Mt. Everest North Side 2024 Update: The Team Has Arrived in Advanced Base Camp

As our 2024 Mount Everest North Side Rapid Ascent Expedition begins, we’ll be posting a series of blogs throughout the climb with updates straight from the mountainside.

Flights to Chengdu and Tibet

After over a year of planning, the 2024 Alpenglow Expeditions Mt. Everest North Side Rapid Ascent has arrived in Tibet. Over the course of May 4 – 6, climbers and guides departed from 3 different continents to convene in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. There they spent a few days meeting and organizing before boarding their flight to Lhasa, the administrative capital and cultural center of Tibet.

Meanwhile, our 14-member Sherpa team made preparations to cross the border from Nepal into Tibet and arrive to set up the North Side Base Camp, which is now under way.

Traversing the Tibetan Plateau

In Lhasa, our team spent a day exploring the ancient Buddhist establishment, Potala Palace, former home of the Dalai Lama, as well as the Jokhang Monastery, another of Tibet’s most important cultural sites. Later that day, they began the long drive across the Tibetan plateau and stopped in Shigatse.

Then, they departed Shigatse and drove another full day to Shegar, also known as New Tingri, a small town just a few hours outside of Everest Base Camp. As a team, they hiked up a hill outside of town reaching 16,000’/4,877m to continue their natural acclimatization. Our Rapid Ascent team, however, has already spent the last several weeks acclimating at home by sleeping in Hypoxico tents, which allows us to spend significantly less time overall acclimatizing to much higher altitudes on the mountain itself.

North Side Everest Base Camp

After some time at the Rongbuk Monastery, the highest monastery in the world, the team opted for some extra fitness and acclimatization by walking a few miles into base camp on the North Side of Mt. Everest at 17,000’/5,182m. Base camp with Alpenglow is fitted with luxurious single and double-occupancy tents, a full kitchen where our professional cook team prepares fresh, healthy meals, and dining tent large enough for the whole team of guides, climbers, staff, and Sherpa, and a lounge tent for rest and recovery.

Over the next few days, the team will continue to rest and acclimatize with short half-day hikes of a few thousand feet while going over basic climbing skills before moving on to Interim Camp and eventually Advanced Base Camp at 21,300’/6,492m.

Everest North Side Advanced Base Camp

We split the move to Advanced Base Camp in two, starting with moving 6 miles to Interim Camp. While this camp is simple, the clients still enjoy comfortable sleeping, dining, and excellent food. The location is incredible, surrounded by penitentes (ice towers) and moraines.

When we left Interim Camp, six miles of hiking along the moraine and glacier bring us to Advanced Base Camp, our home on the side of the East Rongbuk Glacier. This camp, our main one for the duration of the expedition, is established with as much comfort as possible to balance life in the harsh environment.

Our bodies need time to acclimatize to over 21,000 feet. We utilize the rest days revisiting required fixed rope and climbing skills, taking short acclimatization hikes, and eating and resting. The next day we pushed up to the head of the East Rongbuk glacier and the start of the technical climbing. This acclimatization hike delivers absolutely stunning views of the Northeast Face of Everest and across to the beautiful Lhakpa Ri.

Stay tuned for further updates as our 2024 Mount Everest North Side team progresses!

Interested to climb the tallest mountain in the world? Click HERE for an expedition overview, and connect with our team to discuss how you can join in 2025.