After a night in Shegar we drove on, at last with Everest as our goal – on surprisingly well-built roads that even a Peugeot 206 managed all the way to base camp. The barren mountain landscape on the way there impressed us enormously.
Three eight-thousanders at a glance
The view of the Himalayas from the last pass was simply mind-blowing: an endlessly wide horizon, crystal-clear air and three eight-thousanders at once, Lhotse, Cho Oyu and Everest. Once at Everest, we quickly dropped our things in the small, cold room and then went to base camp and to Rongbuk Monastery for sunset – at 5,200 metres the highest monastery in the world.
A sunset as if made of glass
The cold was biting, and gusts of wind kept sweeping down from Everest; by the end we were frozen to the bone. But the sunset was spectacular: cloudless, with the typical snow plume on the summit that the constant west wind drags behind it. After dinner I went out alone once more to photograph the starry sky.
Barren ranges in yellow and brown – the drive from Shegar towards Everest.Hairpin bends wind through the highlands, the first snowy peaks far behind.A winding road in the valley – surprisingly well built.A hairpin bend with a crash barrier, the snowy peaks of the Himalayas behind.At the last pass: prayer flags, a small figure and an endless horizon.Everest with its snow plume above the peaks.Yellow prayer flags in the wind, the chain of snowy peaks behind.The sun stands high above the hairpins, the air crystal clear.Three eight-thousanders at a glance: Lhotse, Cho Oyu and Everest.A straight road between bare mountains, the yellow centre line in front.Sun above the road, a distant snowy peak at the end of the valley.Tents on the scree field at Everest Base Camp.A mani stone with a Tibetan inscription at base camp.Printed prayer flags above an inscribed stone.Prayer flags in every colour, up close.Prayer flags above the scree, the rock face behind.Jagged rock walls above the scree field at base camp.Small white houses, tiny beneath the rock face.Everest in a gap between dark mountain flanks.Two white stupas, Everest in the background.A stupa against the light, Everest and its snow plume behind.Rongbuk Monastery in the valley, one of the highest monasteries in the world – and Everest in the evening light.The cloud plume on the summit, the slopes already dark.A sunset like glass: the snow plume glows orange.The north face of Everest in the blue hour.Out once more, alone: stars above Everest.The Milky Way above the mountain ridge at base camp.
