The Everest track by Niels Schoen # 2

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It certainly felt like a big adventure, though it was an "ordinary" grouptravel arrangement. Like I mentioned in the previous e-mail, this was a four week travel from Jiri (2000 meters high, Nepal) to Everest. The complete journey takes you throughout these four weeks from 2000 meters in Jiri over several mountainpasses up to the KalaPatar at an altitude of 5545 meter, very close to mount Everest.
This is preferable because of the acclamatisation to high altitude. An other way to visit Everest is to fly at Lukla airport (3000+ meter), but then you have to be more aware of altitude sickness. But we were there to walk to Everest, and then fly back to Katmandhu from Lukla, all together we walked about 250 km in four weeks.

The photo's show you the Lukla airport and the primitive airplanes that operate there (we were there in Oktober 2010, in August and December that same year two airplanes crashed and nobody survived).

The other photo's show how we camped one night at 4800 meters in a tent, very cold with everything we had with us on top of our sleepingbags. All the other nights we spend at lodges, also primitive but ok.

The picture with the colourfull flags was taken in the early stages during the acclamatisation trip, while travelling over a highest point (in this case 3500 meters) you'll find the prayer flags from the Bhudist religion. Our guide was very religious so at almost every high mountainpass he would put some new flags to honour the gods. (these flags are all over the place, because they tear apart by the hard winds that blow).

The Picture from the mountaintop is the "Ama Dablam" a very beautifull double-peaked mountain near Everest.

This photo is so good....it truly discribes a feeling. Hands on the throttle, full power and take off!...leaving Lukla and back to Katmandhu after all the hard labour, walking mile after mile.


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