Mt Qomolangma (Mt. Everest): The Story of A Tresspasser On The Roof of The World

Episode 10 

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First of all, I did not climb it
Secondly, I did not climb it
Thirdly, I did not climb it
Lastly, I did not climb it

(But one day, if I happen to have loads of money with very good health, I'll climb it)

Probably you have figured it out already, that if you are here to see a story of someone climbing the world's tallest mountain, this is the wrong place.

Otherwise, let's get straight to the topic......

The mountain has many names. Most of the people from the West know this mountain as "Mt. Everest". In Nepal, it's known as Sagarmāthā. But to me, this mountain will forever be Mt. Qomolangma. Not only is this name, which means "the Goddess of Mountain" used by Tibetans since long time ago, it also has a strong personal connection to me: My uncle used to work in that region when I was young, and "Mt. Qomolangma" was the name he used for the world's highest peak.  Now the connection has grown stronger after I visit the base camp of Mt. Qomolangma, so is the tie with my uncle, who is now an honorably retired man who told me all about how to handle the weather at over 5,200 meters (17,060 feet) above sea level.  

The retired man set up his tent behind the monument on the hill shown at the  bottom right of this picture in 2005

Reaching the Base Camp on the Tibetan side isn't as hard as how others do on the Nepali side. There is a road built by the Chinese government that goes all the way to the foot of the mighty mountain, which is pretty impressive. Most of the people will likely find themselves at a place called the "tent city", which is pretty much comprised of  a bunch of tents that serve as guesthouses. While the facilities are pretty basic, people shouldn't really be complaining about how there's no running water or reliable heating source - You are up there, what else are you expecting?

Winding Road to the Base Camp

This story began at one of these tents. Our group arrived in a late, yet beautiful afternoon. Late afternoon in Tibet is totally different from what one would expect (pretty much like everything in Tibet) an late afternoon would be. Because the People's Republic of China uses one time zone across the nation, places like Tibet, which is located on the far west of the map, in reality has a 2-3 hour time difference from cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Therefore the hottest and the brightest time of the day, interestingly, are at around 4 or 5 o' clock.  Because of this condition, it allowed us to hike all the way from the tent city to the Base Camp despite the late evening arrival. 

The Tent City. It Contains The Highest Post Office (The Green Tent in the Middle) in the World at 5,000 Meters Above Sea Level

The distance from the tent city to the Base Camp wasn't that long. It was only about 3 kilometers each way. However, high altitude, steady incline, and unpredictable weather made the trip seemed to be way longer than it supposed to be. There are also shuttle buses taking those who do not want to hike for 25 Yuan, but our team opted this option out on our way up (guess who took it on the way down?).

En Route To the Base Camp

Rock Patterns En Route To the Base Camp

The scenery along the route was as barren as one could possibly imagine. The top of the world was indeed the land of bare rocks and snow. Nothing, not even the shortest plant nor a trace of animal (except yaks brought by the locals as means of transportation) could be spotted. The wind blew over with dreadful whistle sound and when it hit people's face, it felt like sharp knives. This was a huge contrast to the seemingly peaceful scene right in front of our eyes. 

Prayer Flags and the Top of The World

En route, we made a stop at the old site of the Rongbuk Monastery. Now an empty place, many of its monks and nuns moved to the new Rongbuk Monastery near the entrance to the tent city. It was at this place where Tenzing Norgay, one of the first humans to summit and the first person to be photographed on top of that famous mountain one can clearly see from the monastery (though Tenzing climbed it from the other side) obtained his name as a child, back in the days when pilgrims could travel freely in between both sides of the Himalayas.  

The Old Rongbuk Monastery

View of Mt. Qomolangma / Mt. Everest From The Top of Rongbuk Monastery

Prayer Flags And Mt. Qomolangma / Mt. Everest

As we gradually climbing the altitude meter by meter, some of our team members became very tired. Because the oxygen level at 5,000 meters is roughly half of that at sea level, exhaustion caused by the lack of oxygen is very common, even for those who are strong. But it did not quench the passion of our team to reach the base camp - We were all tired, but we kept going without much rest (Nobody Ever- Rest). 

