There are certain things in life that are beyond our imagination. In simple words: if you haven’t experienced it, you have no inkling of what it’s like. One such experience is the Everest Flight. There are no words to describe how you feel when flying over the Himalaya; you are left in awe of the sheer magnitude of the mountain chain and its incredible beauty.  One begins to understand the real meaning of ‘fascinating’.

I took Yeti Airlines’ Flight OY-302, scheduled to take off at 6:45am. It’s in the early hours of the morning that the skies are clear and the mountains are visible in all their glory. There’s a certain cheer when the attendant announces, “The weather is good and you are up next.” 

Excitement builds up as the plane takes off, and immediately like magic, the mountains come into view. The stewardess helps each passenger identify the various peaks as they pop up outside the window. “There’s Langtang,” she points out and I remember the time I had stood on top of Kyanjin Ri so close to Langtang Lirung (7,246m). There’s something about the snow-covered mountains that touches your heart; their serene beauty, that mysterious appeal and unmatched tranquility.

You can see it in the faces of the passengers who gaze out the window lost in thought. The others don’t want to waste a second while they capture the breathtaking scenes with their cameras. The mountains get bigger as we fly eastwards toward the biggest of them all, Mt. Everest (8,848m). The kind stewardess patiently points out the different peaks, “That pointed one over there, that’s Gauri Shankar, and the one with the flat top, that’s Melungtse.”