BGE team Sherpas and staff are at BC unpacking equipment, setting tents and preparing for Dan and Greg. They are making the 400 miles journey from Lhasa by Land Cruiser, a luxury in Tibet. The first day's drive out of Lhasa is 190 miles to Shigatse (12,500'), Tibet's second largest city. The second day takes them through the small town of Lhatse (for lunch) and on to Tingri (14,000'). Everest is visible now, towering over the smaller surrounding peaks. Day three they drive on switchbacks up through the Pang La Pass (19,000')and down into the Rongbuk Valley to the Rongbuk Monastery (16,500'). Tradition dictates a stop here for offerings to Chomolangma (Tibetan for Everest),"Mother Goddess of Earth". The monks get something too. After the monastery the road is reduced to a rock strewn path crossed by a few ice covered streams. It all ends in the bolder strewn terminal moraine of the Rongbuk Glacier. Base camps for North Side climbs are set up here.
Cattle grazing on the open plain south of Tingri, Cho Oyu (26,906') world's 6th highest peak domaining the horizon.
