Hiring a porter for Annapurna/EBC

Hire a porter or a guide. Give someone a job for those days. Porters will not disappear on you. On my first trek, I was kind of paranoid about this. But, the key is to only pay 50 percent at the start. Pay the rest in installments while on the trek, or else at the end of the trek. They also worry about you skipping out on your final payment.

Just because the porters CAN carry heavy loads, doesn't mean that you have to take loads of unnecessary crap on the trek. I'm sure that given a choice, they'd rather carry a lighter load.

#9

It is not where you grow up, but how you grow up. If you had started carryin loads from age 5, manure, gravel, sacks of flour, lumber etc, you could have carried 30 kg easily at age of 12, 60 kg by age of 16 and now 80-100 kg would not be a problem. It is not the African air that makes it possible for the rural african children to easily run 20-50 km in a day, even just fo fun, it is the distances, need and lack of mechanized transportation. We all are born runners and porters, but easy life does not develop those capabilities in us anymore. It is a scientific fact that the physical fitness level of western children has collapsed since the invention of TV and this trait has accelerated after PC and net came to use.

Yes, we are weaklings. 10000 years ago we could all run a duble marathon carrying a deer carcass...

#11

Naturally everybody likes a lighter job if the pay is the same. Trekking porters play on the ignorance of trekkers and tend to complain about "heavy" loads when given over 20 kg. If the trekker would open his /her eyes he could see other local porters passing by carryin 80 kg with less pay... I myself would also prefer shorter hours at double the pay.

Wow,

I'm glad for the responses, however few are actually helpful. What I have gathered is that a porter should cost around $10 a day. Pay half or something shy of that in the beginning. They probably won't runaway with my bag. Combine two bags into one bag (no problem there).

Still looking for:
Porters in Beshishar?
Is there still maoists between Jiri and Lukla?
Is it worthwhile to hike from Jiri?

It's funny how everyone jumps in with their own two cents about porters and guides. It's a very touchy subject, however, my purpose was to learn how to get a porter, not if one is required. My gf and I have already decided to hire a porter (as I thought was evident in my post - I would like to hire a porter, but not through a travel agent because I want the porter to get more money). A porter allows us more comfort in our journey, as well as employing someone who may not have otherwise worked in that time. From what I hear, the porters who are not tourist oriented carry extremely heavy loads for less than $10 a day. As for cheapening the experience, it may be already cheapend with the construction of roads in the area and the number of tourists.

Chaudi - Thanks for the faith in EBC. As I always joke with my friends, "You don't know me". This also applies to you, but without the humour. We realize it might be tough, but having waited years to do it, a little bit of fatigue won't stop us. And thanks for the ideal number of people to trek with. I thought it was obvious that we would like to trek with some other people. But this must have escaped you.

More later... Power is off here

As for the weight, I simply added that in for extra information. My question was whether or not a porter could fit two 35L bags in his carry thingy (lack of a better word), not that of weight. 18kg is not heavy by any means. We have both carried 20kg+ hiking before. A porter should be able to carry 16-18kg, if not, then they are not really providing a service are they?

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<hr>For starters, 18kg backpacks are WAY too heavy and it's an absolute abuse of human rights to expect a porter to have to carry that for you, even if you are paying them. Lighten the load to no more than 12 kgs and carry your pack yourself, it's not that hard! The higher you go with altitude, the harder it gets.<hr></blockquote>

I'm confused by this statement. From what I gather, 18kg is too much, an abuse of human rights (where are you from? I'd like to live there), so I should lighten the load, then I can carry it myself. What happened to the porter? I agree altitude makes things harder, but isn't this one of the reasons for a porter? As for lightening, granted we can loose a few thigs hanging around, but even 16kg for two people seems very light for two people (but 12kg?). We are carrying sleepings bags and jackets and the like, if we get caught at the high pass in a snow storm, they are life savers.

I would like to thank everyone who didn't ruin the spirit of the post and who gave us useful information. We are looking forward to going, and hopefully some of my other questions will be answered.

read a guidebook.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>It's funny how everyone jumps in with their own two cents about porters and guides.<hr></blockquote>

this is a open public forum...

happy travelling

pallav

http://pallavgupta.homeunix.org

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