The following posts have been tagged with "Lukla". Browse through these Lukla articles to gain insight into what you may or may not want to do on your trip if it includes Lukla.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
On our day off we hiked up about 1000ft. to an abandoned airstrip
Located just up the mountain from Namche Bazaar is an abandoned airstrip. Officially known as Syanboche Airstrip, or Syangboche Airport, this small unpaved landing area is the closest "airport" to Mt. Everest. There are no commercial flights going in or out of Syanboche, as it's not licensed for commercial flights, however there are some chartered flights, mainly comprised of Everest Trekkers, which sometimes stop down for short periods of time.
The airport in Lukla, Nepal
The Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, Nepal is without a doubt the scariest airport I've ever flown into and/or out of. The History Channel ranked the Lukla Airport the most extreme airport in the world. Sadly it has had it's fair share of deadly accidents, as you can see from the video below. Bad visibility, tall mountains surrounding it, a short runway, and an abrupt cliff edge start to this runway make for some nervous take-offs and landings. Unless you want to trek for 4 days, you have no choice but to fly in here when embarking on an Everest Base Camp Trek.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
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The airport in Lukla, Nepal
There are a lot of sketchy airports acround the world, but according to the History Channel, none as dangerous as the Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla. But if you've already climbed to Everest Base Camp or trekked anywhere in the surrounding Himalayas, you probably already know this. Nestled deep in the mountains, perched on the edge of a cliff with a tiny little uphill runway, you're crashing into a steep hill if the pilot can't stop the plane fast enough upon landing. That is of course assuming that the clouds aren't too thick and he gets the unassisted landing right so you don't crash into the mountain.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The start of the Everest Base Camp Trail in Lukla
The Himalayas are one of the most picturesque and dynamic environments in the world. The photos in this image gallery were taken on a 12 day trek, starting from the Kathmandu airport, along the flight to the Tenzing-Hillary airport in Lukla, up to Everest Base Camp and Kalapathar, and back. Most were taken using a Canon Rebel T2i with the Canon 15-85mm lens, and there are a few which were taken using my friends cell phone. The photos are not in exact sequence, but pretty close, at least on a daily basis. Our Everest trek place in mid to late September, during the tail end of monsoon season, so we got our fair share of temperamental weather.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
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The last photo of our group as we arrive back in Lukla having completed the trek
The ATM was down in Namche so it took us a little while to get going in the morning, and we needed to pay the remainder of our tab with Boo. It's been surprisingly difficult to get cash since I've gotten to Nepal, but we got it all sorted. We finally got moving around 9:15 AM, and it was bright and sunny. We even got one more peek of Everest. Yesterday I tried to eat a normal meal, and my battered stomach didn't like that at all. I started to feel sick about an hour and a half into the hike, and I had to slow our pace way down.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
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Crossing a river which flooded and overtook the trail during the monsoon rains of day 10
When we woke up it was still raining heavily. There's nothing to do in Pangboche so the idea of staying there sounded worse than walking in the rain. Once we got confirmation from Boo that we could move our flight back up, it was worth pushing through to get to Namche today. Out into the rain we went, shortly before 11 AM. The rain meant that small streams were now gushing rivers, and there were massive waterfalls everywhere. Rivers were overflowing to the point that rocks that you used to be able to walk across were completely underwater. Jit was picking up rocks and carrying them across the rivers to make paths for us. It was crazy.
Monday, October 17, 2011
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The start of the Everest Base Camp Trail in Lukla
Sam and I arrived late last night into Kathmandu where we met up with Dan, Andrew, and Mike. We had a 4:30 AM wake up call so that we could make our 6 AM flight to Lukla and start our trek! The flight had gorgeous views but was decidedly one of the sketchiest flights we had ever been on. We got situated in Lukla then started off. We hiked for about 4 1/2 hours with stops for photos and a long lunch. Today was the easy day. Only about 3 hours of actual hiking and a lot of downhill. Our guide is named Bhuwan, and he agreed to let us call him Boo. We also have 3 porters - Jit, Case, and Milar.
