This story is true and happened in 1985 to a friend of mine named Vince from Alaska

He said he was visiting Lhasa from Kathmandu which was possible then by Bus. However, there is a mountain pass that is around 20,000 feet in elevation that the bus has to get over to get to Lhasa over the Himalayas. Well, Vince was in a bus at that pass and saw a whole bus of people frozen to death where the bus had broken down. But, because of the altitude and time of year the people were left like popsicles in that abandoned bus. I was in Kathmandu at that time and decided I didn't want to take a bus to Lhasa at the time because of all these dead people because my children at that time were traveling with me and my wife. So, I never did get to Lhasa and now I'm too old.

Also, there was a lady from a church I went to in the 1980s whose life long dream was to go to Tibet and to visit Lhasa. Well, she got on a plane and flew there but when she landed at 12,000 feet because she was already in her 70s she died within 15 minutes of landing trying to breathe in 12,000 feet air.

So, unless you are really hearty and sort of a trained mountain climber or something it's not always a good idea to even go to Lhasa because you might die of the altitude otherwise. 

For me, at this age I can visit 5000, 8000 and 10,000 feet by car or truck or motorhome but I find I shouldn't sleep at this altitude because doing this in 2022 put me eventually in the hospital for awhile at my age then of 74. I'm now 77 here in 2025. 

At that time we went to  Lake Tahoe, Teton National Park, Yellowstone national Park, Glacier National Park then up into Canada to Calgary, then over to Banff and Lake Louise. I had been trying to get back there since the early 1980s when i went with my family then in a 1976 Rabbit with a surf Rack converted into a roof rack with a piece of plywood that carried our 5 man tent and an unleaded cook stove and fuel then in the early 1980s. The kids were about 6, 8, and 10 then, my older kids (son from first marriage and two step kids) and we did this in likely August then in the early 1980s after I built our house on 2 1/2 acres of land in Mt. Shasta. But, I had been trying to go back to Banff and Lake Louise ever since because of the beautiful turquoise colored Lake Louise and traveling in Canada which is an experience in itself!