Everest Base Camp
June 21 – Shegar to Everest and back
Today is the big day! We awoke at 5am to be packed and in the lobby by 5:30 so we could make the hour long drive to Pang-la pass at sunrise. If the weather is clear, we will see Everest and 5 other 8,000m peaks as the sun slowly sets them aglow. We had all of our warm gear and our prayer flags all ready for the pass. Unfortunately, when we arrived, well before sunrise, there was a layer of fog from the valley below that obscured our views.
Evie and Tyler stayed in the car keeping warm while Tom and Sue hiked slowly to the top of the hill to watch the sunrise at 17,000 ft. Even with our long underwear on it was cold without the sun and prayer flags were covered in frost. Standing alone far above the parking lot, Sue and Tom were watching the sun preparing to crest over the clouds in the distance when 4 green SUVs came barreling up the dirt road to exactly where we were standing. Out popped 12 Chinese tourists with there camera and tripods. When we noted that they could go even higher with their SUVs, they said thanks, this is good. A classic example of American vs. Chinese. Americans, always craving more space while the Chinese are extremely comfortable in a crowd.
Chuckling, we walked a littler higher up to “get our space” to watch the sunrise and hope the fog cleared. The fog didn’t ever clear, so we returned to the van and the kids got out and we put up our flags and continued on our way.
The road down was an impossible series of switch backs until we reached the valley below and after 2 hours we were at the absurd tent village 5km from the actual Everest Base Camp (EBC). The sun hadn’t reached the village so it was still cold and we went into one of the classic nomad-style tent for some tea, warmth and rest (the kids were exhausted with good reason!). With the fog behind us, Everest was clearly visible with little wisps of clouds in front. Then, around 9am our guide exclaimed, “the weather will be good. We should go now.” And we scampered through the tent village to where the bus was taking visitors the 5 bumpy kilometers to the official EBC.
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Nyima was right and the wisps had disappeared and there, towering in front of us was the great mountain herself. Still another 20km from the actual “base” she provided the illusion that climbing would not be difficult. However, the optical illusion obscured the fact that the mountain was still 12,000 feet above our 17,000 ft perch.
We spent nearly 2 hours marveling at her beauty, taking pictures, and being in pictures. For even at EBC we were the only westerners. Joining in the photo-fest were, low and behold, the SUV people! Turns out they were on some ad shoot for a car buying service in China and the next thing we knew, Tom was talking on camera about the merits of driving a SUV!!
Satiated with our view, we went back to the bus stop and eventually caught the bus for our 20 minute bump-fest back to the tent village. We planned to have lunch at our tent, but the owner had left so we drive back to the Rompo Monastery (the highest in the world) and had some fried rice, noodle soup, French fries, and sweet tea. We also tried the salty yak butter tea, which, well, wasn’t our cup of tea.
We had planned to stay the night at the monastery, but we had such good luck wth our view that decided to do some of the long drive back to Shigatse. So around 2pm we set off back the direction we had come earlier that morning. Tyler entertained us by sticking his head out the window and shouting Teche-delay (hello) at all the cars, nomads, and villagers we passed. Around 4:30 we had passed Shegar, the town we had started at nearly 12 hours before. Tom had found a hot springs “resort” 11km past Shegar and we stopped to enjoy a dip in their geyser filled pool.
The resort had long since passed its prime, but undeterred Tom and the kids braved the 100+ degree heat of the pool. It was raining steadily now and the sound of the rain on the semi-clear roof was enchanting. The resort had rooms, but like most of the place they were a bit dingy. The hotel from the night before was full and rather than head back we decided to push on to the small town of Lhatse, another 3 hours ahead. We had a dinner of instant noodles and around 6:30 we set off for our final destination.
We bumped and bounced for another 2.5 hours until we arrived at the adorable Lhatse Family Guesthouse. After some reading, relaxation and the all important wifi, everyone was asleep by 10pm.
What a long, glorious, epic day.