Trust
The acclimatization rule, monitoring routine, turnaround authority, and evacuation procedures that apply to every trip on this site.
5 sections
Every itinerary on this site keeps sleeping-altitude gains under 500 m per day above 3,000 m, with a rest day for every 1,000 m of net ascent, the Himalayan Rescue Association's Pheriche clinic guideline. This rule sets the shape of every trip page's day-by-day itinerary before anything else is scheduled; a route that cannot fit the 500 m rule into its available days gets more days, not a compressed schedule. Full detail on how this rule works and why sits in the acclimatization schedule guide.
Above 4,000 m, guides log each client's oxygen saturation twice daily, at breakfast and dinner, using a pulse oximeter carried on every departure. A Lake Louise score is applied at the same checks to turn "feeling off" into a tracked, comparable measure across the trip. Symptoms, scoring, and the warning signs that trigger a descent are covered in full in the altitude sickness prevention guide.
The guide holds that authority, and it is not open to negotiation regardless of how a client feels about turning back. This is a deliberate operational rule, not a courtesy: a Lake Louise score of 6 or higher, or any sign of HAPE or HACE (breathlessness at rest, confusion, a stumbling walk), means immediate descent, full stop. Our senior guide, who holds a Wilderness First Responder certification and a Himalayan Rescue Association high-altitude medicine credential, reviews every safety-critical page on this site before publication.
Our guides carry the operator's emergency contacts and know the descent routes and helicopter pickup points on every itinerary before departure, not worked out after a crisis starts. A helicopter evacuation from the Nepal high country costs USD 2,000 to 6,000 depending on pickup altitude, a cost travel insurance with mountaineering or high-altitude cover is expected to handle, detailed in the helicopter evacuation insurance coverage guide. Every trekker on a route above 4,000 m needs a policy with that cover confirmed before departure; we ask for the policy number as part of booking so it is on file if a rescue becomes necessary.
Group departures above 5,000 m carry emergency supplemental oxygen and a first-aid kit stocked for altitude-specific conditions, alongside each guide's personal WFR-level medical kit. Climbing departures add expedition-specific equipment: fixed rope, anchors, and a satellite communication device for high routes beyond normal mobile coverage.