Getting to and From Mount Everest Is Harder than You Think

The first leg of travel to reach Mount Everest Base Camp is sometimes the hardest.

That’s what Outside correspondent Ben Ayers experienced earlier this week. In his latest Outside: Dispatches from Everest video, Ayers takes us inside the topsy turvy world of air travel in the Mount Everest region.

Western tourists hoping to hike to the world’s tallest mountain first fly to Kathmandu. But then they must make their way to the town of Lukla in the Himalayan foothills, where the trail to Mount Everest begins. Getting to Lukla during the busy season in the Himalayas can present a challenge.

Tourists can hire a vehicle, but the drive takes upwards of 22 hours to complete. They can also book a flight from Kathmandu to Lukla’s Tenzing-Hillary airport, the self-described world’s most-dangerous airport. But flights from Kathmandu are hard to book during the busy season, and many trekkers must drive from Kathmandu to an airstrip in Rammechap and then board flights to Lukla.

Ayers decided to skip the flight and book a seat in a helicopter. And, as he found out, that mode of transportation came with its own set of challenges, as you will see in his latest video dispatch.

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