biggbird wrote:Looks as though things have changed a little flatfoot... We're still in Lukla unfortunately! Flight was cancelled on Thursday, made it in Friday, but only got 1.5 or so hours out when I slipped on some ice and opened up my forehead. Had to come back to Lukla for stitches. So hopefully if your plane flies tomorrow, we may well be following the same schedule! Been given the ok to keep going, so will hopefully aim for Monjo Saturday, but may only make it as far as Phakding. We'll see!
For what it's worth, had no trouble with a 19ish kg bag on the way in, but lighter would always be nice :p Best if luck tomorrow morning, hopefully see you on the track somewhere!
Interesting - I met you on the track at 'the scene of the crime'. The ice was still there. I was very sorry to see/hear of your accident. I did note you had a one planet pack so thought it might have been someone from the forum. I hope you're recovering okay.
My duffle bag weighed about 15kg and my day pack about 5-6kg and had no trouble with getting my gear on the flights.
We were fortunate to fly out of Lukla on the day we were originally booked (9th). There had been bad weather (wind) in the days before and one Japanese group had been waiting for 3 days for flights.
I picked up a nasty head cold before Namche and almost aborted my trip. In the end I persevered with a nasty cough. The cold and the dust made it impossible to clear up. This made me particularly tired some days. I had a full rest day in Namche and missed out on the walk up to the Everest View Hotel.
I had no problems with altitude and made it up Gokyo Ri, over the Cho La (crampons on the glacier), to EBC and up Kala Pattar.
The other areas where crampons were needed were in the toilets at Gokyo and Gorak Shep lodges.
Our coldest morning would have been about -14 at Tengboche. We did get approx -20 wind chill at the top of Kala Pattar.
We used permanent campsites at Ghat, Monjo, Phortse Tenga, Dole, Machhermo, Dingboche and Tengboche. Wilderness campsites were used either side of the Cho La. We used lodges in Namche, Gokyo, Loboche and Lukla (on return).
I'm at home now (flew from Kathmandu on 10th). Still recovering from the cough.
Overall we had awesome weather, with one particularly windy day descending from Namche. We had no snowfalls in the trip which was disappointing (it would have been good for the experience).
I highly recommend World Expeditions. The trip was well run and a great cultural experience. Our main Nepali guide has been trekking for around 20 years.