Everest Trek: Part 5

Gokyo to Kathmandu

On our adventures we always like to note when we’ve taken our last step forward and when we turn around to head home.  The summit of Gokyo Ri was our last step forward, or in this case, last step up.  From the summit, every step was heading “home” to Kathmandu where there were more comforts, like showers, clean sheets, and a smorgasbord of international food.  Once you’re done, you’re done—that much is clear on an Everest trek.  We could not get back soon enough.  The high altitude was taking a toll on us physically with small colds and coughs creeping into our lungs, and the duration and teahouse hardships were becoming a psychological challenge as well. 

From Gokyo Ri, it took three days of walking to make it back to the Lukla airport for our triumphant exit from the Everest region.  However, the weather had other plans for us.  On our departure day, the clouds formed a swift blanket around the airport in the morning and grounded all planes, except for the helicopters.  After hours of sitting around, we noticed helicopter after helicopter leaving, and interestingly, many of our fellow stranded trekkers smartly disappearing.  Is chartering a helicopter really an option?  Turns out James Bond isn’t the only one flying around in a helicopter.  By the time trekkers make it back to Lukla, where coincidentally the power had been out for over two weeks, they are over the whole Everest affair and one more night in a grimy Lukla teahouse is simply unbearable. 

Chartering a helicopter for $1,500 back to Kathmandu is a common practice, and the price becomes a brilliant idea in the moments of desperation to avoid another night of second-hand soap, dirty sheets, and the identical menu from the previous 17 days.  We too eventually found the $1,500 price to be a bargain for a swift escape.  However, our mulling of the $1,500 price tag took more churning and digesting in our minds to become the incredible bargain it did for others.  In a cosmic intervention by the thrifty gods, the weather worsened just in time for our helicopter to be cancelled and saved us from our frivolous selves.  So, in the end, we were gifted with one more night in the teahouse to harden our souls and fortify our immune systems. Finally, the next day we were granted the second to last departure from the airport by boring old plane, not a spritely helicopter.  The delayed arrival to Kathmandu only sweetened the comfort of the cozy clean sheets, hot shower, and cheesy pizza we inhaled.  Trekking to Everest Base Camp and Gokyo Ri was an adventure for the books and etched Himalayan memories and landscapes into our minds, strengthened our character, and gifted us with new friends for life—this is reason enough to keep exploring the world.