Hi everybody, I am back from Nepal, Mount Everest that is, and the Himalayas. That was sort of my last recording, a long time ago now. I mentioned about that trip, which I am happy to describe here, give you the tips if you ever want to be there, if you just want to visit Everest Base Camp, I will lay out my steps, give you some of my tips, what I learned, some hints of what to do, what not to do.
Probably it will take me more than one sitting to record the whole experience since I was training for it for over one year. And I mentioned some of that training in other episodes like the training for mountaineering. So you can go back and check that episode for the details about how I trained, what I ate, etc. But again, it was over a month that I spent over there. It definitely, it's hard to cover everything in typically the 10 to 15 minutes that I like to keep those episodes limited to.
Otherwise, I don't want to bore everybody to death and you can jump to whatever you think it's more valuable. But let me give you guys sort of the start. So what I did, and just lay out the, what I actually plan and accomplished and sort of the overall goal. And then I'll go into some of the specifics in sort of the next one or two episodes more than I think I'll have to record in order to give you the full overview and cover as many interesting topics as possible.
So the plan was to head over to Nepal and then to the Himalayas and climb this mountain called Lobuche East because Lobuche West, the other side of the mountain is extremely technically challenging. So Lobuche East is about 6,000, nearly 200 meters, a little bit over 21,000 feet in altitude, icy conditions. It is on a way, depending where you're going to, which path you take, which track you take, which is on your way to Mount Everest and Lhatsi and the other mountains around there.
So you have to pretty much follow the Everest climbers, the Summitors, as well as the people, most of the time, the people who are just tracking their way to visit the base camp, the Everest base camp, which is on a bucket list for many people. So that was the plan, which was duly accomplished.
As you probably, and if you haven't, there are the episodes where I climbed other mountains, including Mount Baker, and of course, close by here in New Hampshire, Mount Washington, which I did three times before trying to head over to Nepal. So there was a lot of training involved, but that was the overall plan. And I'll just tell you the start of it, the Summitors specifics in terms of how I actually accomplished that. So first thing is select an expedition team.
I selected an expedition team, as I mentioned in other episodes, I gained absolutely nothing mentioning those companies other than I paid them and they were great. And I got great service. In this case, I selected CTSS, climbing the seven summits. That's what stands for. They are amazing. They are probably today the largest expedition in the Himalayas, especially Everest. I got to spend a good amount of time with one of the owners, Mike Hummel, who climbed Everest, I believe seven times.
Now he is coordinating all the expeditions, especially the ones to Everest. Great guy, super experienced, awesome infrastructure. I mean, there are other expedition teams like that, right? You have Nim Spurja from Elite Exped, who was on Netflix. He's the guy behind that documentary called 14 Peaks. If you haven't watched it, it's pretty cool.
There is IMG, who is a very long tradition, being very successful in Everest and most of the other Everest documentaries on Amazon Prime and the likes will typically portray IMG, which stands for International Mountain Climbing. And there are others. There are several. There's about, I think, 30 or maybe even 40 different expeditions this year at Base Camp alone, right? Different sizes, of course, different levels of infrastructure. Again, mine was awesome, CTSS. Food was amazing.
The guides were great, super experienced. The logistics super well planned. What else can I say? The Sherpa team, right? Just fantastic. So much that I'm going to keep climbing with these guys whenever I can. So that's sort of the very first step, right? So you select that, the one that fits your style, and just be mindful that there are some expedition teams out there that will take your money regardless of your experience.
And they say, sure, I'll take you up to the summit of Mount Everest, even though some people never put crampons on their boots and feet. And then we get there. And he's like, oh, crap, right? What am I going to do now? So they'll take your money and they will try to take you up there. Although it's extremely dangerous, and this is typically how people die, right? Because they lack the experience and the support. So just be mindful of it.
Sometimes trying to save some money, especially for things like that. And honestly, most of the things that I describe in my podcast, it's not the way to go. So just keep in mind that if you find an expedition team, make sure that one, they have a strong track record, but two, they also almost like interview you and validate your experience, or at least give you a training plan and follow you. So you are successful. And they are successful in the end. Some of these guys are in for the long haul.
It's not like they're going to form an expedition team this year, bring like seven people, and then let's say all of them die. It's horrible. And then they just close shop and they take everybody's money. So it's a ton of money that goes into it. Even shorter expeditions, you're going to spend a considerable amount of dollars or whatever you are. Whatever currency is just a ton of money. So be sure that you invest it wisely. And on top of it is of course your life and your well-being.
You want to come back. So that's very first step. I did it. I worked with these guys over the course of many months once I selected them. And they kept me up to date on the logistics and how I was training, et cetera. Once that is done, well then the fun almost begins, right? Because the fun really begins when you start officially the expedition in this town, very or small village called Lukla. But basically you've got to head over to Nepal, right?
