More Beginner Questions

[uhlk]

I just last week returned from everes trek.I have employed guide & porter but i am happy employed them because in the last i saw a foreign guide went to hiring a porter from LodgemHe paid money to Lodge but in the end he got sick seriously.being less traffic he did not found any one to help him and porter know nothing.The incident was happene dbetween pheriche to pangboche but in debuche on the way up we met women who work for Khunde hospital but she is well known to advise for altitude sickness and she has gamow bag also.Taking help from her i was able to give him life,i forced my guide to carry the al and some i shared and my porter carried him all the way there.He has waited there for help two one day he was suffering from altitude porter was also he was not properly well.be think and prepare before go trek.During season you may meet many but non tourist season hard to get help.
So if you needed porter or guide hire through reputed person who can help you
Regards
Andy

[Lars]

You do not need any porters if you are in reasonable shape. And should you take a guide for this trek you would make fools of yourself.

There is rarely any problem following the trail, and if you occasionally need to double check with the local inhabitants or other trekkers to make sure that you are on the right path, it will only add to your experience. Rather than being led around be some fellow who will do all he can to keep you from interacting with the local people or "free" trekkers.

I have seen several first time trekkers having a bit of a hard time ridding themselves of needless guides and porters in mid trek so that they could join those who carry their own, and experience the real thing. Be a traveller rather than a tourist!

Lars
Eight time trekker, four of which in the Kumbu.

[Thomas]

Use a Porter ofThirdpole Treks. Contact Raj at thirdpole@wlink.com.np
Regds,
Thomas

[richard thompson]

I went to Tibet twice, and left early the first time because of altitude sickness. I was with a guided group on a 3 week mountain bike trip along the Friendship Highway. We spent 4 days in Lhasa for sightseeing and acclimization. It is not uncommon to have a raging headache the first day in Lhasa (about 3800m). Also expect to have difficulty sleeping.

Towards the end of the trip, 5000m at Rhumbuk was standard operating procedure. The more time you can acclimate, the better. If you can take the time, hiking in from lower altitude would probably eliminate any acclimization problems.

There is a very good high altitude medicine web site out of KTM on coping with altitude. (www.high-altitude-medicine.com) I picked up two pieces of info that helped a lot the second time in Tibet. Diamox can be used as a prophylactic medicine. Standard daily dose is 500 mg or two tablets. I took a half tablet a day, perhaps it should have been one tablet as I still had problems. It was managable - I got some sleep rather than none and my appetite was off. Also, Gingko is supposed to help.

As I recall, diamox is readily available in the pharmacies in KTM and probably a lot cheaper. Again, if I recall correctly, I saw cipro in Pokhara dirt cheap 10 tablets / 100 rupees. My co-pay alone on insurance in US was $10 and I believe the total was near $100 for maybe 20 pills.