there it was! It gave us both goose bumps. The clouds cleared just long enough for us to get a view of the peak. This is not an event to take for granted. Some people come spend a few days up here and never get a clear view of the mountain the whole time. You really need to appreciate it when you see it.
About half way up the weather turned ugly. It started to rain and hail violently. We were being bulleted from the sky by ice pellets. They really hurt! At first we both tried to keep dry with our umbrellas, but this was not working very well.
Decorated yak skull
Jack put on his poncho and put the camera bag under it for protection. We had gotten to where the grade was at its steepest so the driver was walking beside the cart to give the horse a break. He soon noticed Jack was not using the umbrella and motioned for it. It turned out to be quite the event to get it back from him, he really liked it. We made it to the camp wet and cold. We had some fuzzy pullovers on and our rain jackets, but no gloves, hats or scarfs. It was freezing and these would have been a smart thing to bring. We really didn't realize how cold it was going to be up here, I don't know what we were thinking, duh! To make matters worse I had on short capri pants and sandals!!! That's okay, I'm Canadian, we can handle the cold!
There were a dozen or more large tents set up as the accommodation, tea houses and a few places to eat. Each one had a stove inside that they lit to keep warm at night. The beds inside are a series of benches running along the outer edges of the tent. They have a pad on them and lots of blankets. Some people bring their own tent and equipment.
We walked up a hill to get a better view of the mountain and the area in front of it. It made us really dizzy as we tried to make our way up. We had to take every step very carefully, breathing was a major challenge. At the top we could see the mountain right in front of us. It was an amazing site. In front of the mountain is a large flat area and a glacier. You used to be able to walk right onto this area and the glacier.
Decorated yak skulls, view of Himilayan mountains
Now you will be fined $200 U.S. if you are caught. If you want to go there you have to have a guide that they charge an ridiculous price per person. We stood in awe of the mountain for some time. You are already up over 5000m so it is the other part of the mountain up to the 8800m that you are looking at. Apparently if you walk around to the left side of it you can get an even better view, too bad you have to pay so much money to do so.
It was getting late and our horse cart was waiting for us. We started to make our way back down. The rain had stopped and things had cleared up. On the way down we got some more stunning views of the mountain. The sun broke out a few times, we stopped to take pictures.
At the bottom we stood for a while longer. You actually get a better view of the mountain overall from here. You are so close at the base camp that you are usually having to look through the clouds. Lots of people were coming out of the buildings to take a look, the whole mountain was out of the clouds so everyone was taking advantage of it. We stayed there for as long as we could stand the cold, we couldn't feel our hands anymore. It was the wind cutting right through us that was making it really brutal.
We decided to go try the food at the hotel, since the monastery only had three choices to eat, rice, pancake or soup. The food at the hotel was okay, at least it was warm in there. We could see Everest out one of the windows. It's a site you just can't get enough of.
We were dreading the night ahead of us.
Entrace to Qomolangma (Everest) Nature Reserve
We had to wait until 9pm for the electricity to be turned on in our room. We went in and started to prepare for bed. We couldn't believe they expect people to sleep in here with no heat! It was mid July, we can't imagine what it must be like in other months of the year. The room felt like an ice box, the beds and blankets were so cold. We moved the beds away from the freezing cement walls. The window took up most of the outside wall, we could feel the cold coming from it. There was a skimpy curtain that barely covered it. Jack put one of the thick blankets up to cover it and keep out the cold. We put every warm piece of clothing we had on. We piled a bunch of thick blankets on the beds and laid on top of them, then we covered ourselves with every remaining blanket. It was so heavy we could hardly move or breath under them! Most of them were made of Yak wool. We couldn't stop shivering, we couldn't stand to even have our heads exposed so we had to wrap a blanket around them.
Jack had already been feeling crappy that day and the day before. Possibly from altitude. He ended up sucking on oxygen many times and had a really bad night. We woke up in the morning and were supposed to be ready to leave by 11am. We had planned to go up to the base camp one more time, but had a big surprise when we looked outside. It had snowed during the night. The ground near us didn't have snow on it, but all them mountains around us were layered in snow. It was pouring rain where were were at the moment, the whole sky was clouded in. There was no point going up to the base camp. The other couple we were traveling with had some leaking in their tent during the night and some wet beds due to it. They said it was quite pretty when they woke up to all the snow around them.
Next entry will be heading back to Lhasa.
