trip to Everest Base Camp

We took a four day trip from Lhasa with Everest Base Camp as our goal. I might post some pictures of the other days later, but here are some pictures of days two and three when we got to see Everest. This first picture is our group and our Landcruiser driver. He was a really nice guy. Our student got to talk with him quite a bit, so we learned more about him. In peak season (July, August, September), he only gets to sleep one night at home in between his 4 or 5 day trips to base camp and back. The peak of Everest was actually visible from this spot (the first place we got to see it), but I don't think you can see it in the picture.

Rongphu Monastery, the highest monastery in the world. We went on up a little further from here to base camp. Only special cars are allowed up from this point, I think to reduce the pollution around base camp (and probaly to make more money).









We took the horse ride up to base camp. I sort of wanted to walk. It wasn't a hard walk, but when we got up there and I climbed a little hill, I was glad I hadn't walked. We had to get adjusted to the altitude again here and anything other than walking on level land made us short of breath.














A sweet dog that reminded me of Stella, my black mutt in Dripping Springs. When I walked down from base camp while the others took the horse again, this dog followed me the whole way.

This is the little hill we climbed that made us realize how high we were again. Everest is seen through the prayer flags, but at this point, we couldn't see much of it through the clouds.





Our first view of Everest from base camp. It's behind the clouds, just to the left of the ravine in the background. (Behind the one peak in the back on the left that can be seen.)