18th November
Went to airport for 7 - we’re actually flying! We get to go to Everest!
Got a flight around 10 in a Twin Otter small plane for about 20 people. We still had a stewardess though, and she gave us cotton wool to stuff into our ears for the noise. The plane was so small that the pilots didn’t bother to close the door to the cockpit - one of them was reading a newspaper as we flew across the mountains.
Landed in Lukla (2860m). There were stranded trekkers everywhere. I think Hari said this was probably the worst weather problems he’d ever seen over here, with the longest delays. People were fighting to pay thousands to take helicopter flights out back to Kathmandu, and we were the first to arrive in Lukla since the weather cleared. We would be leading the way!
Can see why they have problems - 460m runway ends on a cliff edge.
Most dangerous runway in the world
Had food in Lukla
Met some guys coming back from expedition
“You can tell you’ve yet to go up - your boots are still clean!”
We met our support guides, Ashori and Anil who would be coming with us, ready to help out if anyone fell behind or if anything else went awry.
Ashori
Anil
I seem to remember we crossed an awful lot of bridges over the next few days. The bridges were astoundingly long and it wasn’t uncommon for us to have to wait at one end (or even go back!) for yak and donkey trains to cross first so we could get by.
Trekked out to Phakding (2652m).
