Blogs from Himalayas, Nepal, Asia - page 5

J: I flew into Kathmandu from Bangkok and I spent the first day looking for a jacket, gloves, thermals, socks, hat, scarf, boots, sleeping bag - basically an entire wardrobe more suited to Nepal in January rather than the beaches of South East Asia. After several fruitless hours I came to the conclusion that renting mountain gear in Kathmandu is unheard of, so I found the cheapest equipment available and met up with my group for the next two weeks - Rob, a British-Canadian DJ booking agent living in LA; Pankaj, an Indian-born Australian IT consultant and Siobhan, an Australian lawyer who quit her job to travel. The following morning we took the small plane from Kathmandu to Lukla - famous for being the world's most dangerous airport. As we approached through buffeting turbulence I could ... read more

Whizzing past the lower slopes of Ama Dablam.... read more

Above the Khumba Ice fall - see the enournous crevasses.... read more

....and then there we were - close up to Mt Everest. The pilot confirmed we were flying at around 21300 feet. He couldnt go any higher due to the weight in the aircraft and the thin air - confirmed by the fact the pilot had to work hard to keep the chopper stable, as it was bobbing around all over the place at this altitude. There were some very nervous, but exhilerated passengers in the chopper.... read more

The pilot was incredibly skilled, as you would hope being a rescue pilot as well - the purpose of the B3 helicopter we were in, and he regularly banked round the sides of mountain peaks to fly into the next valley.... read more