lodeInside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket
https://kathmandupost.com/money/2026/03/27/inside-nepal-s-fake-rescue-racket
I did the Everest base camp trek in late 2015, at that time it was quite common (saw it myself and heard about it) that people would do the trek up but to get down they would fake a leg/back injury or blame altitude sickness and the chopper from Kathmandu would come pick you up, as long as you had the right insurance.
I wonder how much a chopper ride would cost at "reasonable rates" (e.g, not the air ambulance but just a chopper).
From personal experience it's about twice the cost of an ambulance ride from my house to the hospital. Air ambulances here are about 10 times as much.
I can tell you exactly what it cost for me. I took the helicopter from Gorakshep, the highest/last town on the EBC trek, to Lukla, the crazy airport people call the most dangerous one in the world. For me, a 255 lbs / 115kg guy, 2 Nepalis that are each half my size, a pilot, and our not-that-heavy hiking gear was 2000 USD in October of 2024.
Pics/video: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBTpLGtydZW/
Michael Pope on Instagram: "Day 11 of EBC trek. Having accepted my limitations about trekking, riding on helicopter seemed like a fun backup plan. It also has the added bonus of removing a couple days of trekking down the mountain. The hike from Gorakshep to Lukla was scheduled to take 3 days; and the helicopter took us to Lukla is 20 minutes."
16 likes, 3 comments - devoutsalsa on October 19, 2024: "Day 11 of EBC trek. Having accepted my limitations about trekking, riding on helicopter seemed like a fun backup plan. It also has the added bonus of removing a couple days of trekking down the mountain. The hike from Gorakshep to Lukla was scheduled to take 3 days; and the helicopter took us to Lukla is 20 minutes.".
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Yes, thanks for noticing. I fixed.