Day 198: EBC – Tibet
Today was all about the mighty mountain – Everest (AKA “Qomolangma” in Tibetan)!!! We had a short 3hr drive from Tingri to Everest Base Camp, with lots of stops for scenic viewpoints and pictures along the way. Our favorite viewpoint was actually the furthest away, giving us a full panorama of the Himalayan range and allowing us to appreciate the height and grandeur of the 8,844m (29,017ft) mountain. While it was still beautiful up close, Igor felt he lost the perspective, and started complaining, “It doesn’t look that big – I bet I could climb it in a few hours.”
THANKFULLY for Lindsay, the USD$30,000 cost for a permit stopped him from trying.
We arrive at the ticket center for the North Face of Everest early in the morning – it cost RMB 400 per car and another RMB 180 per person (including driver & guide), but we get luckily and are only charged for two people instead of four
We are planning to spend the night at EBC at our highest elevation yet – 5200m, so Lindsay preemptively takes a dose of the Chinese voodoo – we don’t really think it works, but we can’t return it and we can’t take it on the plane with us to Kathmandu, so we may as well drink it. Who knows? Maybe there is a placebo effect.
View of Mount Everest and Mount Cho Oyu (the big peaks at the right) from the Pang-la Pass
A helpful stone plaque helps us identify the various Himalayan mountain peaks – four of the Top 10 highest mountains in the world lay before us
Igor and Lindsay takes turns posing in front of Everest, before moving onto group shots with our driver and Samdup
The biggest mountain in the world requires quite a few selfies
We reach another viewpoint a few turns down the road, so we stop for some pray flag-framed photos
Mount Cho Oyu looks almost level with Everest, but the solitary peak of Everest is what keeps drawing Igor’s attention
We make a quick stop at Rongphu Monastery – at 5,000m it is the highest monastery in the world
It is absolutely FREEZING up here! After taking in the view for about 5min, Lindsay runs back into the minivan to stay warm!
What’s the quickest way to makes friends with an American? Offer them some French fries! At the final checkpoint before EBC, the army guard had a fresh plate of fries and offered us some – we were soon convinced that this is the nicest guard in the entire Chinese army (further confirmed when Samdup told us he is actually Tibetan – no wonder he was so friendly!)
About 4KM from the official base camp is a shanty town of yak hair tents – each one a “hotel” for tourists. We were staying at #51 – Chomolangma Tourist Hotel
Thankfully, these tents are fortified with additional blankets lining the walls and ceiling, so as to keep in what little heat the stove provides. Also, the tent has raised beds, so we don’t have to sit or sleep on the ground – big improvement over Langmusi!
While there is a shuttle to base camp, it only runs when it has at least 8 people (or so it claims – turns out a group of 5 took off while the 3 of us were waiting 2 hours for a full shuttle – guess the ticket guys didn’t want to bother and tell us) – we didn’t want to waste the day waiting on tourists that may or may not show up, so we convinced Samdup to let us walk. Though the scenery is spectacular and it’s only 4KM, it’s a hard trek – you have to walk along the road for about half the distance (during which time, passing shuttles and Govt. vehicles will kick up dust in your face – and no, you can’t flag down the shuttle along the way) before taking an off-road shortcut. All the while, a fierce wind is blowing you backwards and the high altitude is zapping your energy.
The barren, gravel valley leading up to Everest Base Camp
WE FINALLY MADE IT!
So, “base camp” is actually just a prayer flag-strew hill, where tourists can visit for a photo-op. The *actual* base camp (you know, where the mountaineers have pitched their tents in preparation for climbing Everest) is further down a dirt road, and completely out of sight. It’s a great view and all, but we feel more than a little gypped
There is a pile of rocks at EBC where tourists have written messages – we noticed a guy selling prayer flags and markers, so we picked out a nice rock and planned to write a message for our late friend and Kilimanjaro summiter, Alex Nordquist. However, once the guy realized we planned to write on a rock, he refused to sell us the marker, insisting we could only write on flags. The flags were not at all appealing to us – not only does it seem rude to write on someone else’s religious symbol, but the flags are not permanent – no doubt the wind would tear the flag to shreds before the end of the winter. So we placed a blank rock in Alex’s memory instead. It wasn’t until later that we realized the guy would probably get in a lot of trouble from the Chinese army for letting us write on a rock – EBC is a common place for “Free Tibet” statements, and he has no idea what message we are writing.
Even though there is a free return shuttle bus, we opt to walk back to the tents – the wind is at our backs now, making the walk significantly easier. Lucky too, because we saw our *first* and *only* wildlife sighting in China – a family of tiny Musk Deer! We later found out this is a very rare sighting as the Chinese army commonly hunts them and eats them, and their numbers are dwindling.
Like many attractions in China, the admission ticket for Everest is also a post card, so we visited the China Post tent (the highest post office in the world) to mail it home – unfortunately, they didn’t have any international stamps, but they agreed to stamp it with the “Everest Post Office” seal so we could just attach a stamp when we got back to Lhasa. Not truly authentic (but then, we’re learning China isn’t known for “authenticity”)
Once back in the tent, we realize we are *starving* – our host gives us a “Happy Meal” menu and we order our standard veggie fried rice. Given the ridiculously cold temperature, we don’t bother asking if the sodas are cold for once.
After dinner, Igor braves the cold and hikes out past the crowds of tourists to get some AMAZING shots of Everest at sunset – he even sets of the camera on a timer for a nice selfie
It’s almost a full moon, makin starry pictures a bit difficult, but Igor works his magic and captures a stuningly shot of Everest at twilight
Luckily for us, the high tourist season has passed at EBC (in fact, this is the last week the yak hair tents will be pitched – after this, everyone will have to stay down the road at either the monastery guest house or a hotel in Tingri) – normally the tents sleep around 10 people side by side, but tonight it is only Igor, Lindsay and Samdup – our poor driver has to sleep in the van as he has to wake up periodically throughout the night to turn it on to make sure the engine doesn’t freeze!