Day 12 - Rhonghpu - Everest Base Camp

Distance – 25kms
Max altitude – 5200m
Riding time – 2 hours

Basically a rest day, with copious tea and pancakes interspersed with a two ride up to Everest Base Camp proper. I spent most of the morning getting warm and talking to Lily, a 50-year-old Belgian woman who was supposed to be climbing a 7000m peak but had become altitude sick and had to return to base camp. She was devastated, not just because of the time and money wasted but because as a climber she now knew she was susceptible to altitude sickness and it would always be in the back of her mind.

The ride to EBC was on the same washerboard roads that I had endured yesterday, but was much easier without panniers. The camp itself was desolate (pictured below - minus the customary tents), but awe-inspiring to be standing just 2kms from the face of the world’s largest mountain. I lingered there for an hour or so (pictured right at the top) and laughed as three Japanese guys cracked a bottle of champagne and sang happy birthday to one of their party.

The trip back was pretty quick but cold, and I headed straight to the restaurant to get my core temperature back to normal. Met an interesting English guy – Ben – who was guiding a group and he told me he had ridden the same route a year earlier. He also informed me that two Dutch cyclists had died in this area around that time from hypothermia after getting caught in a blizzard without dry clothing. Ben talked me into taking a remote shortcut out of here rather than retracing my steps – a tempting thought as it meant avoiding the corrugations that I was dreading. The road would be difficult to navigate and more remote than any others I’d taken, but in his opinion I could cycle it at this time of year. It would include another 5000m pass, but I decided to give it a go.

Just before bed two Belgians in Lily’s climbing party arrived back from their trek. They were extremely sunburned and tired, but euphoric as it was the first time to 7000m for either of them.