You can go through the Tibet route, but that's a whole different story. I have no experience about it. I did via Nepal. So they will take care of the permits, right, to getting to the park, to do your climbing, depending on the kind of mountain you're going to climb. So you have all those steps taken care of. Not a lot of paperwork. So you get to Nepal, to be honest. You typically, you get a visa. I had to have one. Then you head over there, right? So you get to Kathmandu.
That's sort of where it almost begins, I'm saying. Because Kathmandu is a relatively big city for Nepal standards. And it is just absolutely crazy. Very chaotic. I've been to many other chaotic towns and I know quite a lot of Southeast Asia. But Kathmandu is unique. It's really worth it to spend a couple of days there. I spent two days when I landed in Nepal before the expedition actually begun. I just spent a couple of days in Kathmandu just doing sightseeing and walking around.
Absolutely crazy. Amazing. Just make sure while you're there that you don't get hit by any vehicle. It could be a car. It could be a bike. It could be anything, really. That's going to ruin the rest of your expedition, you probably have to go back. So it is, it's not trivial. I'm not going to say it's dangerous, but if you're going to cross the street, be careful. It's the very first days. Be careful what you eat, why you're there. So I typically, I can eat anything and I'm never sick.
And I put my body to the test in Nepal for a month. Nothing happened. I'll tell you later what happened to some of the team and how the team was made up. But that being said, not because I typically am very well eating whatever, that I was going to go out and go crazy. So I try to keep it safe, relatively safe, eating wise, et cetera, in the days that I were there before the actual expedition starts, because that was my goal. So that's another tip. Keep that in mind.
Sometimes we get tempted to try something super cool and super new, but there's a time for that. And I did it once I was back in Kathmandu. So then I said, okay, now I can splurge a little and try some yak meat or yak cheese or something that I don't find yet over here. That's the first step, right, Kathmandu. And then from there, there are two options. You can take an up until last year, you could take the airplane, that was the normal way, the cheaper as well, and just fly to Lukla.
That's about a 40 minute flight into Lukla. Lukla, L, U, K, L, A airport, if you Google. First thing that shows up, and the second and the third is the world's most dangerous airport. And it is insane. I fly airplanes and I just started flying helicopters. And if you understand a little bit about airplanes and landing requirements and takeoff requirements, you see that airport, you understand why it is considered to be the world's most dangerous airport. It is insane, right?
There is an inclination on the one runway, super inclined, I think it's like 15% inclined to help the airplane is actually slow down upon landing. And also helps it speed up on takeoff, which is crazy, right? Again, it's hard to describe, it's better if you guys go and Google and take a look at the pictures and the videos and we'll give you an idea. It's just an absolute crazy experience.
So you can fly into it or as of this year, 2023, what the Nepali government did because there were just too many flights, especially in the months of April and May, going back and forth to Everest and to Leucla. So what they did is they said, okay, no more airplanes are taking off Kathmandu because it's just one runway. So if you have a big 777, 767, whatever, big passenger airplane taking off, it has to wait for the tiny little airplane to take off or vice versa.
It's just one runway out of Kathmandu. So what they did is like, okay, you know what, you guys take the helicopter or you can drive four hours from Kathmandu to another local airport and then you fly out of a plane from there. So again, two options, keep that in mind. It started this year. We kind of knew about it and we were informed up front, nobody chose to drive four hours outside of Kathmandu because then if there's something weather related or whatever you cannot fly, then think about it.
You have to drive back to Kathmandu. There's no way to sleep around that airport. So that's eight hours in a day plus the time you spent at the airport. So that's one day that you just gonna throw away. So yeah, cost more, take a helicopter. That would be my recommendation out of Kathmandu. It's about a 40 minute flight as well. We'll get you to Lukla without the excitement of landing a plane there, but we'll get you there.
And if your goal is, as was mine, to actually do the expedition and climb the mountains and so then that's part of the process. So you gotta pay some extra money, fly to, we're talking about a couple hundred dollars, you know, 300, 400 bucks more than if you're flying an airplane full of people, you know, typically they will feed four people, or maybe five in a helicopter, right? Plus your duffel bags and everything and then you fly off there. Quite a view as well.
Great ride, helicopter ride through the Himalayas, somewhat unique. And that's when you land to Lukla. When you land there, that's where the fun officially begins and your expedition begins. And from there, right, you're going to start your trek and your hike throughout the Himalayas, all the way to base camp, if that's your goal, or stopping along the way to other mountains, all the way to summit Everest, if that's your goal as well.
I'm going to save that chunk off the trip to the next podcast. I'm already, I'm checking my watch here. I'm already 16 minutes into this, but that gives you probably an idea and I hope you did of how to get things started, right? An expedition team, how to select one, you know, things to watch for, you know, and how you're going to get yourself to Lukla safely and in time for the expedition. So, to the next one, and then I'm going to start talking about the hike from Lukla to Everest.
To guys later.