We wanted to go in the Kangshung valley, next to the Everest, to make an expedition to traverse 2 passes: the Karpo La, and the Lhapka La. The route would start from Kharta, passing a pass somewhere at 5000m to join the Kangshung valley. From there we would walk up to some lakes on the right side of the valley at 5000m. Above the lakes, you can find the Karpo La pass (~6200m), and after walking on Kharta glacier, we would reach the Lhapka La pass (~6700m). On the other side of the pass, there is the Tibetan Everest advanced base camp. We would be back to Everest base camp at Rongbuk, from where we would take the jeep back to Nepal.

But the expedition needs to be organized through the Tibetan trek agency, which means that you will have porters, a guide and a cooker. A full expedition team... for just 2 guys... Oh yes, and you can’t skip it apparently. So you can easily guess that it would cost something over 3000-4000 US$ per person. And we can’t definitely afford it. A French trek agency proposes this expedition and it costs about 6500euros and I know now why it’s so expensive. Not only because it’s remote and haven’t been done for a long time, but because when you deal with the Chinese, it’s expensive.
Moreover I heard last week that the Chinese were not giving permits for the Everest advanced base camp, so we wouldn’t be allowed to do our route. Maybe it changed now, but it won’t change our decision.

We won’t go to Tibet :-(

Time to get ready for plan B... (you should always have a plan B, we learnt it in Argentina)