The highway will be paved and follow an existing 67-mile “rough path” on the Tibetan side of Mount Everest to the base camp at 17,060 feet. (So we assume all those yaks hauling equipment to the base camp on the Nepal side, recently dubbed the Himalayan version of Burning Man by Outside, won’t be put out of work any time soon.) But the questions raised by the development are many. Among them: What impact will it have on the base camp? What will the environmental impact of the road be? What effect will it have on China-Tibet relations? Is this development really a ploy for China to strengthen its claims to Tibet? 

According to China’s Xinhua News Agency, as quoted in a story by the AP’s Scott McDonald, the highway’s goal is to “ease the Olympic torch’s journey to the peak of the world’s tallest mountain before the 2008 Beijing Games.” Representatives of groups affected by the road—the Tibetan government and mountaineers—reacted to the news in different ways.

According to the AP story, “An official from the Secretariat of the Tibetan government, who declined to give his name, confirmed the project was planned, but refused to give any details.”

Also quoted in the story: self-described “high altitude adventurer” Ed Viesturs. He says the paved road “might make access to base camp easier for tour groups, but he did not think it would affect climbers significantly.”

He continues:

“It’s not going to matter to a climber whether it’s paved or not,” he said. “Big deal.”

Viesturs, who has summitted Everest six times, noted that no matter how well maintained the road is, climbers must ascend slowly to give them time to acclimatize to the steadily dropping oxygen levels.

Although he acknowledged that the bumpy, dusty ride up to base camp on the north face of the mountain helps to make “you feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere,” he was reluctant to criticize the plan.

“I can’t make a decision to say it’s good for me to be alone. That’s hypocritical,” Viesturs said. “I know it would be nice to have less people there, but that’s selfish.”

Mark Bain, the director of Cornell University’s Center for the Environment, tells the AP that the road itself isn’t the largest threat to the environment, but the further development that may come with it, like “a parking lot at the end of the road and then perhaps a restaurant.”

The AP reports work on the road will start next week. Reuters says work has already begun.

Related on World Hum:
* Everest Base Camp: ‘The Himalayan Version of Burning Man’
* Expedition Everest: Disney Brings Nepal and Tibet to Orlando, Florida
* Train Completes First Journey to Tibet. But is it Progress or a ‘Second Invasion’?

Photo by topgold, via Flickr (Creative Commons).