The adventure starts now

Today was another travel day getting closer to the mountain. After a few hours of sleep I met Rajan, my driver in Kathmandu, to head for the airport a little before 6:00am. I flew to Lukla next via helicopter. The Lukla airport is named the Tenzing - Hillary airport but also is nicknamed the scariest airport in the world due to its angled approach and short mountain runway. The elevation there is 9,334 feet.  All of this definitely made me feel like the adventure was really starting as the comforts of home gradually faded behind me with each leg of the journey. Another sign of adventure, I had to start using my Steripen, an ultraviolet device used to make water drinkable.

Here you can see an airplane approaching the runway.

This is from the internet but gives a good perspective of the runway.

After an hour layover in Lukla airport, where I enjoyed my first cup of steaming milk tea, I continued on to Dingbouche, evelation 14,469.  I definitely felt the elevation. It's like flying directly to the top of Mount Rainier and getting out.