Which Side Are You On?

I found a photo today of the Base Camp Hotel on the Tibet side of Mount Everest. Check out the image below posted on Webshots by davishongkong. I didn’t realise there was this kind of thing on the Tibet side of Everest.

The last picture I saw of Tibet’s Everest Base Camp, it was all tin shacks and rubble. I have to confess that I have a blind spot for the Northern side of Everest, tending just to think about the South Face side of things. I should remember that Mallory is still up there on the Tibet side, and that Sir Ranulph tried (unsuccessfully) to climb it a few years back.

But I’m wondering if my bias is unjustified. This image of Tibet just doesn’t have the romance I associate with the Everest Base Camp. Politics aside, which looks like the better experience to you: the paved road with a 4×4 and a hotel, or the culmination of Everest Base Camp Trek on the Nepal side with the tents, the rugged carpet of the Khumbu glacier, and the satisfaction of arriving there by foot?

Here’s a photo I think makes my point, an image of Everest Base Camp by ilkerender on Creative Commons.

But perhaps I can find a few better pics of the Tibet approach. I’ll get back to you on that.

Gareth