Our Twin Otter was descending at a dangerously steep angle, but at the last minute the pilot managed to pull the nose up and ease us onto the runway. We had arrived at the gateway to the Himalayas—a tiny airstrip surrounded by snow-covered peaks in the village of Lukla, elevation 9,350 feet. With fully laden backpacks and a keen sense of adventure, we began our journey into the mountain range capped by Mount Everest.
A version of this article appeared in the October 2001 issue of Harvard Business Review.
