Welcome to Everestville

[Click on the pictures to see larger versions with captions.]

Not far out of Shegar, the buses gear down and climb a 17,000-foot pass, then wind into the valley leading to base camp. A storm last night has dusted the rolling, tan hills and boulder-strewn river banks with snow. We share the road with occasional yaks, horse-drawn carts, motor bikes and SUVs.

At the Rongbuk monastery, the massive north wall of Everest suddenly appears out of a smoky haze of cloud. Everyone gets off the bus to take it in. Fred Ziel, one of the climbers riding on my bus, stares at the mountain. This expedition will be his third try at Everest. In 2003, on the Nepalese side, he climbed above the Hillary Step. That's maddeningly close to the summit, and he returned with a frostbitten nose. In 2005, Fred tried Everest's North Ridge and got as far as Camp 3.

Other than Everest, this 53-year-old California endocrinologist and family man has quietly racked up an impressive list of 26,000-foot (8,000-meter) peaks. He has summited three (Manaslu, Broad Peak and Shishapangma) and climbed high on K2, the second-highest peak on Earth, which makes Dr. Ziel the most experienced climber on the team.

Back on the bus we pass the infamous Shanty Town, a skid row of tents that Tibetan yak drivers have built up in recent seasons to cash in on the expedition trade. Rough and muddy as Deadwood, it boasts trinket shops and sometimes brawling pubs.

A couple of miles later we hit base camp, and what an extraordinary sight it is. This portable city sprawled in front of the Rongbuk Glacier houses who-knows-how-many expeditions, including a Chinese team of 70 climbers with a barracks of tents and two trucks sporting transmission towers. Base Camp is Wi-Fi live, and a cell tower ensures that everyone with a dual-band/Tri-mode cell phone can call home.

Russell's Himex camp, though, is the centerpiece of Everestville. After we offload our gear, Russell welcomes us into his high-altitude suburb, sending us to find vacancies in the 36 tents his Sherpas have pitched to accommodate the climbers and film team.

In addition, there's a plywood shack for the Discovery TV crew to use as a camera workshop and edit suite, and 11 spacious 30x15-foot tents for Sherpa housing, dining quarters, storage, communications headquarters and bathrooms. Yes, we've got toilets and showers here (so long as a barrel with a toilet seat is your idea of a john).

Best of all is Russell's luxurious mushroom-shaped, 20-foot-tall, 25-foot-diameter pleasure dome. Years of Everest trips have taught Russ that the "key to success is to keep everyone comfortable." With this in mind he's brought along this insulated, carpeted shelter, with chairs and tables, a chrome wet bar, flat-screen TV and sound system, and a gas heater. Oh yeah, it's got a vinyl window facing the big E. I'm looking out that window right now as I type this dispatch.

Everest is in cloud and the sun is setting. My head feels like a hammer is gently tapping on it, as today we've driven 1,000 meters higher than Shegar — to a base camp height of 5,200 meters. Gazing out that window, I count about 120 other tents housing our fellow expeditioners, spread along the gray, gravely snout of the glacier.

A few other Everestville factoids before I sign off: Our water is siphoned out of a glacial lake by several hundred feet of pipe and fed into a 1,000-liter tank; the cook tent currently has a supply of about 100 bomb-shaped propane tanks; four generators and a host of solar panels will feed our battery chargers, lights and appliances.

As we lounge in the pleasure dome — which a member of the film crew has just dubbed "the most extreme night club in the world" — it's easy to forget that luxury and technology alone aren't enough to get a climber up Everest. That's up to the body and the mind.

Signing off,
Greg Child

Comments

[George]

I really like this blog. It makes me feel as thouhg I am there.

Could you please post some pictures of Everestville and the "pleasure dome"?

Keep up the good work!

[carol]

Thanks for the daily info. My son Tim is one of the team. He will not e-mail me or talk to me until the climb is over. I understand where he is coming from and wants to focus on this climb. This blog lets me know what is going on and I love the pictures. I copy them and am saving them for Tim. Thanks again and keep up the good work and the news.