Day 1 Part 1: Kathmandu to Lukla – Everest Base Camp + Video
Everest Base Camp (5,600m)
Kathmandu to Lukla
All in all, I was truly blessed to be not so badly affected by AMS which I’ve seen first hand how it could adversely affect others. With a great guide (Nabin), awesome trekking partner (Kah Wane) and our good friend Jyatha as our resourceful porter, all of this was made much easier. Thanks to everyone.
The things to pack are basically quite similar to any multi-day hiking trips. Below would just be a list of recommended items that I’d personally bring, but feel free to change as you see fit.
Checklist - General
Bring two bags, one for yourself to carry throughout the journey, and the other one for the porter to bring along to your next destination.
Medical
Toiletries
Insurance
That out of the way, let’s get back to the main story.
Our flight to Kathmandu was scheduled to arrive around eight in the evening to allow us some time to make last minute purchases around Thamel district. Unfortunately it was delayed close to midnight. We checked in immediately and took a tour nearby to see if any of the shops were still open. Some were, but we only managed to clear off some of our shopping checklist. Left with no other choice, we headed back to our hotel and started to re-pack for our domestic flight to Lukla tomorrow morning.
Woke up early in the morning, and had our breakfast while waiting for our friendly guide Nabin to arrive. Nabin was a guide to Kah Wane on numerous occasions on his previous hikes in Nepal, so it was quite nice to see a long time acquaintance leading our journey. Leaving the hotel behind, we headed to Kathmandu domestic airport for Lukla.
Lukla airport, also known as Tenzing-Hillary Airport is a domestic airport and altiport in the town of Lukla, in Khumbu Pasanglhamu, Solukhumbu District, Nepal. It gained worldwide fame as it was rated the most dangerous airport in the world for more than 20 years. High winds, cloud cover, and changing visibility often mean flights can be delayed or the airport closed.
The airport was built in 1964 under the supervision of Sir Edmund Hillary. In January 2008, the airport was renamed in honor of Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary, the first people confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.
You may find a short clip of the plan landing at Lukla airport at the bottom of this post. I’ve recorded quote a bit of footage on planes landing and taking off from this airport and will be compiling all of them into a single video at the end of this series. Stay tuned!
On the way to the plane and lift off!
The airport’s paved asphalt runway is accessible only to helicopters and small, fixed-wing, short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft such as the De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, Dornier Do 228, L-410 Turbolet and Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter. The runway is 527 m (1,729 ft) × 30 m (98 ft) with an 11.7% gradient. The airport’s elevation is 9,334 ft (2,845 m).
– Wikipedia
The flight took around 45 minutes to an hour to reach Lukla airport. No words could describe the view out of the window throughout the journey. From cities to mountains covering the horizons, it seems people are settling down, building their homes even at the most remote area of the country.
Small planes such as these allow every single one onboard to have a window seat, giving everyone the luxury to view what passes through, the various terrains and basically different living conditions at different areas of the country. The plane that we boarded had a total of 14 passengers if I calculated correctly based on the photo I took. Upon landing, we were greeted by a channel of buildings both ways. The left would be living quarters, gift shops, hostels and all the general facilities you may find. On the right would be the basic airport facilities, accepting new arrivals and the typical check-ins and check-outs.
We collected our bags, went through security checks and headed straight to one of the establishments for further processing. While that was being taken care of, we had a little bit of time exploring the small city around the airport, captured a couple of videos of incoming planes and the subsequent take-offs. The three of us eventually regrouped within a fine establishment which I couldn’t remember to meet up with Jyatha, the gentleman that’d be shouldering our secondary bags all the way up to Gorak Shep, the final destination before Everest Base Camp. He took off ahead of us, leaving the three of us with our hot morning tea.
I finished my tea quickly to get some shots of the photos and decorations on the wall. Everest great such as Sir Edmund Hillary and other Sherpas were proudly displayed on the wall. At this very point, reality started to kick in, registering the fact that I was indeed on a journey to the base of the tallest mountain in the world.
If you prefer a more visual-based story telling, feel free to watch the video below that includes videos I’ve recorded during this part. I’ve mixed together still photos and videos to make up the whole video. In total, there’ll be 22 posts and videos to cover the entire journey.
- Day 1 (Kathmandu to Lukla)
- Day 1 (Lukla to Phakding)
- Day 2 (Phakding to Namche Bazaar)
- Day 2 (Namche Bazaar)
- Day 3 (Syangboche Acclimatization)
- Day 3 (Back to Namche Bazaar, dropping by at Sagarmatha National Park)
- Day 4 (Namche Bazaar to Tengboche)
- Day 5 (Tengboche - Dinboche)
- Day 6 (Dingboche & Nangkartshang - Acclimatization)
- Day 6 (Getting down from Nangkartshang & Snow)
- Day 7 (Dingboche to Lobuche)
- Day 7 (A Heart-Wrenching Stop at Thukla Pass and Scott Fischer’s Memorial)
- Day 8 (Lobuche to Gorak Shep)
- Day 8 (Kalla Phatthar Acclimatization)
- Day 9 (Gorak Shep to Everest Base Camp)
- Day 9, 10 & 11 (Gorak Shep to Pheriche, Namche Bazaar and Phakding)
- Day 12 (Phakding to Lukla)
- Day 12 (Flying back to Kathmandu from Lukla Airport)
- Day 13 (Kathmandu - Swayambhunath Buddhist Temple)
- Day 14 (Kathmandu City Adventure)
- Journey to the Roof of the World: A Trekker's Final Post and Summary of the Epic Everest Base Camp Trek