I love high mountains! I did in the past Everest and Jomsom treks. I was also hiking from Jomsom to Lo Manthang – the capital of legendary Mustang Kingdom. But I was always dreaming about seeing Himalaya also from the air – it is completely different perspective. They offer such a one-hour flights from Kathmandu. They are expensive (200 USD+) because they are selling only window seats – the rest remains empty! Today the dream came true!
At 5.15 am I was already in the domestic airport for check-in and security. Before sunrise we boarded turbo-prop ATR-72 plane. 33 pax only. Few small airlines offer such a flight but Buddh6 Air has the best opinion. We started only after sunrise, passed through layer of the smog and then – see the picture:
The plane was heading east along the main Himalaya range on the altitude 20000 feets- around 6500 m, then after 25 min turned back to west so the people from right seats could take pictures. Right windows are better – the plane is closer to the peaks and lighting is better. Everest, Makalu and Gauri Shankar were on displey. Flight attendents were giving explanations and we received panorama outprints.
This was great flight, but imagine that you actually fly in the distance from the peaks – not as close as on the first promotional picture (above). It is still unusual – you can use the zoom. I was happy to see from the air Kala Pattar – the final point of my Everest trek. What a day! 🙂
