EVACUATED BY HELICOPTER

One of four helicopters struggling to take off in the thin air near Lukla, Nepal.

Weather in the mountains is a fickle lady, as we found out at what we thought was the end of our trek. 

Thanks to a thick curtain of fog that welcomed us back to Lukla, we spent two days and nights there, waiting for a Kathmandu flight that never departed (no, it wasn't on Yeti Airlines). On the morning of day three, the sky nowhere in sight, we were forced to hike two hours down the mountain to join a crowd of other stranded hikers to hop a helicopter out, lest we all miss connecting flights scheduled for the next day. 

Small world story--while waiting in the cold on a remote hilltop in Nepal, we bumped into a guy from New Orleans, Tim Walsh, who's friends with our good friends Kristian and Emery. Over beers we toasted their recent wedding...congrats guys!

After waiting overnight, we finally hitched a ride with six Canadian hikers who'd been trekking for nearly a month. The flight was a bit terrifying, and it certainly wasn't cheap, but the views were stunning and we thankfully got a refund on the canceled flight.

Once out of the clouds, the views weren't bad at all, as seen from these terraced hills emerald green with rice. 

While stuck in Lukla before the flight, we managed to have a little fun, perhaps not surprisingly. Together with a crew of other travelers met on the trail, we ended up renting out the tiny town's theater, which more resembled a concrete bunker than a cinema house. The proprietor, a local Sherpa woman, thought we were crazy, but she still agreed to supply popcorn if we bought beer from her. In the musty basement, we watched Touching the Void, a documentary about two climbers who nearly died attempting to summit an unclimbed mountain.  

All in all, it was an incredible trip we were sad to see end. But it's time we moved on, hopefully to lower, more level ground, at least for awhile. 

The crew at Lukla's only movie theater, which we rented out for a night while we were all stranded.

The Lukla crew, which includes an Aussie, a Zimbabwean, a guy from Chicago, and a guy from Japan among others.

Touchdown in Kathmandu. We split the fare with six Canadians who'd' been hiking for four weeks. Fun, smelly times.