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Photo Galleries

Kathmandu and the Trek in to Base Camp (5,000-17,500 ft)
"It would be difficult to imagine much less find a finer sight for worship or for contemplation."
— H. W. Tilman, who explored the Khumbu in the 1930-40s


Base Camp (17,500 ft)
"There was no more grass, no flowers, not even any moss: dusty granite blocks covered the ice and an occasional grinding groan reminded us that we were on a slow-moving glacier."
— Sir Chris Bonington, from Everest the Hard Way


Khumbu Icefall (17,500-19,500 ft)
"Pasang and I, at either end of the break, managed to scramble off the moving sheet of snow, and Riddiford was left suspended between the two of us while the sheet broke into great blocks and slid silently into the trough."
— Eric Shipton, 1951, from Walt Unsworth's Everest


Camp I — Western Cwm (19,500 ft)
"From their tents they could see the snowy bowl of the Cwm... It was hemmed in on the left by the Southwest Face of Everest, an impressive wall of dark rock laced with ice bands, and on their right by the steep icy ramparts of the Lhotse-Nuptse Ridge."
— Walt Unsworth, in Everest


Camp II — Upper Cwm (21,000 ft)
"This is a large, comfortable camp from which we base our summit attempts."
— Todd Burleson


Camp III — Lhotse Face (23,500 ft)
"No Sherpa ever stays at Camp III — they go all the way to the South Col before resting."
— Todd Burleson


Camp IV — The South Col (26,300 ft)
"A barren field of rock and ice. It's like another planet."
— Todd Burleson


The Summit of Everest (29,035 ft)
"That summit was everything and more that a summit should be. My usually reticent partner [Dougal Haston] became expansive, his face broke out into a broad happy smile and we stood there hugging each other and thumping each other's backs."
— Doug Scott, from Everest the Hard Way