लुक्ला
Gateway to Sagarmatha National Park with the world’s most dangerous airport
The gateway to the Himalayas, and to the world’s highest peak no less, Lukla is the starting point for treks into the Khumbu valley. There are no roads, so the traveller must either walk to Lukla, or arrive by turboprop aircraft at what has been widely described as the world’s most dangerous airport. With your feet safely on the ground however, there is a series of guest houses and facilities, everything the tired and hungry trekker could need. The village is at an elevation of 2,860 metres, so there is still a long, long way from here to the top.
Our trek started and finished in Lukla, arriving on a dawn flight from Kathmandu and setting off up the Khumbu valley after a quick pitstop. The elevation wasn’t a problem for me at the start, and indeed the first part of the trek took us downhill a few hundred metres, but I quickly started to feel the effects as we got above 3,000 metres. Upon our return to Lukla, we stayed in a guest house right next to the airport runway before flying out the next morning, and were treated to some interesting but very noisy musical sounds from the monks next door at nightfall.
Lukla’s airport is named after Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary, who both not only successfully summited Everest first in 1953, but were instrumental in the construction of the airstrip here for later access. It has the quickest turnaround of aircraft I have ever witnessed – mere minutes from touchdown to take off.
The reason the people come – a gigantic Himalayan peak looming over Lukla. This is Kongde Ri, which rises to 6,187 metres.
The runway itself is barely a quarter mile long. With an enormous Himalayan peak rising two miles above at one end, and a half-mile-deep gorge at the other, there is no margin for pilot error. The runway surface was unpaved until 2001.
With the fantastic mountain scenery behind, a Tara Air Dornier 228 aircraft roars down the 12% slope of the runway to help gather speed. All landings take place in the opposite direction, with a gravity assist uphill to slow down.
In the morning sun shortly after landing the high peaks looked beautiful. These peaks are to the south east of Lukla, but I can’t figure out their name.
I’m no yak expert, but I believe these are regular cattle, not being hairy enough to be yaks – please correct me if I’m wrong!
It will be a very lucky child that receives a freshly laundered and Himalayan-air dried teddy bear.
Giant prayer wheel glimpsed inside a local temple.
The gateway to the Khumbu valley path, leaving Lukla and going all the way to Mount Everest. As you can see on the right, Carlsberg was playing its part in saving the mountain.
A small child stares with wonder or possibly bemusement, at the people setting off for their voluntary physical punishment. We met people on their way down from summitting Everest, there faces were ashen but cheerful.
By contrast, these fresh-faced trekkers haven’t been up any summits yet. In recent years the valley has been well developed, including steel suspension bridges making it much easier to cross the fast rivers and deep ravines. They’re made extra strong for the high volume of tourists tramping across, myself included.
A small temple and houses built into the cliff face just outside of Lukla.
With no roads, mules and horses are an invaluable means of transporting goods and equipment up the steep mountain paths.
Where four-legged power is not available, gear is carried by hand in lots of up to one hundred kilos. Here these two chaps remind me of leaf cutter ants, carrying stacks of flat boards that almost completely obscure them.
Local washer women deal with the day’s laundry in the natural way.
A local kid eyed us with part suspicion, part interest as we trekked past another carved stone.
From the old monk in a monastery doorway, I think it was mostly just suspicion…
Back in Lukla itself, and even in the high Himalayas you don’t have to go without your morning caffeine fix, assuming there is electricity. Note that this branch of Starbucks may not be linked to the Seattle-based coffee chain of coincidentally identical name.
Ah, now here’s what I really came for. A small taste of home out in the wilds of Nepal.
The jagged peaks that surround Lukla poke through the morning cloud on the day of our departure.
Incoming flight from Kathmandu. The accident stats for the airport should not be read before any planned trip to Lukla – I myself wasn’t at all aware before boarding our flying milk crate.
After the hair-raising take off experience, the views from the flight back to Kathmandu were stunning. The Himalayas being the height they are, we were well below the peaks for the whole journey.
Approaching Kathmandu, the hillside terraces were an impressive sight, not unlike those of Yunnan, China.
Created 2013 | Updated 2024
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