It is customary that each expedition member will make a contribution toward staff gratuities. Our staff are extremely proud of their efforts, and receiving a gratuity is a matter of the utmost honour, a mark of recognition of a job well done. We will "pool" these tips together and then, as a group, we will vote on the distribution of the tips to the individual staff. This method has seemed to be the fairest and has worked very well in the past. Our staff of more than 23 Sherpas is an extremely loyal and hard working group. You will be duly impressed by their level of effort and reliability. The main reason our staff are consistently some of the hardest working people in town, on trek, and on the mountain, is that they know they can rely on the generosity of our members to consistently provide a good tip. Please be sure to keep up the tradition, for future team members, as you have benefited from the reliable generosity of team members who came before you. Thank you very much.
There are two types of tips, the staff tip, and the summit-attempt bonus.
The "staff tip" will be $250, £135, €170 per foreign climber. Expect to pay this tip no matter what.
For the "summit-attempt bonus" a group Sherpa who helps you to climb above the high camp or up to the summit and back down, expect to pay $700 USD per sherpa. That amount of money may be split between the climbers in the summit party.
If you have a personal Sherpa, your total tip will be more, to include both the "staff tip" of $250, £135, €170 plus a separate tip for your personal sherpa of approximately $400 if you DO NOT climb above the high camp or approximately $700 USD if you DO climb above the high camp or up to the summit.
