Stand down (again)

We were stood down at about 3pm yesterday afternoon, when it became clear we weren’t going to fly. Lukla was open yesterday, but there’s now such a backlog that it may take days to catch up,

and since our flights were on the third day of delays, we’re at the back of the queue: they fly each day’s scheduled flights first, and then start on the oldest part of the backlog.

With every update from the airport, Andy apologised and thanked us for being so understanding. I think he must have expected more trouble!

Now the airport is open, Andy seems a lot more positive about flying. Walking in is still an option, but there’s no talk of setting off today and I think he’s prepared to wait until tomorrow if we’re unlucky today. It’s a bit of a gamble as we don’t know for certain when we’ll be able to fly, but if we walk then we lose one of the three summits straight away. If we fly today or tomorrow then we can still fit all three summits in if the weather isn’t too bad, though we’re probably going to chop off the last few days of the original plan (a minor climb to get a good view of Everest).

After we’d been stood down yesterday, Rich, Mark, Vanessa and I caught a cab into Kathmandu to visit the temples at Pashupatinath (Hindu) and Boudhanath (Buddist). Pashupatinath doesn’t allow non-Hindus in, but it’s worth a visit to see the monuments surrounding the main temple, and the funeral sites along the banks of the Bagmati River. Boudhanath is one of the biggest stupa in the world, and was looking pretty impressive in the evening sun.

Back at the hotel I finished my book, and we ate what will hopefully be our last evening meal before we fly. We also planned a yoga class for this morning – Dave is (at least semi-) qualified, so has just lead a class in the hotel garden! We ended up doing it on slightly damp grass and it got pretty hot as the sun rose over the trees, but it feels good to have stretched a bit.

There’s no news on our flights yet, but the other Jagged Globe groups have gone, so hopefully we can get out of here today.