Mao-Li
4th February 2003, 06:46 PM
Hello Paul!
We did something similar last year (two person "expedition" to Mera Peak). We used a Kathmadu based agency that arranged everything for us(guide, porters, kitchenpeople, permits plane tickets KTM-Lukla etc). It was cheap in comparison to using a European agency, but probably more expensive than it would have been, had we hired a local guide ourselves and carried all our stuff on our own backs... This was our first trip to Nepal, so we did not want to take any chances. We saw very small "Alpine" expeditions as well as big commercial trekking/climbing groups on the route. I myself think that you must be quite a hard-core trekker to find the way to the mountain and climb it wihout at least a guide and a few porters.
The price therfore depends much on how much pain and effort you are willing to put in the project yourself :-D
One good thing with using a reputable company is (from our experience anyway) that they know what kind of people they should hire (we saw some awful examples of crewmembers on other expeditions). I also strongly suggest that you get a few climbing friends (say two or three more) on the trip. You should be at least three people roped up together when climbing Mera. There are many crevasses ! If you want specific suggestions on trekking companies, put an e-mailadress on this post, so I can give you the URL without violating the ad-ban.
Happy climb!
We did something similar last year (two person "expedition" to Mera Peak). We used a Kathmadu based agency that arranged everything for us(guide, porters, kitchenpeople, permits plane tickets KTM-Lukla etc). It was cheap in comparison to using a European agency, but probably more expensive than it would have been, had we hired a local guide ourselves and carried all our stuff on our own backs... This was our first trip to Nepal, so we did not want to take any chances. We saw very small "Alpine" expeditions as well as big commercial trekking/climbing groups on the route. I myself think that you must be quite a hard-core trekker to find the way to the mountain and climb it wihout at least a guide and a few porters.
The price therfore depends much on how much pain and effort you are willing to put in the project yourself :-D
One good thing with using a reputable company is (from our experience anyway) that they know what kind of people they should hire (we saw some awful examples of crewmembers on other expeditions). I also strongly suggest that you get a few climbing friends (say two or three more) on the trip. You should be at least three people roped up together when climbing Mera. There are many crevasses ! If you want specific suggestions on trekking companies, put an e-mailadress on this post, so I can give you the URL without violating the ad-ban.
Happy climb!