Those of us working in the mountaineering trade as sardars, guides and porters have seen a consistent pattern of commercialisation among some of those from the West who come to climb our mountains. This is especially true on Mount Everest, which holds such a fascination for climbers worldwide that they are willing to leave all mountaineering ethics behind at Base Camp in the rush upwards to become "conquerors of Chomolongma".
I saw the most blatant aspect of corrupt climbing this past fall on Everest, when I was sardar to the French team led by Marc Batard. Others on the mountain at the same time were a New Zealand cum Czechoslovak team, a South Korean team, a breakaway French team that was originally pan of Batard´s group, and a large American team.
By the time we arrived at Base Camp from the airstrip at Lukla, the Americans and Koreans had already broken the route through the Khumbu lcefall, which is the most difficult part of climbing Everest from the South. It was the Americans who had supplied the many ice screws, ice bars, ladders and the vast lengths of rope required to cut this route. In the past, whoever broke trail had right of first use, but this was the first time my fellow Nepali climbers and I witnessed the actual charging of rent or toll for a trail up a Himalayan mountain. What we saw was the equivalent of what in the Nepali highways is known as the sawarikar.
My task for the Batard group was to set up camps up to South Col. We were told by the Americans that the icefall route had required U$ 28,000 – surely an exaggeration – and chat all expeditions must share in this cost. Ignoring the demand for payment, I forged ahead with my Nepali friends and broke the trail and established camps all the way to the South Col, When I returned to Base Camp, I learnt to my surprise that Batard had accepted the outrageous demand and handed over U$ 5,500 to the Americans, With hindsight, I believe he must have done so gladly because this made much easier his much ballyhooed goal of climbing Everest from Base Camp within 24 hours (which he did). Besides our group, the New Zealanders and Czechs paid U$ 7,000 and the breakaway French team is said to have paid U$ 5,000.