In reply to Denni:
> If you can walk out, why not walk in?
Weight of food and fuel! You can walk out with just climbing and camping gear and the food for the walk out, but you can't walk in with climbing and camping gear, food for the walk out, plus all the food and fuel for the two or three weeks that you're in there.
Helos vary country to country but even in Asia you're usually looking at $3,000 an hour or so for the helo itself, not per person. But that's usually smaller helos, taking 2-3 people. If you're looking at a big old Mi-8 like they still use in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, then you could easily triple that or more (depending on how much space is for pax and how much for cargo or extra fuel etc) which makes it prohibitive for just a few people. You also need to watch the weight on the smaller choppers, as with two or three people you may not end up with a huge amount of space and/or payload for gear and food etc.