Lukla flights (Nepal) - weight limits

[flatfoot]

I'm in the process of starting to organise gear for my Everest Circuit trip in Nepal (I fly out Wednesday).

Can anyone provide any recent experience of the current weight limits for the Kathmandu - Lukla flights?

Some info I read says 15kg + up to 5 kg hand luggage. Whereas other info says 15kg includes hand luggage.

I'm travelling with a trekking company. One complication is they supply the down jacket, sleeping bag and fleece liner so I'm a bit unsure about the weight of those items.

My current strategy is to take a selection of gear and whittle this down to essentials in Kathmandu after I talk to the guide.

[flatfoot]

I found this website that said this:

The weight limit for your main luggage is 12kg. For hand luggage it is between 6-8kg.

and:

The weight limit for checked luggage is 15 kg (about 35 pounds) and 5 kg for carry-on luggage. They do weigh both pieces. Overweight luggage may be removed or charged $2/kg.

[biggbird]

I'd see if you can get on to forum member Nick S, who recently visited (and I believe made a great writeup here somewhere...) and hence ought to be able to sort you out! I'm actually headed there on Thursday (currently in eastern Nepal), so will be interesting to find out not planning on having too much hopefully anyway, as tent + cooking gear + daily food is not necessary. But will have extra weight in terms of camera gear We shall see!

Out of interest, where are you visiting, and what's your estimated itinerary? Never know, may see you there! My partner and I are planning to do Gokyo Lakes +/- EBC, dependent on time and altitude adjustment. We're flying in (hopefully, it has been foggy the last week or so and lots of flights cancelled) on the 20th and heading back out on the 8th. Hopefully we'll spot you there somewhere!

[wayno]

can you tell them you'll supply your own gear or ask them the weights of their gear or what the item models are do you can work out the weights?

[flatfoot]

Bigbird - I arrive in Kathmandu on Thursday. My flight to Lukla is on Saturday 22nd. Rest day Namche 25th. Gokyo 29th. Cross Cho La Pass on the 1st. EBC 3rd. Kala Pattar 4th and then out via Lukla on 9th. It seems as though you may be 1 day ahead of me. I am guessing you will probably be having your rest day at Namche on the 24th, which will be the day I will arrive. My trek is a mixture of lodges and campsites.

Wayno - looking at some gear sites I think the sleeping bag, liner and down jacket together will total in the 3-4kg range. The duffle bag they supply will probably be about 1kg. I think that means I won't be able to have anymore than 9-10kg of other gear in the duffle.

I'm going to take my luggage scales with me to Nepal so that I have some way of properly determining what gear to take. I'll leave the rest at my hotel.

[wayno]

i wear boots on rough tracks or if i have a heavy pack
shoes on an easy track as long as the pack isnt above 15kg
i've sprained my ankle in shoes several times but never in boots....

[flatfoot]

i wear boots on rough tracks or if i have a heavy pack
shoes on an easy track as long as the pack isnt above 15kg
i've sprained my ankle in shoes several times but never in boots....

Agree with the advice. I'm taking a good pair of scarpa boots. I'm also taking microspikes for the Cho La Pass or other areas where we may encounter extended sections of ice.

I'm taking some tough macpac gaiters as it was recommended we have gaiters for snow. I've got durable macpac overpants so I'm thinking these may compensate for gaiters if I'm trying to cutdown weight - or would snow still work it's way up under the overpants, even though the leg cuffs can be clipped tight (I've never walked in snow).

[Jellybean]

If you have a down sleeping bag and liner that are suitable for the expected conditions I'd recommend that you take your own (you may not have them I guess if you have nomiated to use the trekking companies).

The flight into and out of Lukla is something to behold (and something you will never forget ... both for the scenery, the location of the airport and the aircraft used - somewhat different to Australian domnestic airport experience!! But to be expected in a Third World country).

Absolutely love Nepal, can't wait to get back there some day!

Enjoy!

[flatfoot]

I haven't really done any sub-zero camping, so I've never had a need to invest in the gear.

Will be happy to get my feet on terra firma after the Lukla flight. At least it is a twin-engine.

[north-north-west]

Don't be so pessimistic. They hardly ever crash planes up there these days.

[biggbird]

Looks as though things have changed a little flatfoot... We're still in Lukla unfortunately! Flight was cancelled on Thursday, made it in Friday, but only got 1.5 or so hours out when I slipped on some ice and opened up my forehead. Had to come back to Lukla for stitches. So hopefully if your plane flies tomorrow, we may well be following the same schedule! Been given the ok to keep going, so will hopefully aim for Monjo Saturday, but may only make it as far as Phakding. We'll see!

For what it's worth, had no trouble with a 19ish kg bag on the way in, but lighter would always be nice :p Best if luck tomorrow morning, hopefully see you on the track somewhere!

[wayno]

way to go, get back into it

[flatfoot]

Looks as though things have changed a little flatfoot... We're still in Lukla unfortunately! Flight was cancelled on Thursday, made it in Friday, but only got 1.5 or so hours out when I slipped on some ice and opened up my forehead. Had to come back to Lukla for stitches. So hopefully if your plane flies tomorrow, we may well be following the same schedule! Been given the ok to keep going, so will hopefully aim for Monjo Saturday, but may only make it as far as Phakding. We'll see!

For what it's worth, had no trouble with a 19ish kg bag on the way in, but lighter would always be nice :p Best if luck tomorrow morning, hopefully see you on the track somewhere!

Interesting - I met you on the track at 'the scene of the crime'. The ice was still there. I was very sorry to see/hear of your accident. I did note you had a one planet pack so thought it might have been someone from the forum. I hope you're recovering okay.

My duffle bag weighed about 15kg and my day pack about 5-6kg and had no trouble with getting my gear on the flights.

We were fortunate to fly out of Lukla on the day we were originally booked (9th). There had been bad weather (wind) in the days before and one Japanese group had been waiting for 3 days for flights.

I picked up a nasty head cold before Namche and almost aborted my trip. In the end I persevered with a nasty cough. The cold and the dust made it impossible to clear up. This made me particularly tired some days. I had a full rest day in Namche and missed out on the walk up to the Everest View Hotel.

I had no problems with altitude and made it up Gokyo Ri, over the Cho La (crampons on the glacier), to EBC and up Kala Pattar.

The other areas where crampons were needed were in the toilets at Gokyo and Gorak Shep lodges.

Our coldest morning would have been about -14 at Tengboche. We did get approx -20 wind chill at the top of Kala Pattar.

We used permanent campsites at Ghat, Monjo, Phortse Tenga, Dole, Machhermo, Dingboche and Tengboche. Wilderness campsites were used either side of the Cho La. We used lodges in Namche, Gokyo, Loboche and Lukla (on return).

I'm at home now (flew from Kathmandu on 10th). Still recovering from the cough.

Overall we had awesome weather, with one particularly windy day descending from Namche. We had no snowfalls in the trip which was disappointing (it would have been good for the experience).

I highly recommend World Expeditions. The trip was well run and a great cultural experience. Our main Nepali guide has been trekking for around 20 years.

[Lizzy]

Photos please Flatfoot

[flatfoot]

I'm still sorting through them and will post some once finished. Unfortunately I'm off Nepali time and back into the busyness and humdrum of normal life I'll start a new thread for the photos.