Scenries En Route To The Base Camp

The Old Rongbuk Monastery From One Of The Places Where We Stopped For A Quick Break

The Rongbuk Glacier and the Prayer Flag Pole Near The Base Camp

Eventually, we have reached a point where there were no more obstacles between us and the mountain, except one stone monument that read:

                           Mt. Qomolangma Base Camp
                                          5,200 Meters   
 

Mt. Qomolangma / Mt. Everest from the Base Camp Monument. You Can See The Tents At The Foot Of The Mountain

Trekkers, Prayer Flags, And The Mountain

We were very lucky that the peak was very clear at the time. Many disgruntled travelers left  messages on the monument (please do not do the same! Vandalism is unappreciated in pretty much every single culture!) stating that they weren't that fortunate at all! When we reached the Base Camp Area, it was already 7:45 PM. One of the Armed Police who guarded the place told us that we must leave by 8:00 PM. We quickly took some photos, and left before the Police chased us.

Qomolangma / Everest (8844.43 Meters) . The World's Highest Peak

Changtse (7,543 Meters)

Top Of The World

The Rongbuk Glacier

The sun began to set, and the temperature started to drop very quickly. I felt very hungry at the time and knew that I wouldn't be able to make the hike back to the Tent City. So I took the shuttle bus with a teammate while the others hiked all the way back. 

Shortly After We Left The Base Camp, At The Tent City

By the time I reached the tent city via shuttle bus, the sun was still high and all the clouds surrounding the mountain disappeared. I quickly snapped a couple of pictures on my camera and my phone. Then I returned to my tent, ordered some food, and waited for other teammates to return. 

As The Dusk Approaches, The Valley Began To Fade Into The Shadow Zone

Mt. Qomolangma / Mt. Everest From Tent City

Clear view of Mt. Qomolangma / Mt. Everest

The World's Highest Mountain And The World's Highest Post Office

The food at the tents were very simple, and they were mostly vegetarian. Most of the food were cooked by a stove fueled by Yak dungs, which also provided heat to the tent. As I was finishing the vegetable noodle, my teammates entered the tent. The guesthouse owner, who came into the tent together with my teammates, told me that the view outside of the tent was amazing. I quickly grabbed my down jacket, and ran to the outside of the tent as fast as I could.

Vegetarian Noodles and Butter Tea: Not Fancy, But It's Exactly What You Need

When I stepped out, the scene in front of me was mesmerizing. The Mountain, with its peak still clear, seemed to catch on fire. The top of the world looked more like a torch that shined the nearby area, which was mostly swallowed by darkness. Moments later, the torch was quenched, and blinking stars began to appear as the darkness quickly dominated the sky.

Top of the World At Sunset

Mt. Qomolangma / Everest At Sunset

Top of the World At Sunset

When I headed back into the tent, all of my teammates paused a little bit. Then some of them began to laugh. Cheryl from our team told me that they had some bad news to tell me. She asked me to check my down jacket, and when I flipped it over, my face was invaded by a splash of feather - my down jacket was cut wide open! The team showed me a black mark on the chimney of the stove - it turned out that when I rushed outside for the pictures, my down jacket touched the chimney. The iron hot chimney melted the surface of the jacket and caused the feathers inside it to fly all around! Everybody began to laugh, including the tent owner and our tour guide. Because I still needed a down jacket, well, for survival, our tour guide and driver offered their help by duct taping my down jacket. For the rest of the journey, if you happened to spot me in Tibet, you would notice that at the back of my jacket there was an ugly strip of duct tape. Fashion or laughing stock, it's your call.

Our Tent

After the Sunset

By the time we were about to sleep, I was buried under at least 3 layers of thick blankets over my sleeping bag (I'd like to thank our tour guide again, for helping me and the others to put all these blankets on). Then the night came, I woke up once because at one time it was very cold.  Considering that the region is situated at the same latitude as places like  Miami, Florida, three blankets but still feeling cold sounds more like a fairy tale rather than reality. 

