Mt. Everest 2005: Helicopter and Mystery

The morning brought another surprise, I almost forget... it was 8:30 in the morning when we hear the noise of a helicopter, and to our surprise it was flying over Nuptse, above 8,000 meters.  This is the helicopter we told you about in the other chronicle, it is making high altitude tests.  It has flown over Nuptse, around BC with no problems and disappeared by the end of the valley... once you have seen normal helicopters fly in these heights, looking at this almost touching the glacier ice easily is something worth seeing.

The men from Valencia also have video! you might or might not be able to play it.

 if not try here (same video)

Now what is up? Today, NepaNews.com reports that "Eurocopter to fly chopper at record height" Eurocopter, a leading European helicopter manufacturer, is preparing to fly its helicopter at the highest altitude yet around Mt Everest. An 11-member team of pilots are in Lukla, Solukhumbu, to operate the flights at an altitude of 9,000 meters to 10,000 meters. The ‘adventure’ will begin Thursday...

Of course the helicopter the climbers have seen has already been up there. It is also not clear if this copter is the same as the plane/helicopter climbers saw the other day...

We contacted Eurcopter. We will have a more detailed report soon. But they had no knowledge of a helicopter up there last week. And no knowledge of a helicopter in Chinese air space. 

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

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