Namaste 🙏
A warm welcome to my website www.himalayanhigh. On this page, you will come to know almost everything about me and my organization. I thank you for showing patience to read it and your interest in knowing us more.
It feels great pleasure to introduce Himalayan High to mountain lovers. We are very lucky to have The Great Himalayas with us and Himalayan High is here to take you deeper and higher up in the Great Himalayas, make you feel ecstatic by its sky-touching peaks, mesmerized by its aura and charm, awe-inspired by its might, and thoughtful by its spirituality, but not limited to just that.
Himalayan High is a trekking and mountaineering expeditions organiser in the Himalayas of India, Nepal and Bhutan. However, if you get the notion that we are just any other trek operator, then you might be wrong. To understand why we are different, you need to know us and our processes a little more.
Let me tell you a small story and the motivation behind the birth of Himalayan High. I must admit it will be very difficult to express it in a few paragraphs, but I will try.
Ecologically Sustainable and Low Impact Trekking Company in India
( We Prioritize And Specialize In Lesser Done, Customizable, Small Group Private Trekking Tours Of All Grades, In The Himalayas Of India, Nepal and Bhutan)
On This Page:
- Birth Of Himalayan High
- Why Are We Different
- Our Team
- What We Do
- What We Never Do
- Why Choose Us
The Birth Of Himalayan High
Trekking and mountaineering had always been my dream. However, belonging to a middle-class Indian family which valued high education and a secured job, I got drifted apart from my soul, not for too long though !!
I followed the rules set down by our society and my family like a good son not knowing or rather not paying attention to my inner callings. I studied Engineering, earned a good job, a high salary, and respect from my family and community. However, soon I realized that I wasn't happy from my soul and something unknown was eating me up. It took time for me to understand the reason which until then I had wrongly thought to be a more difficult job, shifting to a foreign country or much higher salary. Having experienced a lot of multi-day long treks in the remote corners of the Himalayas, photographing it, sharing my heart out with so many unknown people as if I knew them for so long, becoming a child once again.. My soul remained in the Himalayas itself. Only my body was going to the office and no job in this World or any amount of salary could get that back. However, it took a rock-climbing accident and a broken tibia to get my mind clear of the things that my heart wanted. An accident which I thank till date.
I left behind all the luxuries of life and a high-paying, fast-growing job of the corporates, went against the wishes of my family and the laws of the society, to get back to the Himalayas. Himalayas had always been my first friend right from my childhood, where I grew up in. Be it running away (and getting beaten for it) from my home to swim in its rivers, or going for hikes around to the corners of the mountains nearby with friends, looking out for exciting elements (as a child ) to play with, be it hidden waterfalls, caves, birds, oranges and lots more. After I had started to earn, I went further up in the mountains and travelled extensively in the remote regions of the Himalayas. That's where my soul wandered around, and when I got back to the Himalayas, detaching all my materialistic ties with this World, I started to breathe free, again after so many years. That's where an Introvert me became an extrovert self and got back my life with myself on the driver's seat now.
I used to trek before but after leaving my job, I truly proved the freedom to myself. I trekked deep in the Himalayas alone, unguided or rather guided solely by the moods of the mountains and my interactions with them. I made lots of new friends from the mountains, slept alone in a stone cave, climbed mountains, and experienced everything that the Himalayas had to offer. Never scared, as I knew the Himalayan Goddess would keep me safe, cause I loved her truly and made it a point to never harm any elements of it. I understood the importance of training to be further self-accomplished and climb higher. I Completed the mountaineering and Skiing courses to be a better trekker and climber. I followed my honest instinct and set myself free. Everything I did came naturally to me, without judging myself too much. Trekking the Himalayas unguided and guided, picking up skiing, bicycling, motorbiking, making new long-lasting friends each day, I started to live my dream life, a free soul.
Money was important I knew that. To earn money, firstly I cut down on all my useless habits like heavy smoking, drinking every day, watching movies in theatres, wasting money on trendy fashion etc. I returned to my village and initially, I freelanced as a software developer to make websites and application software for small businesses in my hometown. However, I didn't like it too much as it started to grow and meant the same corporate life again which I ditched. So I gave up on that too.
