Traditional porters slept in villages or caves. But what happens when there are no villages, the temperature is below freezing and the lodges need to fill their rooms up with trekkers in the all too short trekking season?
Shelters are one answer. Lakpa Dorje and The Himalayan Guides Association have now built two shelters in the Khumbu region. One is at Island peak and the other at Lukla, both with great toilets. There is a shelter at Thangboche partly funded by the local villages. Other funding comes from many sources, mainly from within Nepal itself.
These shelters are rough stone huts with earth floor and no chimneys, which makes them incredibly smoky as the porters all light their fires inside. As a result many porters prefer the caves!
Smoke is bad for lungs and shelters need good chimneys and perhaps kero stoves higher up where juniper is burned for cooking fires and warmth. Help is sought to improve the shelters. Contact Jim Duff.
Peter Clarke IPPG rep for HK has started to raise $10,000 to build a porter shelter (hopefully with chimney!) in Annapurna base camp in collaboration with ACAP, IPPG and Island School.
