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For every trust fund baby out there, there's five of us carrying around their junk, cleaning challets, selling gear and weed. Just like skiing.
I used to charge a flat rate plus per kilo for short distance portering. Best idea ever. The more someone's gear is worth the more reluctant they will be to abandon it or leave it anywhere, and in all likelihood the more money they had.
So if you were just doing a day walk for set climb, I'd take a whole group for $50. Might as well, had to cache things anyway and if I took all the business nobody would want to compete with me either so I got 100% of the other revenue.
So I ended up charging rich city people mountaineering rates to carry suitcases on day hikes. But often they legitimately wanted five grand of Kathmandu junk at their overnight camp, and simply didn't care what they paid me to carry it in relation to the cost of buying it and taking time off work. And I'd also walk random people up in season and sell thousands of dollars worth of shit.
I'm very angry they banned private portering, very angry. It was my way of life. But not only that, the expense of hiring park rangers to clean up litter is enormous, as is the cost of rescues, abc the trails are now far more dangerous because porters are sort of like defacto lifeguards. In exchange for selling water and earning a living carrying bags, the state got a peak season medical and tourism service. Their rangers couldn't even provide that level of service for the inflated pay they get, and the rangers are both faggots literally and spiritually.
