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"There was no preparation. Many trekkers that came into the storm arrived without planning. Their porters had no trekking shoes or coats. It is one of the causes of their deaths. Some died because they were too cold -- it was freezing snow, five or six feet deep."
"The foreigner is the guest, the sponsor, so the foreigner comes first, it is (a) problem."
Baburam Bhandari, chief district officer, Mustang, Nepal

A Nepalese army helicopter rescues survivors of a snowstorm in Manang district. Photograph: Nepal army/AFP/Getty Images

Half of the dead who perished in the blizzard and avalanche that struck a Himalayan trekking route in Nepal were Nepali porters, guides and cooks. Most of them had no warm weatherproof coats or boots to protect them from the weather. Captain Kishore Adhikari who led the Nepalese army rescue efforts, helped over 70 hikers to safety with his crews The bodies of 25 were recovered. He noted that local victims were wearing casual clothing, including flip-flops or running shoes.

One can only wonder: what were the tour operators thinking, what would have been the impression of the trekkers spending big money and handing it over to the tour operators, when they became aware, as they must surely have, since they have eyes to see with, that their guides, their cooks, their porters were grossly inadequately shod and covered. Something like visiting the slums of India and ignoring the pleas for whatever can be spared.

With the conscience-saving impression that this is simply the way people prefer to live, it's what they're familiar with, content with, and they're simply taking advantage of innocent foreigners' presence. On the other hand, Keshav Pande of the Trekking Agents Association claims that his group has offered low-cost clothing and equipment rental for porters and guides, but that many believed they had no need for them.

Likelier that they hadn't the wherewithal to pay for the low-cost rentals, and committed themselves to the staffing of the trekkers because they need to feed their families in an area that is known to be beset by poverty and privation. More to the point, why don't the tour operators who charge up to $3,000 for a three-week trek, provide the workers with protective hiking gear and themselves pay the low-cost rental?

Captain Adhikari and his rescue team recovered the 40th blizzard victim, warning that some of the dead may not be recovered until spring. Over 500 trekkers and guides were rescued since the blizzards. As for the profit realized by tour operators, "they're not spending it on the porters", said Captain Adhikari wryly. Some of whom are expected to carry equipment weighing up to 40 kilograms, and earning for their troubles as little as $16 daily.

Not only were foreign trekkers given priority treatment in the rescue effort, in part this resulted because many of them had taken travel insurance which provided helicopter evacuation for them only, not their guides and porters. The foreign visitors could leave with an easy conscience, reasoning that the guides and porters were, after all, in their home territory, however removed they might be from their actual homes.