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IPPG Newsletters: January 1999
From the Editor's Desk |
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| Dr Jim Duff |
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In the autumn season of 1997, I volunteered for the HRA (Himalayan Rescue Association) aid post in Manang. It was the death of a porter, while I was there, that catalyzed the formation of IPPG (see: Death of a Porter below).
Personally I have seen or heard of several incidents of porters dying in the mountains over the 24 years I have been in the Himalaya. However, Shyam's death was the final straw and galvanized us into action. IPPG was formed to act as a lobby group to encourage Nepali and foreign trekking agencies, and their leaders and sirdars in particular, to provide a minimum standard of care for their porters, by adopting the guidelines described below.
The aim of IPPG is not to point the finger of blame at anyone, but to bring the care of porters up to acceptable standards. Lowland porters are just as susceptible to AMS as Western trekkers, but much more likely to develop hypothermia and frostbite. Porters often carry to heights well above the average mountaineers base camp and can end up in extreme conditions with only thongs and their cotton clothing. Over the years if is interesting to speculate just how many porters have died or been maimed in the trekking industry, and just how many of these deaths were preventable.
I believe the trekking industry in Nepal is already changing for the better and can only be more sustainable if one of its primary resources is honored and cared for in the same way it looks after trekkers. Concern about porters' welfare has a long history and many people have contributed over the years, Mike Cheney is a good example. IPPG is just another small push in the right direction. If we give this issue a good shove over the next couple of years, it is our hope that caring for porters will become the norm.
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