April 23, 2012 – hard to believe it’s already been a year since our wedding. Thanks for the good wishes on our first anniversary! As opposed to our usual austerity policy regarding our travel budget, Julia and me treated ourselves to something special to celebrate the occasion: a scenic flight to Everest. So from Kathmandu the BAE Jetstream – a 29 passenger aircraft – rose to about 6000m and headed east. Below us the misty valleys of the lower Himalayas, on the left rock faces and glacier caps of some of the highest mountains in the world and on the horizon in front
the rising sun – it was breathtaking.
Agni Air only sells the 18 window seats on the plane and the pilot opened his door after take off, so one at a time everybody could gaze through the cockpit windows for a full panorama. You almost get eye in eye with the big peaks – at cruising altitude the peak of Everest is only another 2900m above. After reading so much about Everest, we were thrilled to finally see the top of the world for ourselves… Lhotse, South Col (the saddle between Lhotse and Everest), the Hillary step and the icy summit ridge of Everest. Just after the world’s third highest mountain Kangchenjunga (8586m) on the Indian border came into sight, the plane bent right as the pilot turned around and steered back towards Tribhuvan Airport. Another quick view through the cockpit before we start the descent and return to the misty reality in Kathmandu valley. What a great ending to our time in Nepal. We’d love to come back here one day – the Himalayan snow peaks are magnetically beautiful.
