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Yes, it is true. The "heavy lifting" of this (and I hasten to add, only THIS) mountain climb was done on another head than mine. For a tip that averages out to about twenty dollars for the entire round trip ( a bargain that no one would accept as I hauled my backpack to the summit of Rainier a year to the day later!) the gear makes it up the mountain and back balanced precariously on a porter's head. If you would like other details of the event itself, I had written the experience at the time in Tanzania (see "Kili Climb").
The mountain climbing in which one carries a lunch, water bottle and a camera might not seem like the tough trek that the others have been, but the old adage is probably true on either end of the transaction--one can get used to anything!
There was always a game being played by the porters and the pampered clients, unspoken though it might have been. Even with two or three backpacks stacked on end on top of their heads (never have I known an African to carry a backpack strapped on his back when the far more artful balancing act of the head loads can be done!) the porters were intent on passing the climbers looking neither left nor right with only the occasional "Hibare?" (How are you?) to which the invariable response is always a sweat-drenched "Mizuri Sana, Asante!" ("Oh, very well, thank you!") The game was to not make it look like a race, which it clearly was, and to have the Bwanas arrive in camp with a bunch of porters idling around lounging over the piled up packs as though they had been waiting most of the day for the dudes to catch up.
On the first day I was "Babu"--meaning respected grandfather-- a designation of esteem, but also one that acknowledges their appreciation of my experience wisdom and skill--a little bit less than their calculation that I was the source of the deepest pockets come tipping time! On the second day, having seen a marathon T-shirt and noting that not one of the porters had yet been able to pass me, our guide came to me and handed me a folded piece of paper, which would be necessary for the person who arrived first at camp, since it was the permit for the climbing party. With a formal ceremony, he said "You not Babu--You 'Racer'"!