Photo opp: Mt. Everest at sunset

This photo was taken a few kilometres from Everest Base Camp in Nepal, during a brief moment when the setting sun turned the tip of Mt. Everest bright pink. A friend ran to grab his camera, but when he returned a few minutes later, the peak had already retreated into the shadows.

At 8,850 metres, Mt. Everest – known locally as Sagarmatha – is the highest peak in the world. Even if you don’t plan on following in the footsteps of Sir Edmond Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, trekking to the first base camp is challenging enough and requires a decent level of fitness. The trek itself takes about 11 or 12 days (including a couple of days for acclimatization or bad weather) from the village of Lukla high up in the Himalayas. To get here, catch a 45-minute flight from Kathmandu.

On the way to Everest Base Camp, we met a group coming back down that spent the entire time trekking in blizzard-like conditions and never actually saw Mt. Everest. This is always a risk you take when traveling to a particular destination – you may or may not experience what you were hoping to, depending on local conditions. I try to manage my expectations accordingly – after all, it’s usually those things we didn’t plan for that turn out to be the best part of any trip. But I was lucky – my group had clear skies almost every day, including the evening when I took this photo.

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