How Many Camps Are On Mount Everest: From Base Camp to Camp 4

Every climber dreams of climbing Mount Everest, the highest peak on Earth. Solo expeditions can only be achieved through careful planning, strict training, and the establishment of a series of camps at regular intervals along the route.

These Camps on Mount Everest are crucial for climbing and learning to survive at extreme altitudes and in nasty weather conditions.

Camps on Mount Everest is a spot on the mountain where climbers can crane and refuel, rest, and coordinate their ascents. Moreover, they are equipped with emergency rations (food, oxygen cylinders, ropes, and so on).

Without the Camps on Mount Everest, dealing with the mountain in the context of current ecological and acclimatization factors would be impracticable.

In this blog, we’d like to discuss how many camps are on Mount Everest, where they are situated, and what role they play in making the ascent to the roof of the world a safe, effective expedition.

Why Camps on Mount Everest Essential for the Climb?

Mount Everest Base Camps are the finishing camps for all mountaineering excursions to Mount Everest. They are also rest points from which a portion of the climber’s “recovery” physical work can be replenished and prepared for the next climbing work stage.

These Camps on Mount Everest are well positioned to acclimatize climbers to high altitudes and thereby decrease the risk of fatal complications from high-altitude illness.

In addition to being a place to rest, the Camps on Mount Everest provide the opportunity to stock up on critical items such as food, water, supplementary oxygen, and medical kits. 

These are also emergency lodging in sudden, severe, acute weather events or accidents. However, camps are not only mountain infrastructures but also of great psychological and physical significance for the climber’s life. 

Breaking the climb back into smaller steps provides a more controlled, safer way to climb the highest mountain on Earth.

Everest Base Camp: The Starting Point of Everest Expeditions

Many people ask how many camps are on Mount Everest? Mount Everest Base Camp is one of the original base camps suitable for seasoned climbers about to summit.

The expedition’s departure point is Everest Base Camp, located at an altitude of approximately 5,364 m (17,598 ft) from the south on the Nepali side and 5,150 m (16,896 ft) from the north on the Tibetan side.

Everest Base Camp’s major purpose is to allow climbers to ascend to high altitudes. Climbers should be exposed to altitude to minimise the incidence of altitude sickness during their ascent.

In that place, health checkups are done several days beforehand, climbing is practised, and the route is learned.

At Base Camp, there are facilities for habitation like tents, a food and eating area, and equipment storage. 

On the item-dependent side, personal solar-powered electrical charging stations and electronic communication devices are quite common, and medical aid is also included in some emergencies.

Camp 1: Gateway to the Khumbu Icefall

Camp 1 is the starting point for the track to Mount Everest’s peak. It is at an altitude of 6,065 m (19,900 ft) and lies beside the Khumbu Icefall, one of the route’s most dangerous sections.

Entry into Camp 1 involves crossing a roaming ice and crevasse system, which causes great physical and psychological stress.

The campsite is on the Western Cwm, a narrow valley bounded by impressive peaks on three sides. Both can also provide the opportunity to acclimatize at an altitude above ground level en route to high-altitude targets.

Unfortunately, Camp 1 Everest is a place of danger. During climbing, climbers recline, and body changes are made to accommodate hypoxia. Then, preparation for the next phase is made.

However, Camp 1 comes with its challenges. This region has a high daily temperature range, with high temperatures during the day and low temperatures during the night. Avalanches from nearby peaks also pose a constant threat.

Camp 2: The Advanced Base Camp in the Western Cwm

Camp 2, or Advanced Base Camp, is set at an altitude of approximately 6,400 m (21,000 ft) at the western edge of the Western Cwm. It is older than Camp 1 and provides the foundation for climber training at high altitudes and in any other setting.

Camp 2 is a useful station that is well-located and may be relevant during a planned expedition. It is provided with tents for camp sleeping, dining, and storage and, more or less, always accompanies communication equipment to keep in contact with the other camps. 

Climbers often spend days high above this to acclimate even more to the pressures they will require below them if they take, as lung practice, low oxygen at high altitudes.

The camp, however, is protected from avalanches behind the Lhotse Face. Because of this, the bowl shape of the Western Cwm bowl also raises the daytime air temperature, which in turn becomes exhausting work.

Despite its some problems, Camp 2 plays an important part in each Everest expedition. Climbers cross each landmark; known areas are small and beset from below by scaling before climbing the cliff wall/ice down to the Lhotse Face to Camp 3, and so on. 

Camp 3: The Lhotse Face Ascent

Camp 3 is 7470 m, 24500 ft high above sea level, and set in the high level (highest part) of the Lhotse Face, an almost vertical, icy slope, one of the most challenging sights on the itinerary approaching Everest.

Climbers reach Camp 3 by walking in the rock and snow of the Western Cwm and slopes of the Lhotse Face. The Lhotse face is an icy and ropy wall with incredibly steep slopes requiring an ascending lifeline to its elevation and trail slope; attending Camp 3 is arduous from a physical and psychological point of view. 

In ice climbing and ice ascents, mountaineers must also prepare for the boredom of long climbing and ascents by using ice axes and crampons to secure their grasp of the ice slope.

The air is very thin, and each point is a fight. Climbers rework the extreme fatigue. Preparation for Camp 3 is a complicated, critical process. 

Camp is generally set up on a relatively gentle dip of the Lhotse Face, but because the slope in the high degree of the dip is steep, careful planning and the use of anchors are necessary to stabilize tents and structures.

