Everest Base Camp 2008 - Day 13

We made it back to Lukla in good time.

This video captures the atmosphere around Lukla on a busy day (it was a Sunday but that makes no difference in the mountains) with trekkers, porters, animals all going about their business.

  Slice of life at Lukla (2 minutes walk from the runway/airport)

Our flight reservation from Lukla was confirmed for the 5th, but we were already back on the 2nd. But we were lucky enough to find space on a Gorkha Airlines flight (subsidiary of Agni) to Kathmandu on the same day.

Our porter Gyanu surprised us with the gift of a ceremonial kata (scarf).

 Lukla airport departure lounge, saying goodbye to Gyanu, our porter.

Our backpack was already checked in, but we still had our hiking poles (seen in picture above). As we passed security to the boarding area, we were told to check in the poles as well. I followed the guide as we simply walked by a side door onto the tarmac and located our baggage cart and the backpack. We tied the poles securely to the backpack, returned back to the departure hall by the same door, passed security (just a guesswork pat down) into the boarding hall and waited to get into the tarmac to board our flight!

 Departure from Lukla

A pair of videos on the takeoff from inside the Gorkha Airlines plane. The left one watches through a window and the right one from directly behind the pilots.

A brief look at the Himalayan mountains on the flight to Kathmandu.

Elevation Profile for the return to Lukla - Downhill (mostly!)

Days 9-13: Wednesday, October 29 - November 2, 2008

Starting point : Gorakshep (Altitude: 5165m/16950 ft. ) Endpoint : Lukla (Altitude:  2850m/ 8370 ft. ) Distance :  48km/30 miles(One Way) Net Elevation Gain/Loss:  2359m/8710 ft.s (One Way)   The above elevation profile is for the entire return trip from Gorakshep to Lukla which was completed over 5 days. Conversions: Distance 47.5 = 29.5 miles. Total Distance walked (Uphill + Downhill) = 114.8 km./ 71.3 miles The total ascent for the entire trip was 7836m/ 25702 ft.

NOTE: All the videos on this page (and preceding pages) can be viewed at the YouTube Channel parleusted's Playlist Everest Base Camp The advantage of viewing directly at the site is that you can watch them in High Quality. Makes a big difference. However, the videos are not in the correct order. Unfortunately, there is no way to embed the High Quality versions in this website.