EBC Day 1: Lukla to Phakding

The full group ready to set off from Kathmandu

Waiting in our bus on the tarmac for our plane to arrive

Getting on our plane

The tiny Lukla airstrip

Our first not-yak (we thought they were yaks, but they are something else... we saw the real yaks up higher

Lukla

Some of our porters carrying our bags from the airport

Hello Donkeys!

Mum turning one of the many prayer wheels

A "not-yak" next to another prayer wheel

Greg walking along the beautiful river

Short break for a Ginger Lemon (or is it Lemon Ginger?)

After a super early start (the first of many we soon found out) we made it to the airport to fly to Lukla, the starting point for our trek.

At the airport it was once again chaos with the weirdest security set up ever. We went through a check where he told us we couldn't carry on our hiking poles even though the some of the group had already gone through with theirs. We were trying to talk to him when a lady came running up "hurry up your plane is boarding" and hustled us through with the rest of us not even going through the check. And then after all that rush we sat in a bus on the tarmac for almost an hour waiting for our plane.

As promised the plane was dinky. It just fit all our group (16) plus one other couple. After a very short safety briefing, and receiving cotton wool to plug our ears (it was so noisy) we were off. After about 30mins of incredible scenery, we suddenly felt we were getting very close to the hillside, and then all of a sudden the runway was below us.

Here's some interesting (scary!) facts about Lukla airport:

• It's frequently referred to as the most dangerous airport in the world
• It's only 527m long 
• It has a 11.7% gradient to allow planes to slow down quickly enough when landing, and get enough speed to take off

And some info on how it was built (paraphrased from Wikipedia): it was built in 1964 under supervision of Edmund Hillary, who originally intended to build the airport on flat farmlands however, local farmers didn't want to give up their land, so it was built on the mountain. Hillary was unhappy with the runway's soil resistance, and his solution was to buy local liquor for the Sherpas and ask them to perform foot-stomping dance to flatten the land. The runway was paved in 2001.

When we got to the other end our guide came up asking whose pocket knife he had. Security had taken it off one of the group, but had given it to our guide to bring on the plane...

In Lukla we met our amazing guides from Cold Feet Adventure (thoroughly recommended - they looked after us so well), had a bit of a briefing, gave the big bags to our porters and set off. An easy day to get into the swing of things - just 3 hours walk, and mostly downhill. The scenery was beautiful - mountains and rivers with swing bridges, and lovely little villages. At times it felt almost like the European mountain villages we've been in. That's until the yaks and donkeys come rushing past, or the porters loaded up so high with such heavy loads.

On the way we stopped for a little break and our first hot drink refreshment - i went for ginger lemon tea which we soon worked out we would get at breakfast, lunch, when we finished walking, after dinner and any other time we stopped for a rest. Good thing i like it!

We arrived in Phakding tired after our early start but on a total high - we were really on our way to Base Camp now! We settled into our rooms and then went for a little explore. Greg and I bumped into some beautiful kids walking home from school and they all knew a little English... pretty much "hello, how are you?" and "chocolate"! They had such a mission walk to school everyday - it was on top of the cliffs behind Phakding!

We had said goodbye to meat in Kathmandu (oh and drinking too - altitude and booze don't mix apparently!). Our guides recommended vege only from here on as all meat (and everything else) gets carried in by man or yak and therefore isn't refrigerated. Too risky for us, especially as many already had dodgy stomachs. So after an early dinner of vege fried rice it was time to get lots of rest for a big climb tomorrow.

After our safe landing at Tengzing-Hillary airport

One of the many little villages we walked through

Following a bunch of donkeys across our first swing bridge

There were a lot of these rocks carved and painted with "Om Mani Padme Om"

Prayer wheels

Prayer flags everywhere 

On the swing bridge into Lukla - right before I got told off for swinging the bridges...

Heading down into one of the little villages - still following those donkeys

Made it to Phakding!

Our room for the first night - this was luxury compared to what was to come!

Phakding - we stayed in the one with the red roof

The river beside Phakding

Day 1 Hiking: Lukla 2,840m to Phakding 2,610m, ~3hrs to cover 230m descent - easy day through pretty wooded scenery, mostly following the river
Day 1 Accommodation: Phakding Mountain Resort, great place with lovely views down to the river.  

This trip was done with the Healthfix Adventure Club, in conjunction with Cold Feet Adventure
Read more about our 2018 Everest Base Camp Trip