Everest Base Camp

Worry No.1 – Lukla Airport – Nepal

There’s a number of things that are worrying me about doing Everest Base Camp, i’m going to be writing about them as they pop into my head. Here’s the first and the one I will be experiencing within the first few days of leaving the comforts of the UK…

Lukla Airport or actually just the airstrip itself, to put it simply, it’s tiny and it sits on the edge of a mountain….

Here’s some facts about the infamous airport as taken from Wikipedia:

  • In 2010 it was rated the most dangerous airport in the world!
  • The runway is only 460m x 20m (the average sized runway is about 3 times the size) and it sits on a 12% gradient.
  • At the end of the runway (this is the best part) there’s a steep angled drop of about 2,000m into the valley below, if memory serves me correct when i watched Most Extreme Airports the plane if not up to the right speed when it reaches the end of the runway can dip down into the valley, until it levels out at the right speed. (Technically this may not be completely accurate, I do remember that my heart was in my mouth by this point!!)
  • It’s was renamed in 2008 after Sir Edmund Hillary and sherpa Tenzing Norgay – Tenzing-Hillary Airport
Lukla Airport
Lukla Airport (Photo credit: nucksfan604)

There’s plenty of videos on YouTube if you want to have a look, I may even do a recording myself and post on here….complete with girly screams and a few choice words no doubt!!

Have you ever been to Lukla? Is it as scary as it seems? What else should i worry about? ( actually probably best keep this one to yourselves!!)

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