DAY 38 - Basecamp to Kathmandu

David, Alex and I are the planners of the group and we want to get out of basecamp asap and back to Kathmandu, the mission has been completed so none of us wish to spend any longer than necessary in a basecamp that is rapidly melting away and with weather than can see you stranded for days if the cloud is too low, so we’re on the first heli out.

Our bags are on the heli pad and the hell’s start to fly into basecamp around 10am, there’s some talk that the weather between Lukla and Kathmandu isn’t great and that needs to clear before we can go otherwise we will be stranded at Lukla for an indeterminate length of of time which wouldn’t be great but eventually we get a 5 minute warning the heli is inbound and get on the heli pad as we scramble up the hill to make sure we don't miss our slot (there’s plenty of other people on the heli pad ready to jump in if we aren’t there and the pilots want in and out quickly so they don’t wait around to debate who’s on and who’s not).

Bags are chucked on and seats filled in record time and the heli starts to lift off and maybe gets two foot off the ground before the pilot realises its overloaded and isn’t going to make it, the winds make it difficult to get it back down on the pad but eventually he does so and a few bags are removed for him to have another go at take off! Success this time.

We have the usual relay flights down the valley to move us and bags down before we arrive at Lukla where the heli seats can be refitted and it can accommodate all passengers and bags for the trip to Kathmandu because of the better air, its a four hour wait before we can go but eventually there’s a break in the clouds and we pile into the heli and are off, back to Kathmandu.