Acquiring a Camp Site at the Everest Base Camp

Question

I was just going through the details about processes and dependencies, and associated tough-nuts with planning and executing a trek to Everest Base Camp from Nepal side. In the same context, I had previously asked a question about travelling and itinerary to reach Namache Bazzaar.

Whilst, I have most of the necessary information about the route and day-viz plan along with the accommodation en-route, I was recently informed by a fellow (who spends a quite a lot of time in and around Himalayas) that with the kind of a season I am looking forward to, I'm most likely gonna find the trek pretty much crowded. As per my current plan, I can somehow put extra efforts and make a way-back trip to EBC instead of staying there, but I'd certainly like to have a stay for a day or two at the EBC and have a look at the level of preparation the summit aspirants have.

Having said this, I also heard a people mentioning that the base camp settlers often mark their sites with spray paints for their clients and all sorts of things, that sounds weird. And as we all know you don't wanna have to bivouac there with extreme weather and amount of littering the expeditions cause. The area around EBC is painted yellow with human waste. Marking a site to acquire it is not a new trend as I see, since Rob Hall had a huge area marked as his campsite by spray paints on and around boulders saying "NZ" which meant "New Zealand". With all due respect, that is quite annoyingly stupid. Though it doesn't seem like his direct order, it was his settlers who might have done that.

If I be stubborn and insist to have a stay, is it necessary to have a campsite booked or reserved if that is the right word to use?
How much this stupid booking thing may cost considering a busy season?

I can still make it a way-back day schedule, but asking just in case I want to or I may have to camp there at EBC.

Note: The base camp I am referring to is from Nepal side.

Answer 1

Firstly there are 2 Everest base camps, one in Nepal and one in Tibet.

I'm guessing you're after the Nepal one.

Both are set up on large flat areas at around 17,000 feet. There should be no problems with actual space. The area is large and flat. You may not get the best pitch but you will be able to fit somewhere.

Couple of other factors relating to this:

• There are only 2 seasons that you can climb to the base camps (March to May, and from September to December).
• You will need a permit, these are expensive and limited in number. Maybe this is what the person was talking about?
• There is also talk of forcing people to get guides, though this has yet to be enforced but could be in the near future. This is due a recent spate of deaths by solo travellers on the trek up.

The fee's depend on where you're climbing from, for Nepal the fee's have recently been cut. To base camp you're talking between $70-$250 depending on when you want to climb.