We were up at 3:30am this morning to try and be the first team at the airport, as it’s more of a first come first serve type flight. Arriving before 5am the airport was already busy! Climbers are crazy people. However, somehow our Alpine Ascents climbing team was put on the first flight into Lukla – we felt privileged. The trekking team followed on the next two flights, as it was a tiny Twin Otter plane which carried 16 people at a time. It’s a very hazy/cloudy day, so the views on the way in weren’t as spectacular as they could have been, but the landing was still brilliant; not quite as steep as I remembered, but still extremely short.
We waited in Lukla and ordered breakfast while the others and our duffel bags arrived – the same tea house as I ate in four and a half years ago with the school trip! I keep seeing places that are bringing back very good memories. Moving on so I don’t bore you with walking down memory lane – it was meant to be a very short 2 and a half hour walk to where we are staying for the night. Yet, having arrived before 7am in the Himalayas, we didn’t arrive at our current location until about 1. This was because of the weather.
We stopped twice at tea houses to get out of the rain when it became too heavy, and both times had tea or soup while we waited out the downpour. The second time it started really chucking it down while we were walking it turned into hail before we could reach shelter; by the time we left the house it looked as if it had snowed, and quite heavily too. It drizzled the rest of the way, and we were all soaked by the time we arrived (I hadn’t packed hard shell trousers in my day pack for the flight, and we were all expecting sun…).
We had a really nice hot lunch, and have now settled down for a relaxing afternoon before starting the longer days tomorrow. The rooms are nice too, and we have a fire in the middle of this dining room! All in all, a nice day getting to know more people (and being surprised by people’s ages!) albeit being quite cold and wet, with some nice views being shrouded in cloud. Ttfn, and hope you’re all well.