Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Everest Base Camp Trip from Tibet, Tingri

I just came back from a trip Tibet with an excursion to Everest Base Camp. Please enjoy the photo. I have 2 sets of Flickr photos:

(1) Road Trip from Tingri to Everest Base Camp

(2) Photos of Everest Base Camp

Tingri is a remote town about 70 miles North of Mt Everest. On the Tibet side you can drive all the way to the Everest Base Camp, and view the Himalayan mountain ranges. Our road trip is mostly on 4-Wheel drive road with some paved roads.

The Tibet Everest Base Camp area is considered a military zone which requires a separate military permit to enter. En-route there were no less than 5 check points to make sure that your ID and permits are in order.

As we drove toward Mt Everest the road took us over a high pass at 16,000 ft. Even the car struggle to get to the top due to lack of oxygen. On top of this pass the Himalaya mountain range appeared in front of you where you will see the world highest mountains above 26,400 ft (on the photo left #5 Makalu, #4 Lhotse, #1 Everest, and #6 Cho Oyu, #14 Xixabangma not that visible).

Only the Everest mountain climbers live in the actual "Base Camp. The tourists like me stayed at 2.5 miles from the actual camp in a large tent hotel area. Each tent hotel sleeps 5 to 6 persons. The tent has lots thick heavy wool blankets to keep you warm, but we bought our own excellent light weight sleeping bag. We wanted to avoid any nasty flea or bed bug.

I had planned to hike the 2.5 miles to the actual "Base Camp", but no chance. The government authority has a very strict tight control, and actually provides a mini bus to take the tourist to see the real base camp, and Mt Everest up close. We were so lucky that there was no cloud to cover Mt Everest. Just 3 days earlier not a single tourist got a clear view of Mt Everest. It is really a hit and miss proposition. There is also no option of staying longer beyond your reservation.

Nice pictures of the North Face of Everest!! Thanks for the report. It's interesting hearing about the restrictions on the north side of Everest. It seemed like things were fine until they shut it all down in 2008. Apparently it has gotten more restrictive. I was there in 1995 as part of an expedition so my frame of reference must be a little outdated. Trekkers were able to visit base camp back then. We saw a bunch of different groups come through during that spring. Here's a picture (scanned from a Kodachrome 35mm slide) of the north side of Everest from the Rongbuk Monestary, which I think is still the highest active religious building in the world: