Our helicopter was one of the first to take off at sunrise around 6:20am from Kathmandu Airport. There are many helicopter operators offering tours to see the majestic mountains in Nepal but there’s only a small window of season to do this. I’d recommend going in April or October when the weather is at its clearest and not so cold.
Lukla is the gateway to Mount Everest. There is no road so no car can get there. A flight to Lukla is 25 minutes on a fixed-wing airplane or 40 mins by helicopter. We arrived there at 7am.
We took off again after refueling and headed to Mt Everest, on the way we passed Namche Bazar, Syangboche airstrip, Khumbu Icefall…
Mount Everest is the one with the sharp peak with snow blowing at the top. We were almost at 20,000 ft but Mt Everest stood really tall from where our helicopter was. We were trying to get up to Camp 2 of Mt Everest which is the absolute limit of the helicopter.
We eventually landed at Kala Patthar. I was so frantically taking photos and videos and started to use the oxygen supply from the helicopter. Our next stop is the pristine Gokyo Lake. On the way, we saw the world’s highest glacier, Khumbu Glacier. It really amazes me how close we fly to those mountain terrains. After a brief stop on the lake, we headed towards the world’s highest hotel, hotel Everest view for breakfast.
The whole trip took about 5 hours. The cost of doing it is about $1200 per person sharing on the helicopter. Helicopters don’t just bring tourists, they also bring cargo and bring down sick and fatigue trekkers from the mountain down on a daily basis.
Way Point of our helicopter flight:
1. Kathmandu (4,390 ft / 1,338m)
2. Lukla (9,380 ft / 2,860m)
3. Namche Bazar (11,290 ft / 3,440m)
4. Syangboche (12,402 ft / 3,780m)
5. Khumbu Icefall (17,999 ft / 5,486m)
6. Mt Everest (29,031 ft / 8,849m)
7. Kala Patthar (18,519 ft / 5,644m)
8. Cho La Pass (17,782 ft / 5,420 m)
9. Gokyo Ri (17,575 ft / 5,357m)
11. Hotel Everest View (12,729ft / 3,880m)
13. Lukla (9,380 ft / 2,860m)
14. Kathmandu (4,390 ft / 1,338m)