The Road on to Everest

Drudge has a headline up that says, "China to build highway on Mount Everest... "

On Mount Everest? Um sorry, there is no civil engineering team in the world that could pull that off. I think mankind would have a better shot of landing on the moon with a bicycle than building a road on Mount Everest.

Anway, I think Drudge was lost in translation on this. The article he links to probably orginated in Chinese as their headline also reads, "China to build highway on world's tallest mountain." But reading further, you will see that they are just building a paved road from New Tingri to Base Camp, which is 12 miles away from the actual mountain:

China will begin Monday building a "highway" on Mount Qomolangma, the world's tallest peak, in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region so as to ease the path of those bearing the Olympic torch.

Budgeted at 150 million yuan (19.7 million U.S. dollars), construction of the road will kick off at Qomolangma Base Camp 5,200 meters above sea level.

The project aims to turn a 108-km rough road linking Tingri County of Xigaze Prefecture at the foot of the mountain to the Base Camp into a blacktop highway fenced by undulating guardrails.

This is a really good thing. The ride in the Land Cruiser from New Tingri to the Rongbuk Monestary put my kidneys in my mouth. It is a rough dirt road that actually goes over a 4,500 meter pass called Dongla (-la means "pass" in Tibetan). Here is the road down from the top of Dongla:

The pass is absolutely gorgeous and gave us our first look at Everest:

I think the Chinese have found out that trips to Everest are good for tourism revenue. This road will get more climbers, trekkers and visitors to Base Camp much quicker, easier and, conversely, will aid in getting the injured out faster. Interestingly, our Tibetan guide said that just a few years ago, you would have to drive through the rivers because there were no bridges on them.

UPDATE: Here is a video recorded from Dongla from my digital camera: