An early morning start at 7:00 am with a pickup at the Aloft Hotel in Kathmandu and a short drive to the domestic terminal at Kathmandu airport for a heli ride to Lukla where our journey to Everest Base Camp begins. Like most unconventional travel it’s hurry up and wait - since the chopper needed a pilot and the pilot was flying another route we were finally picked up at 10 am.
Before though while waiting, we met an 29 Yr old professional photographer from Golden CO Jason Weiss who was on his way to Everest Base Camp on the Tibet side of the mountain. He was flying to Lukla to acclimatize while waiting for his permit from the Chinese government to enter Lhasa.
It had rained the night before and when the chopper ascended the visibility was much better than expected. The route takes about 45 minutes and we passed over dozens of valleys and mountain peaks with terrace farms covering most of the landscape. Primitive dirt roads wind their way across the vallley and up the mountain sides giving access to these mini farms and the small villages. We could see through the light phase the outline of Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dhablam in the background.
The runway at the Hilary-Norgay airport in Lukla is quite the site - sloping at 10 degrees it’s the shortest runway and most dangerous landing of any airport in the world. We were thankful to be in the heli and not in the prop planes that often take off and land there.
Our 47 year old guide, Ngawang, a tall Nepalese man whose lives a 1/4 mile from Lukla with his wife and two daughters, met us at the landing pad and took us to a small tea house before starting our trek. Chirring, a 20 yr old Sherpa grabbed our duffle bags and followed us to the lunch spot. We filled our water bottles and after a warm cup of lemon ginger tea our adventure began.
The trail to base camp passes thorough dozens of small and mid size villages as we share the trail with mules, zhaos, porters, villagers, guides, trekkers and climbers moving in both directions to and from Lukla. Dodging animal excrement, the large granite rocks and mud was the theme for today as we trekked 4.2 miles and 700 ft of uphill and 1400 ft downhill.
We stopped at Ngawang‘s house along the trek for lunch. He operates a small tea house with a restaurant and bunk rooms for trekkers with his wife and two teenage daughters. Tall juniper trees surrounded most of the trail as we winded though the valley with the sound of the rushing cascading water of the Dhuhd Kosi river hundred of yards below.
We arrived in the village of Phadking at 3 pm and checked in at the Trekker Tea House Hotel. We met a few fellow trekkers from Germany, India and Lincoln, Nebraska over dinner as we talked about the journey ahead. The tea houses have no heat so my only luxury (a small battery powered electric blanket) kept me warm as we bunked at 9 pm. I’m very proud of Matt who was physically and mentally prepared for the trek today, hiking dozens of times on the Appalachian trail in prep for the challenge.
Today, we dedicated our climb to Savannah and Bryson—best friends, both just 7 years old, and both bravely fighting the same battle: Medulloblastoma brain cancer. Their strength, courage, and unbreakable spirits inspire us and give deeper meaning to every step of this journey.
