Tibet, a pearl on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, has attracted a lot of followers from all over the world. It has a unique landscape, snow towering mountains, holy lakes, mysterious Tibetan Buddhism, Culture, and many other fantastic things for you to explore.
Tibet mountains
Nowhere will you find in the world 26 of the 100 highest mountains clustered together in a single place except in the Tibetan Plateau. Several mountain ranges run along the Tibetan Plateau. They are the Himalayas, Karakoram range-Tanggula Mountains, Gangtise-Nyenchen Tanglha, the Kunlun Mountain Range, and Hengduan Mountain Range.
Mount Everest is the main peak of the Himalayas, as the highest mountain on earth, towering around 8,848 meters (29,029 feet) above sea level. It sits right at the very border of Tibet and Nepal and has base camps on each side. The Tibetans refer to Mount Everest as “Chomulungma” which means “Goddess Mother of the earth”; while the Nepalese call it “Sagarmatha”, which means “forehead in the sky”. These base camps are frequented by tourists who are desirous of taking a glimpse of the highest point in the world and climbing expeditions who want to scale this majestic mountain.
Two Everest Base Camps
Two base camps were established on each side of Everest, one in the Tibetan side and another in the Nepalese side. The Everest Base Camp in Tibet is the more accessible one for it is reachable by road and is a popular tourist destination in Tibet. The base camp in Nepal, on the other hand, would require you to trek for a week just to reach it. Many Tibet tours include a side trip to the Everest Base Camp (EBC) as a highlight. Many of these tour packages consist of 7 to 10-day tours that usually begin in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.
How to get to Mt.Everest?
We will start from Lhasa along the Sino-Nepal highway through Gyantse, Shigatse to Shegar, for a distance of 670 kilometers, which takes about two days. Then go south along the simply-built highway, after drive 110 kilometers to reach the northern foot of Mt.Everest, where you can see Rongbuk Monastery, with an altitude of 5154 meters. From there, you can get ready for EBC trekking.
Towering at 8,516 meters (27,940 ft), Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain on earth. Only Everest, K2, and Kangchengunga top Lhotse. The Tibetans refer to Lhotse as the “South Peak,” and it is the literal meaning of the word “Lhotse.” Lhotse has two other lower peaks. Its main summit was first scaled on May 18 of 1956 by Fritz Luchsinger and Ernst Reiss.
Getting a glimpse of Lhotse on the Tibetan side would surely be difficult and the best point to see it from there is along the Geu La Pass and it should be on a clear day. However, if you really want to see the majesty of Lhotse, you should take a trek to the Kangshung Valley near Khrata east of Mt. Everest. There, you will surely get to behold the majestic Lhotse. But it is doubtful that you will brave this challenge of going there for it is truly quite difficult to reach the Kangshung Valley.
How to get to Mt. Lhotse?
Take a road trip from Lhasa to Shegar, and then move southward to reach Rongbuk Monastery (5154 meters). The journey is a total of 780km. You can see it’s almost the same route for going to Mt.Everest. Actually Mt.Lhotse is just three kilometers south of Mt.Everest.
Mount Kailash doesn’t belong to the Top 100 highest mountains in the world, but it stands tall as the most sacred mountain in Tibet. Located just near the sacred lake of Manasarovar and Lake Rakshastal, it belongs to Gangtise Mountain Range. Mt.Kailash is considered the center of the world by four religions, namely, Bon, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
In Bön, it is considered as the “axis mundi” (center of the universe). In Hinduism, Mt. Kailash is considered traditionally as Lord’s Shiva’s Abode. In Jainism, Mt. Kailash is the place where Jain Tirthankara attained liberation (Moksha). And in Buddhism, Mt. Kailash is referred to as Mt. Meru, and thus, it is a sacred pilgrimage site.
Mt. Kailash is around 6,638 m (21,778 ft). This elevation is no mean height too for it is still an over-imposing mountain due to its height. However, it doesn’t need to be the highest mountain or an Eight-thousander to be popular among tourists and pilgrims. There were attempts in the past to scale the summit of Mount Kailash, but none has succeeded. Thus, this sacred mountain is still spared from the scaling of humans.
Kora around Mount Kailash
It is the habit of pilgrims to circumambulate or walk around a sacred site and this habit is called Kora. The Mount Kailash Kora is one of the world’s most valuable pilgrimage Kora. The Mount Kailash Kora begins in Darchen, a small town, south of Mount Kailash. This Kora takes around 3 days to complete, for it is a 52-km walk around this sacred mountain. Thus, you should carefully plan this Kora, and it is best done with the guidance of an expert in Mt. Kailash Tour.
How to get to Mt.Kailash?
There’re two options to get to Mt.Kailash, by flight or by road. Due to the higher price and fewer flights from Lhasa Gonngar Airport to Ngari Gunsa Airport, very few travelers choose to take a flight. Instead, they would take a road trip to Mt.Kailash through the national highways of 318 and 219. The entrance of Mt.Kailash is located at Darchen, which is 2 km from 219 National Road. This road trip takes about 4 days for covering 1500km.
