Everest 2006: Fi and Paul: Downtown Lukla

Location: Lukla
Altitude: 2830m
Local Time: 7pm, 29th May
Weather: Low cloud and rain on and off, 12C

Hi, it's Mary here.

Life in Lukla
We were so excited when we finally trekked into Lukla late yesterday afternoon. We were looking forward to a shower (shower outside and solar heated).....oh sorry....too cloudy to heat the water!

At our Lodge we met up with many other people from IMG- sherpas, climbers and admin staff. We had a fun dinner in a relaxed dining room. Most of us went to bed early as we had to be up and ready to board our plane at 6am this morning.

"Bright eyed and bushy tailed" we were ready! ..........but alas.....at
the cloud cover was very heavy and it still hasn't lifted .....we are STILL here at 6pm!

The small plane we were due to fly out on has to fly in from Katmandu first, but as these planes fly without instruments, they cannot fly in cloudy weather and unfortuately it has been cloudy and then wet all day!

Checking out Town
Lukla is like many of the Nepalese villages we have seen, but unlike others, it is built around an airport which is "protected" by a large unit of armed soldiers.

Lukla has one narrow stone street which is shared by people - stall holders, young kids playing among timber or piles of stones, school children (amazingly clean in their uniforms), chickens, dogs and yaks!

Killing Time
We are filling in our day by chatting, reading, laughing and playing cards- Paul won, followed closely Fiona in the the card challenge today (and the worst thing is that I taught them the game!)

Hopefully the sun will shine tomorrow morning and we will fly out to Kathmandu, change our tickets and head back home......(fingers crossed!).

That's all for now,
Mary

Updates

Built to handle a myriad of different climbing pursuits, the Ultralight Universal is our best selling crampon. This crampon lives for trekking, glacier travel, or steep couloirs and snowfields. Totally adjustable Zytel straps make this crampon durable and easy to use. Fits everything from moon boots to flip-flops, our lightest crampon available. Weight: 590g Points: 10. See more here.

   Ascenders

   Atlas snowshoes

   Atomic

   Black Diamond

   Botas

   Brunton

   Carabiners

   CaVa Climbing Shoes

   Chaco

   Clearance

   Clif Bar

   Cloudveil

   CMI

   Crampons

   Edelweiss ropes
   Eureka Tents

   Exofficio

   Featured

   FoxRiver

   Garmin

   Granite Gear

   Harnesses
   Headlamps

   Hestra
   Helmets

   HighGear

   HornyToad
   Ice Axes

   Julbo

   Kavu Eyewear

   Katadyn

   Kelty

   Kong

   Lekisport

   Life is Good

   Lowa

   Lowe Alpine

   Lowepro

   Millet

   Motorola

   Mountain Hardwear

   Mountainsmith

   MSR

   Nalgene

   New England Ropes

   Nikwax

   Omega

   Patagonia

   Pelican

   Petzl

   PowerBar

   Princeton Tec

   Prescription Glacier

   Glasses

   Primus

   Rope Bags

   Salomon

   Scarpa

   Seattle Sports

   Serius
   Sleeping Bags

   Stubai

   Suunto

   Tents

   Teva

   Thermarest

   Trango

   Tool Logic

   Trekking Poles
   Yaktrax
   and more here