Mt. Qomolangma / Everest At Night

Top of The World At Night

The next morning when I woke up, some of my teammates had already gone for another hike to the Base Camp.  But that got me very worried as the mountain was covered in a storm-like cloud. I could tell that the weather wasn't pleasant at all. Meanwhile, at the tent city the weather was very nice and I could barely feel any coldness or strong wind which I had experienced the night before. When I looked around, I noticed that the barren landscape I just saw the day before were covered in snow, which all of the sudden made these huge chunks of rocks looking rather majestic.  

In the Morning around the Tent City

The Tents and the Surrounding in the Early Morning

In the Morning around the Tent City

Because the temperature was colder than I thought, I went back into the tent to put on more layers. As I entered the tent, I saw the tent owner offering food and water to the pictures of the different Buddhas that were hanging on a shelf. The Tibetan lady bowed down to the pictures and chanted the mantra that symbolized compassion. Did we live in this world every single day under the compassion of the nature, which can be fierce and heartless sometimes? Or was the human world we live in today created as a result of a collective human compassion, in which the absence of such compassion would lead to brutality, struggles, and wars?   

A Mountain in the Early Morning

At the pond just outside of tent city, there were already people standing there, waiting for the sun to rise above the top of the world. Among us, there was a man holding a bag of oxygen. This scene may seemed to be a bit hilarious for many, but altitude sickness wasn't a joke at all when you were standing and walking around somewhere that's over 5 kilometers high above places like New York or Rotterdam. Just the previous night our teammate Rose had to use an oxygen canister to relieve symptoms of altitude sickness. Many also told me that they really had problem sleeping during the night because of the low oxygen content in the air (about 50%  of that at the sea level).

A Tourist With A Bag of Oxygen

A Tourist With A Bag of Oxygen

Mt. Qomolangma/ Everest Behind the Clouds

The stormy cloud began to clear up. The peak started to appear behind the smoke. As the first ray penetrated through the horizon, the peak seemed to be reactivated to life by some mysterious force. The body of the mountain was covered by heavy clouds the entire time, but it offered a whole different experience of viewing the highest point on earth.

At the Sunrise

The Top of the World Embraced The First Sun Ray of the Day

Mt. Qomolangma / Everest in the Early Morning

I returned to our tent at 8:30 AM for breakfast. The teammates who ventured out to the Base Camp safely returned, despite that they encountered snowy conditions on the way up. Most of the stormy clouds I saw were in fact on the mountain, which I was glad that the bad weather did not post a threat to the lives of my teammates. They showed me some of the amazing pictures they took at the Base Camp, and I regretted that I did not go with them.

Mt. Qomolangma / Everest

The Old Rongbuk Monastery

A Wild Dog in the Area Who Presumably Stayed Outside the Night Before....

After the breakfast, we had to be on our way again in order to make it to the other end of the Tibetan Plateau. The world's highest peak was covered in the cloud by the time we left the tent city. I understood that no journey is perfect, and the world never functions according to the will of one particular individual. The humans are small in compare to the nature - just like how humble the we are in compare to that mighty mountain only a very few humans have climbed to the top. There are certain people who attempt to control the fate of the world for their own benefits, only will later find themselves facing the most severe punishment possible as the result of their irresponsible actions. We are only a part of the world, but we are not the world.

Mt. Qomolangma / Everest Before I Headed For Breakfast

The Peak in the Clouds

Top of the World Covered in Clouds

As I was contemplating, the vehicle made a quick swing at one of the curves. The world's highest mountain showed its mighty north face once again. That was the last time I saw the mountain. I was glad that I was able to see it for one last time, and I will never forget that moment. 

My Last Sight of the World's Highest Mountain: Majestic and Colossal

The visit to Mt. Qomolangma / Everest base camp served only as a stop to further acclimatize to Tibet's severe high altitude. I never imagined how the journey afterwards had totally changed how I viewed the world around me, and how my life was totally changed as well.