Destination Information Series
Things to Do at Everest Base Camp
Everest Base Camp is not just a place to put up a tent; it is a seasonal city that appears for at least two months every year. Each expedition team makes up its own self-contained neighborhood complete with everything the members need to recover from a climbing rotation. It is a busy and exciting place with a surprising number of amenities and activities to offer. Here is a list of the things that the 2013 Everest Expedition Team does to keep busy at Base Camp!
- Explore camp! A visiting cultural geographer from Switzerland, Matthew, made this map showing where all the teams are located at Base Camp. It quickly became very popular with all of us who live here. As you can imagine, it would take several days to visit every team here. We often see very little of the other climbing expeditions, although we keep up with one another by radio and sometimes by satellite phone.
- Enjoy your morning cup of coffee. We've had a lot of snowfall this season, so you might as well get up early and enjoy it. Here Ang Temba sips his coffee while enjoying the fresh snow.
- Watch avalanches coming down the mountain. The terrain around Base Camp is incredibly dramatic and certain slopes are really prone to avalanches. We hear them throughout the day and night - occasionally a big one will draw us from our tents for a view.
- Watch movies. The guys loves to watch movies, however, the screen is a little small. Here they are enjoying Argo.
- Relax in the Yoga Lounge. It is a great place: there is a library, carpets, room to stretch and relax.... funny thing tough, the climbers on this year’s Berg Adventures climb do not spend as much time in the Yoga Lounge as teams in the past have.
- Kick back in the dining tent and enjoy reviewing photos from our climb on our laptops and iPads.
- Ice climb on the seracs near Base Camp. The ice provides a great playground for those interested in playing around with ice climbing techniques. Our team likes to save their energy for climbing through the icefall and on the Lhotse face, but there are usually a few people climbing and it is fun to watch them.
- Welcome climbers back to camp! Our climbers spend a lot of time high on the mountain, but it is always great to have them return to Base Camp.
- Hang out with our neighbors. Our neighbors this year include Karina Olaini and her climbing cinematographer, Scott Simper and Dr. Suzi MacKenszie of Base Camp ER.
- Keep a big rock from falling on your tent. With the longer days and warmer temperatures, we are finding that there is a need every day to rearrange our tents and our trails around Base Camp. Everything is moving! Some of the larger rocks cannot be left alone to melt out and shift as the glacier changes around us.
- Play games. Some of the teams here at B.C. enjoy poker nights. Our favorite is Mountaineering Monoploy which we play with our neighbors, the doctors at Base Camp ER. And no game night would be complete without Everest beer.
- Call home. Berg Adventures maintains a tent out on the medial moraine of the Khumbu Glacier, at a spot where we can hit the microwave tower at Gorak Shep and get the coveted "3G" connection for our phone calls and for internet. Dr. Kirsty Watson from Base Camp ER began to call our special 3-G connection spot on the glacier, the "G Spot" for short. The name stuck. Here is Ang Temba and our good friend Dave Hahn taking advantage of the high speed connections available from the "G spot”.