It is a relatively small, temporary base, as climbers are only expected to rest and acclimate for a short time before continuing their ascent.

Everest Camp 3 Dangers

The dangers at Camp 3 are numerous. The Lhotse Face is a highly avalanche-hit and rockfall-prone area, particularly in the unprotected parts.

Combined with the extremely cold (sub 0°C) winter temperatures, this aggravates the issue. On the other hand, in the climber, body self-state is repeatedly requested to occupy the top of their attention because the physiological effects of altitude sickness may suddenly appear at this height.

Although risk exposure is a risk in and of itself, Camp 3 is also one of the most recognizable course waypoints leading to the top route.

This provides climbers with the possibility of a short interval of refreshment to recharge so that they can reach one final climb to Camp 4 and then the summit of Mount Everest.

Camp 4: South Col, The Death Zone Begins

Camp 4 is at 7900 m (26,000 ft) elevation on the South Col, above the harness between Mount Everest and Lhotse. The current camp is an endpoint of the itinerary at the foot of the summit beds, and it is essential to ascend to the summit.

This is a fundamental component of the expedition as it is during this time that the person is exposed to what is known as a “Death Zone,” i.e., the area in which the person cannot acclimatize to the altitude, as the level of haemoglobin in the blood reaches an alarming critical limit.

The path from Camp 3 to Camp 4 is extremely challenging. A hike is defined as a narrow, exposed ridge left at the operating conditions of weather extremes, with strong wind and very cold weather.

To date, supplemental oxygen has been reported as altitude simulation to reduce the symptoms of acute cerebral hypoperfusion and maintain the necessary fitness to complete the final ascent to the summit. 

Because of the low atmospheric pressure, it is also harder to concentrate each breath, and the chances of tiredness, dehydration, and frostbite are greater.

At Everest Camp 4, climbers wait and prepare for the summit traverse. It is traditionally a relatively short, light camp with podiatrists who are present for a relatively short time, consuming the energy budget they leave.

Mountaineers must be properly prepared because the descent from Camp 4 is arguably the most dangerous part of the climb.

Everest Camp 4 Dangers

The conditions at Camp 4 are harsh. The temperature will never be above freezing, and the camp is in the open, so it will feel even colder by the wind. Here, because partial pressures of oxygen are relatively low in the air that subjects are exposed to while at rest, the “Death zone” begins.

Oxygen in the flask being consumed by the majority of climbers is at the top of those having the highest survival possibility since survival rates are dramatically reduced (minor) in the absence of oxygen. 

Going in the Death Zone is followed by the onset of symptoms, including fatigue, vertigo, and dyspnoea, which make any normal movement work.

The dangers at Camp 4 are considerable. Mountaineers risk altitude disease, hypothermia, and fatigue. Conditions are extremely difficult, and storms, avalanches, and rock slides remain an exposure.

The fact that it is possible to get to Camp 4 Everest, even if it is just a success, is not the end of the story. Having completed part of the job, the climbing goes on.

On to the top, and it is there that mountaineers tussle with some of the toughest elements. It is the final and last step in the test of weakening, the final try at the fight.

Reaching the top of Mount Everest is possible, but reaching the peak from Camp 4–through to the summit is a task that demands the full focus and will of climbers, both mentally and physically, to reach the top of the world.

Mount Everest Camp 4 to the Summit

The trek down from Camp 4 to Mount Everest’s summit is the climb’s final and most hazardous stage. Climbers depart the Everest Camp 4 safe house in the morning for the summit traverse.

At this point, at this level of the vertical, the human subject faces the Death Zone, and not only in a physical sense but also psychically, because the human is subjected to oxygen deprivation, huge cold and physical exertion are involved in the climb.

Starting the Summit Push

On the summit climb, climbers generally attempt between midnight and 2 AM. They do this to take advantage of the amplification of snow and ice stiffness caused by frost and the subsequent reduction of the risk of rockfall or avalanche.

The ascend begins at the famous “Hillary Step”, an exposure challenge section of the climbing route above which the climber is implicitly held to have competence. Although this remains one of the final hurdles on the road to the top,

The Final Ascent of Mount Everest from Camp 4

After an ascent of the Hillary Step incline, the climbers come to the summit on the southeast ridge. The trail is maintained by a system of fixed ropes and anchors as climbers go higher and higher, enabling the climber to keep a hold and safety while going through the trail.

Uphill progression is becoming increasingly demanding (due to hypoxia and the accumulation of ground gradient). Already, each step is a major exertion, and climbers are challenged to concentrate lest they make a fatal mistake.

Extreme weather involves high speed, low temperature, and lack of shelter, all of which are extreme. 

Climbers are also at risk of hypothermia, frostbite, and fatigue, and it is useful to calendarize and plan short breaks as needed. 

It is not the environment that may be most dangerous, but the climbers who arrive, realizing that in the end, it is the summit that gets pulled from their grip, and it is the climber’s own brain that keeps on pulling.

Reaching the Everest Summit

Last but not least, after hours of climbing, they reach the top of Mount Everest. The summit is generally characterized by a small horizontal platform where climbers can place their feet and admire the view of the world. 

By this time, the climbers are at 8,848 meters (29,029 feet), the summit of Mount Everest, the highest point in the world. 

The feeling of accomplishment is exhilarating but short-lived, for there is virtually no break from dementia care. Oxygen availability is also critically low, and the climbers should start descending to adhere to severe health consequences.