Kathmandu to Makalu Advanced Base Camp Helicopter Flight

The Kathmandu to Makalu Advanced Base Camp helicopter flight is an expedition-grade transfer that carries you from the capital to a frozen plateau at 5,700 metres in the upper Barun Valley, directly beneath the pyramid of Makalu, the world's fifth-highest mountain. The helicopter leaves Tribhuvan International Airport, climbs east over the mid-hills, stops for fuel en route, and descends through the great gorge of the Barun river to set down on the landing site above the Makalu Glacier, where mountaineering teams spend a dozen days walking to reach the same spot. Because every stage of the flight depends on weather, wind, aircraft performance at altitude, and total payload, the exact duration and landing window are confirmed on the day of departure.

The Makalu Advanced Base Camp helicopter flight exists for the few who need the far upper Himalaya in hours, not weeks. Expeditions use it to fly members and essential cargo straight to the true high camp, film crews use it to reach a glacial world impossible to access otherwise, and sky operators use it to open the Makalu-Barun National Park's wildest sanctuary. The overland alternative means flying to Tumlingtar, driving to Num, and trekking through Shipton La, Nhe Kharka and Sherson for roughly two weeks of rough, undulating walking to gain the same plateau.

We operate the Kathmandu to Makalu Advanced Base Camp helicopter flight with the strictest safety standards of any product we fly, from the pre-flight briefing and refuelling plan to the closely-timed landing and the rule that exposure above 5,700 metres is kept to minutes, not hours. The route climbs east past the ridges of the Koshi corridor, enters the Arun valley, and then follows the Barun river north into a fortress of rock and ice ringed by Chamlang, Baruntse and the dark summit pyramid of Makalu itself. It is a flight for the fit, the insured and the acclimatised, and one of the most airborne privileges Nepal can offer.