Changes at Tibet Everest Base Camp. This post is regular updated about the Changes at Tibet Everest Base Camp on Tibet Side of the Himalayas. If you are planning to visit Tibet and its mount everest basecamp. please consider reading this post for the latest updates.
Most informations on internets are outdated and will not give you aqurate informations. My Tibet travel agency friend and Tibet tour guide always keeps me update on changes in Tibet tourism so that i can give your a right informations to help you plan better tours in tibet.
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UPDATED FOR 2024
The Land of Snows is the travel blog of Jamin “Lobsang” Lee. He has lived and worked in various areas of Tibet for over two decades and Travel extensively greater Himalaya region in Bhutan, Nepal and Ladakh, He has decades of experience traveling, climbing and trekking the Himalayas. Here he has shared Travel informations of Tibet and other region from his own direct experiences. I hope these information will help you make your Tibet travel plan. For direct Travel consultation and Tibet Travel Agency Recommendation, Contact us via info@thelandofsnows.com.
Mt Everest photographed from above Rongphu Monastery in Tibet
2024 Everest Update
There is a new hotel 20 kilometers from Everest basecamp with all morden emanities and oxygen supply. Rongbuk Monastery Guest house is also renovate in completely different and new hotel with all facilities like attach bathroo, wifi, and oxygen supply. You will find the detials in following.
What are the accommodation options?
Typically, there are 2 different basic accommodation options in the Everest Base Camp Region. Normally there is a group of 50 to 60 black, yak wool tents set up 3 kilometers beyond Rongphu Monastery. Now, however, these tent-style hotels have relocated to the area around Rongphu Monastery. These basic accommodations have beds with plenty of blankets, a small sheep-dung stove in the middle and serve basic dinner and breakfasts, along with soft drinks and tea. There are shared toilets to use that are extremely dirty. In fact, they are some of the worst in all of Tibet! There are no showering facilities in the tent hotels.
Rongphu Monastery Guest House (Newly renovated)
The Rongphu Monastesy is newly renovated into a great guest house with bathroom attach, and Oxygen supply. There also have a hot shower, wifi, heating and plenty of Blanket. More costly room has two bed in a room and more basic rooms about 6-8 bed in a room.here is a good-sized restaurant here that is generally kept heated with a sheep-dung stove (common in Tibet). The restaurant serves basic, but good food, including breakfast.
The only drawback for the new guest house is it is very expensive right upto 125 USD per night. Is it worth that much for a night. For a room with a great view of Mount Everest right infornt of window for a night with all the modern facilities. It think it is absolutely worth it.
8848 Hotel (New hotel)
If you are looking for a budget and conformtable stay at the Mount Everest Basecamp, I would like to bring your attention to the 8848 Hotel in Choezom village. The village is located 20 kilometers from the mount Everest basecamp. The hotel has hot running water, wifi, attach toilet, and clean blanket. This hotel is highly recorecommended for travelers lookingg for a cheaper alternative to Rongphu monastery hotel and it is better for high altitude sickness as it is located lower as compare the rongphu monastery hotel.
Everest from Rongphu Monastery in Tibet. This is as close to Everest as you can go now. It’s a pretty amazing view!
2019 Tibet Side Everest Clean Up Project
China continued doing a large scale clean up project on the Tibet side of Mt Everest in 2019. This clean up project began in 2018, where over 8 tons of waste was collected. The clean up effort in 2019 supposedly went as high as 8000 meters on Everest to try and remove bodies of climbers who died in the so-called “Death Zone”. As someone who has spent considerable time at Mt Everest each year for the past 17 years, this is a really good thing. In meetings that I have been to, China is planning to put eco-friendly toilets at Everest base camp, have a regular garbage service to the area, and has plans for a small medical clinic that would operate thru the tourism season. We will see if these ideas actually happenn.
How will this affect travel?
While the BBC Headline on February 15, 2019 made it sound like Everest is off-limits to foreign travelers, in reality the changes are not nearly as drastic. In fact, the changes overall are quite minimal. Starting from 2019, travelers without an Everest climbing permit will only be able to go as far as Rongphu (Rongbuk) Monastery. In 2018, travelers without a climbing permit could go as far as the Dza Rongphu Hermitage (just beyond the “tent hotels”), located 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) beyond Rongphu Monastery.
Prior to 2018, non-climbers could go another 2 kilometers beyond the Dza Rongphu Hermitage to a place the China government designated as “Everest Base Camp”. Though there was a sign there stating it was Everest Base Camp, almost all climbing expedition teams would set up their camp a further 500 meters to 1 kilometer further, in order to avoid having tourists going through expedition tents.
From 2019, China is putting a limit on the number of climbing permits that will be issued. The China Tibet Mountaineering Association will only issue 300 climbing permits for this year and might keep that number the same going into the future. There will be no limit to the number of travelers who can go to Mt Everest; the limit is only for those attempting the summit. An estimated 45,000 people visited the Tibet-side of Mt Everest in 2018.
What will the view be like from Rongphu?
Though travelers to Mt Everest can now go no further than Rongphu Monastery, the view of Everest is still FANTASTIC. I have been to the Tibet-side of Everest close to 50 times over the years. Those that have traveled with me on the journeys I lead all know that my favorite place in all of the Rongphu Valley is from the hill above Rongphu Monastery. Though the entire area offers a good view, by hiking just a few minutes above the monastery, you get a nice panoramic view. This view, in my opinion based on my many years of experience going to Everest, is just as good as the view from a few kilometers down the valley closer to the mountain.
Below are 3 pictures of Mt Everest:
- The first is the view of Everest from Rongphu, which is as far as you can go now
- The second is from near the Dza Rongphu Hermitage, the closest you could go in 2018
- The third is from Everest Base Camp, which you could go to from 2017 and before
This is the view of Everest from near the Dza Rongphu Hermitage. This was as close as you could go in 2018.
Everest viewed from actual base camp. Non-climbers could go to this point until 2017.
Summary of Changes at Tibet Everest Base Camp
Due to a massive clean up project, non-climbers will not be able to go beyond Rongphu Monastery in the Everest Region of Tibet anymore. From Rongphu, you still get an amazing view of the world’s highest mountain, as the pictures above testify. This new regulation is not created by travel companies, but is handed down by the highest level of government in China. The accommodation options at the Everest Region are extremely basic.
If you have any questions about the new Everest regulation or any other travel related question on Tibet, contact us at info@thelandofsnows.com.