Mount Everest Base Camp

World Top roof on the earth, Mount Everest is the highest mountain reaching 29,029 feet (8,848 meters) above sea level. Located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas, the mountain's summit straddles the border separating China and Nepal. The mountain's height was first determined in 1856

Mount Everest lie in Providence 1, in Solukhumbu District.

                      

Date: 1978-10

Location: Solukhumbu 

Captured By: Peter Von Mertens.

Description: In Sagarmatha National Park. Lenticular cloud over Mt Everest.  Everest is tall enough to jut into the jet stream and often clouds - ice plumes - form off the summit sometimes 50 kilometers long. Nuptse Peak on the right.

Everest base camps refers generally to two base camps on opposite sides of Mount Everest: South Base Camp is in Nepal at an altitude of 5,364 metres (17,598 ft) ( WikiMiniAtlas28°0′26″N 86°51′34″E), while North Base Camp is in Tibet at 5,150 metres (16,900 ft) (28°8′29″N 86°51′5″E).

Date:  1968-04

Location:  Solukhumbu

Captured By: Bob Nichols

Description:   Men, women and children, gathered, at a village along the trail to Everest base camp.

Date: 1967-10

Location: Namche Bazaar, Solukhumbu 

Captured By: Peter Von Mertens

Description: This photo of Namche was taken from the junction where the trail to Thyangboche leaves the town. Note the wooden roofs and stones used to hold the individual boards down.  Almost all buildings are only two stories high with the animals living on the first floor.  No electricity and all families had to gather water at the spring, faintly visible in lower left and carry it to their homes in wooden "chu's".  The Stupa in the lower left just out of the shadows, is still there  (2008) and has only been moderately altered.   The Gompa or religious building used only for occasional ceremonies is the highest building toward the right of the photo.   There were no hotels or inns but two or three houses allowed guests to spend the night.   Tibetans escaping  Chinese persecution in Tibet had brought smallpox with them in '67 when they escaped to Nepal and anyone wealthy enough had left Namche in fear of the disease.  Even the down valley Nepalis who usually brought food and supplies to sell at the weekly "haat bazaar" stayed away and so there was very little to eat in Namche.  Only locally grown potatos and barley flower "tsampa" - not bad when mixed with sweet tea.

Date: 1994-07

Location: Namche Bazaar, Solukhumbu 

Captured By: Peter Von Mertens

Description: In late July the monsoons have soaked the fields around Namche and the potato plants are a rich green.  Note how the buildings have expanded both out and up since 1967 and now metal and plastic roofs have replaced the old wooden ones.  Kanchha and Ang Lhakpa's house is in the middle of the photo with green windows.  The Gompa in the upper right has been significantly improved and is used daily for prayers and by older men who want a place to socialize.

Date: 2007-10

Location: Namche Bazaar, Solukhumbu 

Captured By: Peter Von Mertens

Description: Namche now consists of many inns and hotels and numerous places for trekkers to eat.   There is even an internet cafe which works fairly well.   There is a single phone line to the outside world which is periodically disrupted by accident or sometimes intentionally cut by the Maoist guerilla operating in the area.   A beautiful stand of pines on the hill to the east of the town was cut down to provide better visibility for the soldiers stationed there to protect the town from the Maoists.   Deep trenches were dug and barbed wire has been strung all around the hill.   Below in this photo (to the right of the Stupa) is a daily bazaar run by Tibetan traders who have brought Chinese goods across the border and are selling them in Namche.

Date: 1965-04

Location: Solu, Solukhumbu

Captured By: Larry Daloz

Description: Sherpa women carry doko loads of firewood in bare feet through snow.