Everest Flight (sans Everest)

Took a prop plane over the Himalayas to get a closer look at Mt. Everest. It was raining a bit when we took off, and the rain steadily increased. When we were 20 or so minutes into the flight, along side Everest (although you couldn't see anything but clouds), they called back that the storm was too bad and they needed to turn back, but the Kathmandu airport closed due to the weather so they were going to try to do an emergency landing at an airstrip in the Himalayas. They tried a couple times and failed to pull of the landing, so headed back to Kathmandu where they let them land. It was a very hard landing. Now, some of that story is not from my direct observation, as after they told us that we couldn't see Everest and they were going to try an emergency landing I thought to myself "good Lord, this is going to take a while" and proceeded to take a nap. I was rudely awoken by the collision like landing in the storm at Kathmandu, and the ensuing uproarious applause from the 6 or so other people on board. The pilot and co-pilot were grinning like Cheshire cats with a patina of sweat on their brow so it must have been pretty hairy.
Anyway, didn't get to see Everest up close like I wanted to, but the little prop plane was fun, and it turned out to be free as I got a refund for the flight.