Everest Base Camp

A Brief Introduction to Everest Base Camp

The Everest Base Camp is a zone which was set to protect the environment of the core area of Mount Everest. It lies on a long and narrow col with an altitude of 5200 meters. The linear distance from the top of the Mount Everest to the Everest Base Camp is 19 kilometers or so. The Everest Base Camp is more than 100 kilometers away from the Tingri Town.

Tips for Traveling Everest Base Camp

Visitors can not enter the area of Everest Base Camp without the permit from the Chinese government. Generally speaking, the visitors should change to use the animal-drawn vehicles when they arrive at the Rongpo Monastery which is 9 kilometers away from the base camp. This is out of consideration for protecting the environment of Mount Everest. Today, driving into the Everest Base Camp is also allowed.

Although the Everest Base Camp is still over 100 kilometers away from the Tingri Town, it is not a desolate place. Actually, there are competitively complete living facilities here. The basic demand of accommodation and transportation can be well met.

Layout of Everest Base Camp

After entering the Everest Base Camp, you can at first see the Viewing Deck of Mount Everest. Next to the viewing deck are the Rongpo Monastery and the Rongpo Guesthouse. Progress about 4 kilometers ahead, you will see the tents pitched by the local people. Progress another 4 kilometers ahead and you can see the base camp for those mountaineers.

Boarding and Lodging of Everest Base Camp

Now, the tents in the Everest Base Camp are all unified appropriative tents of excellent properties. They are able to prevent the strong wind and sand. Besides, the isolation measures are done on the ground of the tents, thus keeping the sand and dust out of the tents.

Food in Everest Base Camp is in fact not bad. Three meals are provided per day. Usually the breakfast is at 9 a.m., lunch at 1 p.m. and supper at 7 p.m. In addition to the Tsampa (roasted qingke barley flour), buttered tea and other traditional local food, meat, eggs, milk, vegetables and fruits are also available. The water in the base camp is carried from the downhill and is of course drinkable. But taking baths in the base camp is not only too luxurious but a taboo, because bathing on the mountain may lead to various diseases.

Other Facilities of Everest Base Camp

You can also see many shops and stores opened by the local people in the Everest Base Camp. The goods range from the fossils on the Mount Everest, jewelries of ethnic features and Tibetan decorative knives to food, souvenirs, clothes and other living necessities. Although these goods are not very rich but are quite special.

What's more, there is also a post office in the Everest Base Camp, selling envelopes, stamps, postcards and other souvenirs. This is the post office with the highest altitude in the world.

One Monument of Everest Base Camp

In 2005, a monument was set up on a mountain slope in the west of the Everest Base Camp. That is the Elevation Measurement Monument for Mount Everest. The monument is 2.4 meters high, 1.2 meters wide and 0.2 meter thick with a 0.95 meter high pedestal. It is made of a whole block of moorstone. The profile of the monument is similar to that of the Mount Everest. The words "Elevation Measurement Monument for Mount Everest" are engraved in the tablet in three languages-Chinese, Tibetan and English.