Night 2 in Lukla

Still raining. No flights in or out all day today. Tension is rising and the town is filling. Word is spreading up the Khumbu to stay put and not try to come down here.

We have lined up a Russian 24 seat transport helicopter for tomorrow, but it too is weather dependent. At least we will now be first in queue for the helicopter instead of 800th or so in queue for a seat on a fixed- wing aircraft when they start flying again.

On the plus side: we have rooms in a lodge (some don't, already) and food is still plentiful (though Starbucks ran out of chocolate chip cookies tonight - I had to make do with coconut); we are dry, and we have a couple more days to wait before we are in danger of missing our international airline connections.

So, things could be worse. We continue to hope for a break in the weather tomorrow, at least enough to get our chopper in. Keep the positive thoughts coming.

Namaste,
Jim Ronning