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kabloer wrote:Anyone had any experience with expeditions organized with Asian Trekking. Seems like they are the budget place to go. Seems a lot of people die (like David Sharp) but they were solo climbing without support and just got the permit through Asian Trekking.

I wonder how much their full service everest bid is from the North side:
http://www.astrek.com/expedition_tibet/ ... zangmu.htm

No price on the webpage. Any ideas? I emailed but haven't heard back yet.

In the September '06 issue of Outside magazine, they discuss Asian Trekking a little bit in the article "Over the Top", starting on page 72.

On page 73, discussing David Sharp (he had utilized the services of Asian Trekking), the article states:

"When Sharp's possessions were packed up at base camp, a scrap of paper told more about the real story of Everest than all the yards of newsprint that would follow. It was a receipt for $7,490, the entire cost of his final climb."

On page 118, the article states:

"So why head north? It's cheaper. On the Nepal side, a permit alone costs $10,000. On the Chinese side, you can get a permit, a ride to base camp, lodging, and yaks to carry your gear to advance base camp, on the East Rongbuk Glacier, all for $4,000. If you can cope with bare bones base-camp services, grim food, and no Sherpa support, Everest becomes less Bergdorf's and more Wal-Mart."

The article not only gives the impression that Asian Trekking is not a full service guide service, they actually give the impression that you truly get what you pay for.

kabloer wrote:Asian Trekking offers a bunch of services. I guess they're happy to sell you just a permit and a pat on the back. However, they do have full service where they baby you up the hill like the other services too.

I didn't intend to come across as an expert or a past client, I just posted what I read. My apologies for not doing more research on the topic first.

kabloer wrote:However, they do have full service where they baby you up the hill like the other services too.

No they don't. Even when AT include 'guides' they're nothing like the guides you will get on one of the western-led commercial trips and their BC and support logisitcs are similarly of lower quality. You may not like guided trips but you need to learn more about them if you think like this or you'll end up wasting time and money, or worse, due to bad decisions.

D