Trekking

The flight to Lukla was even more exciting than usual with a bonus stop at an alternate airstrip while the fog cleared. Like Lukla the airstrip is slanted instead of flat, but unlike Lukla it runs along the side of the mountain instead of into it. We landed going downhill but took off 30 minutes later, going uphill after dumping half our duffels for weight purposes. The pilot went back after them later. We were still not airborne at the end of runway using the sudden drop off to put enough air under the wings to fly. Indiana Jones exciting!

After finally getting to Lukla we trekked the three hours to Phakding. It started raining hard just as we arrived. Our duffels

which arrived later on Yaks were soaked. Thankfully my North Face duffel weathered it well with only minimal dampness inside.

Today, we made the six-hour trek from Phakging to Namche under more threatening skies, but lucked out and had perfect cool hiking weather. It started raining again after we arrived, so we lucked out again.

There are 14 climbers (15 if you count our guide, Johnny Schrock) and 7 trekkers in my group. One of the climbers is a surgeon who lives in Sugarhouse!  There are two other medical doctors and two professors.  There’s a German, a Romanian, a Swede, an Englishman, a Brazilian, a Canadian, an Iranian, an Australian and a 19-year-old Japanese girl who will complete her “Seven Summits” if she’s successful here and on Denali after.  The remaining are Americans living in California, Washington, Virginia, and Ohio.  The trekkers are all Americans living in the United States.

We’ll spend a few days here in Namche acclimatizing before moving on.