Everest Base Camp Trek is one of the famous and challenging trek in the world and every trekker pursue it as a dream trek in their lives. The main highpoints of this trek would be majestic Himalayan peaks standing alongside and amazing views on every turn. I became impulsive and worried from last 4-5 days since our team reached Lukla village after completing long way trek from base camp. The day before yesterday Beyond Mountains second batch of the season returned safely from Kathmandu and I breathed a sigh of relief. From last 3 days, there was no single takeoff from Lukla due to harsh weather and that made me anxious again as our team was dreadfully waiting to get on to the flight.
Tenzing-Hillary airport, also known as Lukla airport rated the most dangerous airport in the world. Lukla is the Gateway to Mount Everest. Runway is just 500 meters long that has been carved into a mountain ridge. Rain, high winds and cloud cover always spoils the visibility resulting in flight delay, cancellation or airport closure. Personally, I feel that getting to the Everest base camp is much easier than getting flight from Lukla. This has become inevitable challenge for mountaineers whoever going to Khumbu region to pursue their dreams. Air traffic control are very strict on flight arrival and departure. Surprisingly, this challenge is not only limited to boarding a flight from Lukla but also in terms of ‘cost’ that ordinary person must bare just to fly off in this critical situation. Our team was also stranded for 2-3 days in Lukla due to worst climatic conditions. Around hundreds of people were waiting desperately to get the things to normal and for smooth departure. Our Guides and Sherpas were continuously following up with these aviation companies and the situation that we observed was hysterical.
When flights were cancelled, people started approaching private helicopters. Ideally helicopter companies from Nepal charge approximately $200 per individual for flying back to Kathmandu. While in such critical situation these evacuation rate has been increased to $600 by the companies. These companies were claiming that people are ready to pay them up to thousands of dollars however they can’t take risk in this erratic climatic condition but the reality was different. When the weather and situation was bad and people were waiting for their safe return to Kathmandu, Chopper companies charged double the rate to evacuate them from Lukla to Kathmandu. After some time, it was observed that when the climatic condition was in favor for the flights to fly, they never arrived. Instead, the private chopper companies claimed to fly the passengers from Lukla to Phaphlu which is 15-20 mins aerially away from Lukla by chopper & arranged flights from that place. This way, they presented themselves as the saviors for the stranded passengers while charging double the rate. Ironically, this was happening even when the weather was absolutely promising for a flight to land & take off from Lukla airport itself! We have also observed that for any onboarding, preference is always given to westerners due to high USD payouts. Airline companies are making extra money from the westerners hence Indians and Nepalis are always in low preference.
Commercialization is the only word I can think of while thinking of this situation. These operators were demanding insane amount of money for flying out of Lukla. No doubt, all these smells fishy to normal person and there must be double dealing among these aviation companies. Local governing authority who controls the aviation industry should consider this issue to stop these unfair practices. When greed is stronger than compassion, there will always be suffering. Unfortunately, a common mountaineer gets suffered from all these nasty things.
Nearly one third of Himalayan arc is occupied and exists in Nepal so ultimately all adventure lovers naturally attracted towards Nepal to fulfill their dreams. Nepal is one of the hotspot destination for mountaineers and real adventure seekers. There are more than 900,000 tourist arrivals is recorded in 2017 resulting in more than 90 billion economic contribution to GDP of Nepal. This has also created many job opportunities to local Nepalians. We all know that Sherpas plays a significant role in every mountaineering expeditions. Sherpas are real heros due to their personality and bravery in the mountains. Tourism is the largest industry in Nepal and its largest source of foreign exchange and revenue but that does not mean this revenue should be generated by exploitation of real adventure seekers by some greedy companies.
If such things happen again this will affect not only the ‘tourism’ but the ‘trust’ in long run. And I think this is applicable to every tourism culture of the world. Even in India, we face lot of such incidents where an ordinary tourist always becomes a victim of immoral selfish system. There are some alternate routes to reach Lukla from Jiri Village however this route takes around three weeks to reach Lukla. We can also reach upto Phaplu village by road which is lower than Lukla but it also takes 7-8 hours journey from Kathmandu. This will affect the existing itinerary of Everest base camp trek which fits into 2 weeks holiday. Nepal government is already in process of building a road to Lukla. We are not sure about the project deadline but for now ‘Fly in & Fly Out’ is the only convenient option available for all the trekkers. A common man cannot change the situation however if the government authorities could pay attention and regulate flight companies, things might be in favor of justice.
The Mountains are our ‘Guru’ and adorable god for all adventure lovers. We seek peace and make harmony when we are in mountains. We get great power and inner bliss after the hardest climb. Being in Maharashtra, we organize many treks in Sahyadri mountains as well. Every single trekker from Sahyadri dreams about climbing the Himalayas. People spends their yearly savings on their passion of adventure. This money is only worth if spend on right cause and the right way. We can only respond to the mountain’s call and we can only pursue our dreams when things are well coordinated and managed between Man and Mountains.
