Luxuries bring peak closer to home

QOMOLANGMA BASE CAMP, Nepal — Wi-Fi, baked goods and trendy coffee: gone are the days of deprivation at the base camp of Qomolangma (known in the West as Mount Everest), with hipster perks and modern conveniences ensuring life is cushier than ever on the roof of the world.

The Khumbu glacier at the foot of Qomolangma transforms every spring into a highaltitude metropolis of surprising luxury for the hundreds of climbers aiming for the peak of the world’s highest mountain.

Canned food and bulky satellite phones are a thing of the past.

Today’s climbers enjoy fresh salads, social media and creature comforts unthinkable when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first stood atop the 8,848-meter peak 65 years ago.

“The first question people ask when they arrive at base camp is where’s the Wi-Fi. The second question is where’s the hot shower,” said veteran climber Russell Brice, owner of Himalayan Experience, one of the oldest and most established expedition operators.

The first intrepid teams to attempt Qomolangma took a month to reach base camp on the Nepal side of the mountain.

The journey was cut to eight days with the construction of a small mountain airstrip at Lukla, the gateway to the Qomolangma region.

Around 2,500 yaks make that journey at the beginning of the spring climbing season in April to turn the rockstrewn glacier into the world’s highest city for two months of the year.