Mount Everest is an icon, the highest mountain in the world at 8,848 meters (29,029 feet). So, it's one of those must-see sights. Mountaineers climb it because it’s the highest peak, but it’s far from the most technically challenging. Hikers do the trek to Everest Base Camp on the Nepalese side because Everest is the highest peak, but as busy as it has become there are arguably many more pleasant and exciting treks in the Himalayas. And I was on a tour where seeing Mount Everest was one of the highlights because it is the highest mountain, but as a connoisseur of mountain scenery I can say there are others I believe are more aesthetically pleasing.

What does Mount Everest mean to me? Well, I’ve been quite fascinated by it for about two decades . I considered doing the trek to Everest Base Camp on the Nepalese side but for several reasons decided on the Annapurna Circuit trek instead for my first time adventuring in the Himalayas. What comes to mind most, though, is something from 2005-2007 when I taught some SAT test prep classes for Princeton Review. In the verbal part of the book used in the curriculum there was a long dense passage about Mount Everest, its significance to people in the region, its different names, and some controversies around it. There were then about a dozen multiple choice questions about the passage. I taught this over and over for almost two years; somehow the text and questions imprinted in my mind; and I came to develop a prejudice against Everest or Chomolongma or Sagarmatha or whatever you choose to call it because I so disliked teaching those test prep classes. Ha!

I’ve included pictures from the road to and from Everest Base Camp as well as the road onwards to Shigatse in my next blog post, so we start here at lunch at a noodle restaurant outside the Rongphu Monastery . Rongphu is in the valley that leads to Tibetan/Chinese side Everest Base Camp and is said to be the world’s highest monastery at about 17,000 feet. After lunch we continued a short distance to a tourist tent camp where we would spend the night. Our group had three tents with about six people each, meals available, and with wood burning stoves inside not especially super-chilled. The beds were the seats around the perimeter – kind of like couch surfing.

We took some group photos with Sura and continued on to Everest Base Camp on a shuttle bus. When I say Everest Base Camp I should define that better. We went to an overlook a short distance down valley from Everest Base Camp. The Chinese don’t allow mountain gawkers to venture to where those with permits to climb the peak camp to prepare for their ascents. If you go too far you get a fine. It seems that way with lots of things in China; if you break a minor rule you don’t have to worry about locked up for a long time, you just get a big fine . Display of any flags is also strictly forbidden at the base camp overlook. Our Tibetan guide Tsuwan nearly had a stroke when Alan pulled out and held up a Northern Ireland flag with which to be photographed with Everest.

Some people have asked me whether the avalanche on the Nepalese side of Everest in which more than 20 Sherpas were killed affected my visit to EBC. The answer is no. The Sherpas’ demands to call off the season only pertained to climbers on the peak, not to trekkers to base camp. Secondly, things on the Chinese side are completely different. The porters and guides are not from the Sherpa ethnic group as in Nepal, and the May climbing season continued unaffected by the accident on the Nepalese side.

I went out from the tourist encampment several times to take pictures of the peak in the light of different times of day. Although Everest is impressive I found some of the peaks on the Annapurna Circuit to be more appealing, mostly because of bigger glaciers and most complete snow cover than on Everest.