Seek Out New Horizonsin the himalayas

I did this trek at the end of November/early December. Having been a little concerned as to whether I had left it too late in the year this trek turned out to be amazing. The days were really clear and sunny with warm temperatures at the lower levels, although nights were quite cold as expected. This is a great trek because it essentially ascends a ridge up to the Mardi Himal base camp so the views of the Annapurna range are outstanding throughout. I was extremely well looked after by my guide, Ramash and porter Umesh, who did everything very efficiently and with enthusiasm and humour. And owner Harka was always available and attentive and looked after me the Kathmandu end. This was my fourth trek with Himalaya Trip and I highly recommend this company.

I have just completed the Langtang Valley trek with Umesh as my guide. This is my second time using Himalaya Trip and they delivered a fantastic Nepal experience once again. Harka was a pleasure to deal with and makes all my trip arrangement’s stress free. Both trips Harka has provided me with 5star guides. My first trip in 2024 was with Surpa and for my recent Langtang trip was with Umesh. Both guides have been exceptional at making my Himalayan experiences an absolute pleasure. Thank You.

I had an incredible trek with Himalaya Trip and with Dawa as my guide for the Three Passes trek (without EBC)!Dawa was incredibly kind, experienced, caring, fun, and funny. I felt well taken care of and would gladly trek with him again in the future as well as recommend him to anyone I know looking for a guide. Harka (Himalaya Trip owner) met with me the day before the trip and was kind enough to loan me a sleeping bag and jacket for the trek and outlined the trip details. Dawa met me early the next morning and arranged the ride to the airport and navigation through the terminal. We had a short flight delay (maybe 3 hours) but a pretty smooth quick flight. Dawa handled all the permits and accommodations and every place we stayed was comfortable, beautiful, and had delicious meals!! I experienced some altitude sickness (nausea and light headed) in Namche and Dawa was kind enough to bring food to my room and check in on me. He also gave me lots of tips for managing altitude sickness that I never would have known. It was obvious he was very experienced and could easily tell me what things would make it worse or better including not being too close to the common room fireplaces on the way up, keeping on more layers than you think while trekking up, pro tip of wearing puffy backward for wind/warmth insulation without overheating as much, and of course the usual drinking lots of liquids, resting, and climb high sleep low. He also had diamox/acetazolamide which I was very thankful for. Also, unrelated to altitude, I wouldn’t have known without Dawa to always pass the Tibetan carved rocks and stupas on the left/clockwise and doing the route clockwise in order to be in alignment with Buddhist tradition, good luck, and the mantra of Oh Ma Ni Padme Hum. I was scared I wouldn’t be able to do the trip due to altitude sickness, but Dawa reassured me of lots of different options to make sure my body was cared for while also allowing me to have an incredible experience. Throughout the trip, it was great to see the Dawa obviously had great relationships with a lot of the people on the route. He had great rapport with other guides, porters, lodge hosts, and chefs. He also used cell service and his relationships to check on things in advance for me like route conditions, room reservations, weather status, and gear availability. Dawa made sure to check that I was fully prepared and helped me buy new shoes in Namche since mine were no longer waterproof. He also was aware of and able to tell me when and where there would be cell service and certain amenities. With rest and management of symptoms I was able to continue the trip as planned. Dawa also kindly offered to carry my snack and toiletry bag on the uptrek to lighten my load so as not to worsen the altitude sickness from more intense physical exertion. Dawa constantly assured me of the plan, alternate options, and checked to make sure I was happy with decisions being made. He set a really nice pace for me with well timed breaks and was hugely helpful in reminding me to drink water. We got in early to the villages each day. We crossed Renjo La pass and spent a night in Gokyo then skipped the rest day there to give us more itinerary options going forward and since without skipping it we were set with bad weather for Kongma La. Hiking Cho La pass felt easier than Renjo after acclimating and we walked further than the original itinerary (Dzhongla) to Thokla since we were moving fast. Based on conditions heard and information from other guides, we decided to skip Kongma La due to the two glacier treks not being well marked/tracked making it easy to get lost and due to light snow/ice covering that would have made conditions slick and dangerous. Dawa came up with an alternate plan to add in Ama Dablum base camp instead. Dawa checked multiple times to make sure I was happy with the plan and I was. It felt like a great way to avoid dangerous conditions but still get to see an extra stunning sight. Ama Dablum is one of the most striking mountains in the range to me. The new itinerary also allowed us to split the Namche to Lukla walk back into two days also allowing me to get into Lukla early the day before the trips official end so that I could have the potential option to fly out on a better weather forecast day. It was a welcome option for me due to the notoriety of Lukla airport as being dangerous, having flight cancellations/delays, and Dawa’s own story of being stuck in Lukla for a week with no flights! In the end, we still ended up flying on the day planned. Overall, I had a great time trekking with Dawa and felt very well cared for. My happiness and safety felt paramount. He was very willing to always help out and I enjoyed getting to learn about him, his trekking experience, his family, and his favorite things. His English is not perfect, he mentioned it was poor, but I thought it was pretty good and I was able to understand everything throughout the entirety of the trip! I was glad I got to spend my trip with Dawa and celebrate with him atop the passes. He was genuinely joyous and proud at us getting across the passes and happily took me to extra viewpoints to show me the best places for photos, point out wildlife, and to call and share the experience/views with folks from home. Dawa was a great guide and I would happily trek with him again in the future!