Discussion
Inside Nepal’s fake rescue racket
tomaskafka: “Wasn’t the system supposed to be fixed?“Why would it be fixed? Insurance companies aren’t willing to invest in oversight, and everyone else profit, there is no incentive for changing the system.
IAmBroom: "In at least one case cited in the investigation, baking powder was mixed into food to make tourists physically unwell."The only ill effect I can find from overconsumption is a "tingly sensation on the tongue". Of course, that doesn't mean the 'poisoner' wasn't ignorant of this, and genuinely did it trying to make them sick. Or maybe they simply said, "If you feel your tongue tingling, YOU ARE DYING!!!".
dr_faustus: Oh no, those poor global insurers being ripped off by those heartless Nepali rescue fat cats. I sure will lose a lot of sleep over this problem!
skilled: 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.
bombcar: I wonder how much a chopper ride would cost at "reasonable rates" (e.g, not the air ambulance but just a chopper).
doikor: Per person around $1500. Over 10k of you can’t fill the chopper.
MikeNotThePope: To be honest I'm surprised insurance is offered at all. I did the EBC trek a couple years ago. The temptation to take a helicopter down was real & I didn't have insurance.
yard2010: The problem is not in this specific case (those insurance companies won't go bankrupt), but with the system. When you don't have a proper administration you can't really cooperate as effectively as with proper administration. This is the symptom, not the problem.Imaging the price of less cooperation - when taken to the extreme the insurance company won't accept to insure people trekking there. The price will go up. This will hurt both the industry and the trekkers.Proper administration > profit
bombcar: If the cost to an individual insurance company is low enough (in the few millions) and they're not really at risk of it suddenly exploding, and the cost for them to mitigate is also in the millions (or risks killing a customer), they're unlikely to improve. Fight Club, but the other way around.However, if they all gang up together they might do something - but that can cause other issues (a local insurer becomes the only insurance available, etc).
ceejayoz: It’s a leavener when you get it wet, so swallowing enough will definitely feel like digestive upset from all the gas.
MontagFTB: Could it be a symptom of high altitude oxygen deprivation?
datadrivenangel: Yes, which is why it's easy to then convince people to evacuate. People do die on Everest, including EBC treks from altitude sickness alone, so severe symptoms usually lead to taking the trekking back down the mountain.
MikeNotThePope: 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 lb / 155kg 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/
datadrivenangel: Nepal is a low income and high corruption country, where the government and formal business structures are unstable enough that 'tipping' becomes common even for government investigators...It's basically a way for everyone to get more tourists dollars, which is one of Nepals primary exports.
