STOLs

If you've traveled in Nepal, chances are that you know about the STOLs: Short Take-Off and Landing airstrips! Short, bumpy runways carved into mountain slopes, usually dirt. The one at Lukla in the Everest region is Nepal's second busiest airport. You land on an uphill. When you take off, it is downhill until it suddenly drops off into the valley - this is the point at which the plane's engine drone the loudest as you lift off! Came across 3 excellent video clips of airplanes on the Talcha airstrip, in a very remote area called Mugu in Western Nepal. Interesting viewing:
nepalitimes.com.np/blogs/kundadixit/2011/04/01/fasten-your-seat-belts/

Yep, those are special aircraft, I found this definition on the web:

Short takeoff and landing: (DOD/NATO) The ability of an aircraft to clear a 50-foot (15 meters) obstacle within 1,500 feet (450 meters) of commencing takeoff or in landing, to stop within 1,500 feet (450 meters) after passing over a 50-foot (15 meters) obstacle.

I also found a brilliant video clip of Lukla airport on YouTube. The author added comments on the clip making it hilarious! Note how busy the airstrip is, planes coming in and out constantly - this is typical of how it is there in peak season, and especially when bad weather has held up the flights for a few days. It will be this busy there right now because all the spring Everest expeditions are cranking up. Note on take-off how the plane waits a few moments before heading down the inclined runway - they rev the engines at this point so that when they let the plane roll forward, it picks up speed quite fast. As far as I know, Lukla is the only tarred STOL airstrip in Nepal.

Normally flights are only done in the first half of the day. The biggest weather-related factor is the visibility. When fog sets in the airport can be closed for several days. If this happens in peak season there is a lot of catching up to do and then they fly all day, weather permitting, and there can be to 70 flights per day if I remember correctly.

The influx of tourism, mountaineering and money has foremost put there Sherpa tribe on the map. These days the Sherpas are not merely lodge owners and trekking & climbing guides anymore. They are organising their own expeditions and pioneering their own brands of outdoor wear. The area is a relatively wealthy and organised one.

One social impact I do see, and this is not a unique one, is that they are able to live in Kathmandu (many have homes in the city and in the mountains), and especially the children can now be sent to Kathmandu, India and several other countries for better education and jobs. Typically they do not want to return to their rural homes. This ultimately means that many aspects of their traditional culture and lifestyle that is so fascinating to us, cannot be preserved. Now, culture cannot be stifled - it must always be allowed to grow and change. But its sometimes a little sad to see certain changes. Even the kids growing up in Kathmandu are starting to loose their own Sherpa mother tongue, and instead only speak Nepali and English.