Lukla airport is quite a thing to behold, let alone land at and take off from. The airstrip itself is short. To help planes slow down on landing its angled upwards, which also helps them to gain speed on take off. When landing, the pilot has to hit the start of the runway as closely as possible and then brake hard. All you can see looking out of the front of the cockpit is a wall of mountain coming towards you at a fair pelt. At the last second the pilot yanks the controls to the right and the plane swings around into the holding area for disembarkation. Below is a picture showing a plane taking off - when heavily loaded, they don't quite get enough speed to take off cleanly and actually dip down a little as they fall off the end of the pavement before climbing back up again. Pretty amazing to watch, especially knowing that in a couple of weeks time that will be you heading back after your trek.
After a quick cup of tea, plus time to make sure any necessary items are taken out of the kit bags before they are loaded onto the Yaks, its time to set off on a steady, undulating but averaging downwards walk to Phakding, where the night is spent at 2640m. Along the way there are plenty of enticing views of the Himalayas, small villages and the Dudh Kosi river ('milk river'), whose valley we are following. I could post any number of photos, but I've picked my favourite of the day, below.
The weather on the way is pleasantly sunny and nice and warm, although we are already hearing rumours that base camp itself is probably closed due to snow - since the snow started this year, no one has made it to camp, and there is a chance we may not either. That doesn't seem to bother anyone and there are high spirits around the stove that evening - helped along with a couple of bottles of Everest, the local beer, which appears to be Tuborg but with different labels.
Tomorrow is the first big day.
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