Virtual Strangers (38 page)

The epilogue extract, taken from
The Death Zone
, by Matt Dickinson, describes the North Face of Everest, as seen from Tibet, and not Nepal. Everest straddles China and Nepal, and climbers of the North Face begin their ascent from the Rongbuk glacier, at the edge of the Tibetan Plateau.

Most successful Everest attempts, however, have been of its South West Face, the one that the mountain shows to Nepal. Trekkers who wish to see the foot of Everest for themselves would journey by bus from Kathmandu up to Jiri, and then trek there, via Namche Bazaar and Pheriche. Everest Base Camp sits at the foot of the Khumbu Icefall, at a little over seventeen and a half thousand feet.

Acclimatization is essential.

LBL

November 1999