Everest Lukla to Namche The steep runway at the Lukla Airport has a 12% gradient . . . to put this in perspective, pedaling a bicycle up the runway would be very difficult! The runway was paved only about ten years ago. Loading up at the Lukla Airport . . . besides ferrying humans, the Lukla flights transport much of the cargo that sustains the Everest Region Selecting the perfect porters at the airport requires crowd control skills and some humor Indian holy men on pilgrimage in Lukla Sisters in Lukla Receiving a grand sendoff from friends in Lukla New prayer wheels . . . the Everest Region is heavily embellished with Buddhist iconography and Himalayan art Prayer flags, big lodges and an unladen cargo donkey train that's returning to Lukla for another load Mother and daughter cooking for guests near Lukla Kaji Sherpa, veteran guide, on a long swinging bridge leading to the village of Phakding Water break under a tall waterfall near Bengkar Enjoying some memories with friends in Bengkar TP for trekkers! Yaks tiptoeing gingerly across the high bridge leading to the Namche hill . . . consider yourself lucky if you don't have to pass a yak train on a bridge 20151023_142525 Handsome Kampa traders from Tibet in Namche Bazaar . . . they bring their goods to sell in Namche on yak trains that cross the 19,000 ft Nangpa La pass A young shopkeeper in Namche Bazaar is protected by her yak and pink pig headgear The fearless heifer yak of Namche Bazaar The friendly lodgekeepers of the Kamal Lodge in Namche Bazaar . . . Kamal, on the right is the father with his son and daughter-in-law The main drag in Namche Bazaar The beautiful dining room at Hotel Kamal, Namche Bazaar Jerry trekking with his daughter Anabelle and wife Mary Ellen, a few years ago 🙂 Ama Dablam is the gorgeous mountain behind Mary Ellen & Everest is far left, mostly behind the cloud The high mountain people of Nepal dry yak dung and use it as fuel for potbelly stoves that warm the lodges A young girl in Khumjung in 2002 . . . Jerry met her again in Khumjung in 2014 The famous Khumjung Bakery's proprietor and her daughter . . . the Bakery has been here since at least the 1990s and is a trekker's favorite The school founded by Sir Edmund Hillary in Khumjung . . . here, the school's best athletes are playing cricket, a sport that's an obsession in Nepal Khumjung Kids
