Mountain Flight – Experience the Majesty of the Himalayas
International Adventures Treks & Expeditions Pvt. Ltd. runs this one-hour scenic flight over the Himalayas out of Kathmandu Domestic Airport, operated through Buddha Air or Yeti Air. It goes out early morning, before the clouds tend to build up and block the view, so you get the mountains lit up by the rising sun.
Once airborne, the flight tracks along the Himalayan range and each passenger gets a window seat, so nobody’s stuck craning over someone else’s shoulder. On the way out you’ll see Shisha Pangma (8,013m) and Dorje Lakpa (6,966m), then Ghyachu comes into view as the plane continues east. Choba-Bhamare (5,933m) is smaller than the giants around it but holds real significance for Hindus and Buddhists in the region, who consider it a sacred mountain. Not far past it stands Gauri-Shanker (7,134m), named for Shiva and his consort Gauri in Hindu mythology.
The flight keeps going past Melungtse (7,023m), Chugimago (6,297m), and Number (6,511m) before reaching Cho Oyu (8,201m), the sixth highest mountain in the world (not eighth, worth double checking against current rankings before this goes to print). Gyachung Kang (7,952m) sits nearby and has a reputation among climbers as one of the harder peaks in the range despite its height not quite breaking 8,000 meters. Pumori (7,161m) rises close to it, and then Nuptse (7,855m) appears, which climbers often use as a landmark since it sits right beside Everest. And then Everest itself (8,848m), Sagarmatha to Nepalis and Chomolungma to Tibetans, the highest point on the planet.
