Lukla: 2850 m
Ghat: 2578 m
Distance: 5.5 km
Our 4:15 am wakeup call came at 4:05. We dressed, packed, took everything down to the lobby, and got a boxed breakfast before the van arrived to take us to the airport. We got there about 5:20 and had to wait for it to actually open! It was chaos inside so I’m glad Rishi was in charge. All the fuss yesterday about weighing our bags turned out to be pointless as they just aggregated the weight of all the bags. Between 9 of us (well, 7, since both Raewyn and mine were 10 kg each) they were 26 kg overweight, so some people must have brought an awful lot of stuff. We wore our puffer jackets and filled the pockets while the hand luggage was weighed, but we could just as easily have put it on the ground for two minutes.
When our flight was called it was a mad rush to get on the bus that took us to the plane, then another mad rush to get on. I managed to score the last seat on the left hand side, and the view of the mountains was amazing. We took off ten minutes early, at 6:20 am. As we got closer to the mountains it became evident just how steep the hillsides are. The landing in Lukla was uneventful. So far so good! The sun hadn’t yet reached the airstrip and it was freezing. Our bags were collected for us and we were able to swap things around between them and our day packs, so the porters could then take the red bags to the campsite. Then it was off to a lodge for morning tea, and we had about one and a half hours to wander around Lukla – although most people seemed more interested in logging in to the lodge wifi!
It was quite relaxing wandering around Lukla. There were a number of shops selling the usual hiking gear, maps, souvenirs etc. Planes and helicopters were constantly coming and going. There were kids playing football in the street – I guess some things are universal.
Finally it was time to hit the trail. One of the guides went first to set the pace, and Rishi went at the back. We walked slowly, which was good because it meant we didn’t sweat too much. The temperature soon started warming up – from single digits when we arrived to about 15-20C in the sun.
We had views of Nupla peak on the other side of the Dudh Koshi (pronounced dood ko-see, meaning ‘milk river’ because of its pale colour; we would follow this all the way to Gokyo). We passed through a number of villages on the way with lodges and eateries, encountering trekkers, porters, convoys of mules and dzopke (half yak/half cow), but not as many as I was expecting based on other people’s accounts. Mind you, tourist numbers must be down significantly this season due to the earthquake.
We had views of Kusum Kangkaru shorting before arriving at the camp, but it was quickly hidden by cloud. Upon arriving at camp we collected our red bags and were assigned to tents. We unpacked a bit and were then summoned to lunch.
The camp is a permanent campsite which means there are flush toilets, storage buildings, a kitchen and dining room. There are 20 sleeping tents that can each accommodate two people; they are large enough to stand up in and are put up at the start of the trekking season. They have camp beds with mattresses – more comfortable to sleep on than the beds at our first hotel.
After lunch we had the option of going for a walk down to the river, which we all did. After the walk we were brought bowls of warm water to wash in. Raewyn and I had agreed to take turns to wash and get changed in the tent. The rest of the afternoon was free time until dinner. We were in bed by 8 pm, largely thanks to the super early start.
Next day
No comments:
Post a Comment