Archive for the ‘Lukla’ Category

Crash & Carrie update

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

Apparently the plane crash at Lukla was caused by a rock fall onto the runway which the plane hit and flipped, then caught fire. Unfortunately none of the passengers (14 Germans and 2 Swiss) got out, and neither did the Nepali co-pilot or stewardess, although the pilot apparently managed to escape (that is according to a chap from the US embassy I bumped into this morning). The skydiving has been suspended today, partly out of respect but and also since the helicopter and jump plane are helping with the recovery operation. Martin (UK expert skydiver) was very lucky as he was on the plane behind the one that crashed!

I also saw Carrie Holmes this morning (the US girl who broke her leg). She is in good spirits, all things considered, but is being kept here in the hospital for at least another 5 days since they are concerned about infection; the break was a nasty one with her fibula breaking through the skin. The surgeons think she may have to have her ankle fused, but lets hope not!

John and I have now confirmed our flights and are leaving tomorrow at 09:45, and should be back in the UK at 17:55 on Thursday 9th (tomorrow).

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Plane crash at Lukla

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

This morning there was a plane crash at Lukla airport (the one earlier in my blog with the insane runway) which has stranded the remaining skydivers – sounds like we got out just in time. The crash apparently killed 18 people :( none of our group were involved though thankfully.

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Trek day 1: Lukla – Phakding

Saturday, September 27th, 2008
The first day of trekking was fairly easy – two hours before lunch and one and a half after. We were under instruction to take it very easy to avoid precipitating mountain (altitude) sickness, and that proved surprisingly hard for me; I got gently told off twice by the lead sherpa. Thankfully we had a small army of porters going ahead taking our big rucksacks with our overnight gear so we just had to have small backpacks.

There were many small farmsteads and villages strung out along the mountain path, and as was apparent from the air there was no road route to most of them other than the path.

A typical example of the buildings along the route, with multi-coloured prayer flags hanging above the settlement.
All goods were carried back and forth by Yaks (see below) and on the backs locals, who have a massive carrying capacity (eg. 10 15ft 8×1 wooden planks!) – see pic below.
One of the super-human porters charging past us up the mountain with up to 60KG on their backs!
Yak… yak…. yak….
We arrived at Phakding at about 4pm, and I promptly crashed out in the very minimalist room, and other than getting up for supper spent most of the rest of that day and night asleep.
Proof that I really am here. :)

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