Ally's Khumbu Trek

The trek is off schedule due to bad weather at the infamous Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla; planes were not flying in and out and won't be for the foreseeable future. Planes cannot fly into Lukla if it is cloudy. So Ally & her group were stuck in the Kathmandu airport waiting for weather to clear, waiting to fly into Lukla, where onlookers applaud each successful landing.

Photo at right is Tenzing-Hillary Airport, Lukla, Nepal

Apparently Kathmandu airport is full of wandering pitchmen, sort of like a Caribbean beach resort. But instead of hawking boat rides and fishing trips, the pitchmen in Kathmandu attempt to talk stranded trekkers into hiring private helicopters to take them close to Lukla.

Rather than continue to cool their heels, Ally & her group elected to take a helicopter to Surke, and then make a 2 hour hike into Lukla. Photo at left is part of the route from Surke to Lukla. There are no roads in this part of the world. Lukla is at 9400', about 1900' above Surke. Ally said the trail up to Lukla is like climbing up an elevator shaft.

Ally sent us a text from Lukla. She was at the Starbucks®.

Apparently it isn't really a Starbucks, just some enterprising Nepalese borrowing a popular trade name with which to lure tourists.

Yesterday & Today: Now she is set to hike to Phakding, lower altitude 8600' and a good place to acclimatize. After a rest in Phakding (if you pronounce it properly, it sounds like a bad word) Ally & her group will head for Namche Bazaar. The climb goes through pine and rhododendron forest before arriving at the Bhote Khosi suspension bridge, then a nasty 1800' vertical rise to Namche at 11,200'

Suspension bridge over the Bhote Kosi:

Namche Bazaar:

Day 3 Trekkers typically take a day at Namche to acclimatize again. Ally's been at 12,000 feet a couple of times, but the acclimatization process is necessary to go where she aims to go. In Namche she will likely spend the day looking around at the mountains. The photo at right is the view of the Everest massif from Namche; Everest is the chunky mountain on the left and the twin peaks of Lhotse and Nuptse are on the right in the photo.

Day 4 After a day in Namche, they will do a 7 mile hike to Dole, elevation 13,200'. Photo below is of Dole, with Cho Oyo in the distance. Cho Oyo is the 6th highest mountain on the planet.

Day 5 From Dole she will hike about 4 hours to Machherma, 14,400'. At right is a photo taken along the trail to Machherma.

Day 6 Machherma to Gokyo Lakes, 15,550'. Day 7 will be spent acclimatizing, and researching near Gokyo Lakes. At right is a photo of Gokyo Lakes. High peak in the background is Ama Dablam.

Day 8 Gokyo to Thangna, 17,600' Day 9 Thangna over Chola Pass and down to Dzanglha, (spelled "Dzongla" in the USA) 15,900'. At right is a photo of trekkers on Chola Pass.

Below is a photo from Chola Pass looking down at Dzanglha. There is a village of some sort down there.

Day 10 they will head for Labuche, photo at right. They will spend the next 2 nights in Labuche, with a side trip to Kalapathar peak at the foot of Mt. Everest.

Below, hikers approach the flag-covered 18,192' summit of Kalapathar, which means "black rock" in Nepali. The mountain beyond is the base of Everest. The top of Everest is about two miles higher.

Day 12 they drop down to 13,000 at Pangboche, in the photo at left. Day 13 is research and recovery day in Pangboche, followed by a trek to Tyangboche (spelled "Tengboche" in USA) on Day 14. At this point they are completing the circle of the high portion of the trek, and the homeward journey begins. Day 15 is a return to Namche Bazaar, where the original plan called for a day to rest & research. This may be changed, based on the delay in Kathmandu. Or not. Day 17 retraces the steps from Namche to Phakding, Day 18 to Lukla, and on Day 19 they will fly out of the Tenzing-Hillary Airport and return to Kathmandu.

Statistically, the flight will be the most dangerous part of her journey; please keep Ally & her fellow trekkers in your prayers.

Here is a short video of a typical day at the Tenzing-Hillary Airport. At 2:00 minutes it gets rather interesting.