Lukla landing and 1st days trek
October 18th, 2009 Posted in On the trekAfter only 4 hours sleep since leaving Heathrow we all got up at 4 am, shower, pack, breakfast and leave the hotel by 5.15 ready for an early flight with Yeti Airlinesto Lukla, an airstrip known for its ridiculously short runway and the odd fatal crash (see Youtube – Lukla landing).
The views on the flight were mind blowing, even if the plane’s technology wasn’t! We could see snow capped mountains, the clouds filling the valleys below us, and as we scooped over mountain edges it felt like we could almost tough the trees below.
After a scary landing and a cup of tea we met our Sherpa team and our yaks. A quickly briefing later, we hit the trail!
8km, stunning views and 6 hours later we hit the camp site. Photo’s to follow.
Shock horror, a gambling team extraordinaire happened upon an unsuspecting group of Nepalese hustlers playing dice, money was exchanged. Nepal 1, Gala Coral 0.
Our amazing support team who had already set up camp, dug our delightful squat and drop toilets and made us tea, then knocked us up a lovely meal.
Despite being exhausted many of us settled down to a game of cards that involved spoons – who knew!
Of to bed, we have an early start tomorrow
