Seven Days in Tibet Expedition Dispatch
May 28, 2010 – On the Road From Shigatse to Shegar
Gyatsola Pass
The trip is 240km., through fertile, irrigated river valleys and high passes. We crossed the Tsola Pass at 4500 meters and the Gyatrola Pass at 5248 meters (our high point on the Tibet trip. The scale of the mountains and valleys is vast - too vast to capture adequately on camera or to describe. The land is dry and arid, brown in color, with vegetation only in the river valley.
Shegar is the jumping off point for our trip to Everest Base Camp North. Tomorrow is May 29, the 57th anniversary of the first successful summit of Mount Everest by Hillary and Tenzing. We are crossing our fingers that the weather will be good.
We arrived at Shegar in mid-afternoon. Our hotel, the Chomolungma Hotel, has the most comfortable beds of our Tibet trip so far. Future travelers to Tibet should take note that the beds in Tibetan Hotels are for the most part extremely hard; bring an inflatable mattress would not be a bad idea.
We toured the town of Shegar in the late afternoon. It is a very small town that appears to be controlled by the extensive local dog population.
More tomorrow.
Andrew and Doug