Slideshow: A Journey to Mount Everest Base Camp
NEW YORK, August 2, 2011 — Inspired by a friend’s trek to the base camp of the tallest mountain in the world, Asia Society New York's Chandani Punia embarked on the same remarkable journey this past spring.
An adrenaline-filled 45-minute plane ride from Kathmandu took her to Lukla (9,315 ft/2,839 m), the starting point of her trek through Nepal's Khumbu Region and up to Base Camp. After several days of trekking though varying landscapes — from rhodendron-laden valleys to glacial moraines — Punia reached Mount Everest Base Camp (17,598 ft/5,364 m) a little before 8:00 am on Friday, May 13, 2011. Her photographs, above, document the successive stages of her trek, and convey some of the exhilaration she felt at completing her journey.
Punia told AsiaSociety.org, "The overall sense of contentment that pervaded the Khumbu region is something that will stay in my memory forever."