EBC Day 12: Keep Trekking...

Hillary Suspension Bridge

We encountered very few trekkers since the airport at Lukla was still closed. Ishor was sure to always stop them to find out how they had gotten into the Himalayas. The most intrepid of trekkers could take a bus from Kathmandu to Jiri and then hike for eight to ten days to Lukla, although we only came across two guys that dedicated. We talked to four people who came from Kathmandu by helicopter to a helipad one hour further down the mountain from Lukla, but Rosie and company didn’t manage to grab those four seats when it departed. Luckily Ishor assured us that Rosie had fully recovered once she left the higher altitudes.

This was a big reminder that while weather had completely disrupted many other trekkers’ vacations and had caused the cancellation of Kent’s planned climb of Island Peak, we had been extremely lucky. Looks like my chats with Mother Nature had paid off after all.

Another day, another bowl of garlic soup for lunch.

Our second visit to the Riverview Terrace Restaurant.

It turned out that we were very fortunate that we had an extended itinerary. The traditional trekking itinerary allows just three days for the return trip from EBC to Lukla. 

 

However, because Kent had booked the side trip, we had three extra days to hike down, which allowed us to take our time rather than rushing down to Lukla only to be stuck there. This also worked to our advantage because I was still slow despite the lower altitudes and would have really struggled to have finished the descent in just three days.