In 2007 I paid a deposit to Asian Trekking of $2000 in January and the balance I paid 2 days before I left for Nepal at the end of March.  I liked this because I didn’t receive any pressure to pay more or to pay earlier – it’s always possible that you will have a training accident or some other event that causes you not to be able to make it.

For our 2006 expedition we were constantly being hassled by IMG to make payments and we ended up making our final payment in January 2006.  All sorts of angles were tried to get us to pay earlier, including the need to have the money by the end of January to pay for the expedition permit.  However I learned later that other people didn't sign onto the trip & pay until later and that the permit wasn’t organized and paid for until our arrival into Nepal.

Overall Price
The price for Asian Trekking in 2007 was US$28,500.  This compared to US$30,750 from IMG in 2006.  In addition I hired a personal Sherpa on both occasions AT - $5500, IMG - $6000.  On top of these prices you need to pay tips to the staff.  As you can see, these prices are pretty similar, with IMG’s slightly more expensive.  IMG's price is amazing when you consider that they have to make Western standard profits, whereas Asian Trekking being a Nepalese company, wouldn’t have the same level of profit pressures.