I wanted to travel, climb, and see experience the Himalayas from every corner, from every angle. Soon, I joined an organization as a Trek leader thinking that it would allow me to earn money as well as stay connected to the Himalayas, and give me opportunities to explore the Himalayas further. For a hint, they call themself India's Largest Trekking Organization that has taught Indians how to trek. Well, they could not teach me anything about trekking, but they did teach me a lot of other non-sense things around trekking and the business around it. I did not know until then that this will be one of the major turning points of my life - a big eye-opener rather.
For the first time, I was confronted with the commercial side of this travelling in the Himalayas. In the past, I had never used the services of a Tour Package Provider. Hence everything was new and felt very wrong to me. Being a purist, I did not quite like the way we used to make people trek and the negative impact of the same on the fragile ecosystem of the Himalayas. I did some 18 treks in a year leading about 550 trekkers and managed about 2000+ trekkers as my added responsibility of Operational manager. What I experienced was great learning but below the par for my inner soul's conscience. I could not continue but it was not just about continuation, but solving a problem and leading by example.
My conscience was awaiting a major change. Here from inside, there was everything in the name of the Himalayas, but the Himalayas were not in it.
That's when this strong idea overtook my mind to clean the space with my own ability as much as I could. It was not possible without making trekkers realize the actual might of the Himalayas, the spirituality of its presence to be inspired from, the rare beauty which makes you go silent at, rather than making it loud and showing it off !!
To start with, I started an organization and named it "Himalayan High Altitude Treks And Expeditions".
The Objectives Of Himalayan High - Why Are We Different?
DoN't Just Trek !! LIVE IT
The motive behind Himalayan High is to take people to experience the Himalayas through activity-based adventurous activities like Trekking, Mountaineering, Biking, Heritage and Leisure travelling, etc. Apart from knowing the mountains, appreciating her geographical presence, beauty, etc. we also need to experience other important aspects of the Himalayas, like exchanging knowledge with and knowing the local people better who actually dwell in it and learn how the Himalayas have shaped their outlook making them stronger, understanding and enjoying their culture and way of life, relishing their local delicacies, building a bond not just with the place, but also its people and develop an environment of mutual respect for each other.
In all these processes to experience or enjoy the Himalayas, we must never forget that nature is very fragile, and Low-Impact, Sustainable, and Responsible Tourism is the only way forward. We at Himalayan High are ethically-driven trained mountaineers who consider the Himalayas Godly and are motivated to change the spirit of trekking in India, which is currently maltreated by other big organizers for profit, spammed by wannabes, faked by Bollywood, and dominated by the desire to achieve a trek, rather than living a trek.
How Are We Different?
- Low-Impact, Sustainable, Minimalistic, and Responsible Tourism: We at Himalayan High practice Low-Impact, Sustainable, Minimalistic, and Responsible Tourism working and preaching about the conservation of natural resources of the Himalayas and contributing to the development of the local micro-economy. In order to practice eco-friendly tourism, our cost goes higher and we become a less popular agency. However, despite it, we stick to our motto and are going strong with the idea of low-impact trekking in the Himalayas. Decisions like NO FIXED CAMPS, NO PLASTICS, NO TIN CANS, SMALL GROUPS are the strong pillars of our sustainable tourism practices.
- Experienced, Knowledgeable and Trained Resources: I am a trained and certified student of Mountaineering from UIAA accredited premium mountaineering institutes in India and an Incredible India certified guide certified by the Ministry Of Tourism, Government of India. I have worked in the Himalayas for over 10 years and have been trekking for over 15 years in the Himalayas. Growing up in the Himalayas adds to my experience and knowledge as well. I have learned the hard way and from my mistakes.
- Customized Private Treks: We at Himalayan High get reserved more for customized private treks. Our clients trust in us because of what we offer in terms of safety, knowledge, quality of equipment and resources. With us, you can explain your requirements to us, help me understand your hindrances and then have me plan a customized private trek just for your team which may be a group of friends or a family which suits your team perfectly.
- Hard Working Honest Team Member: My hard-earned experiences and a network of hard-working honest brothers from the corners of the Himalayas is the key reason that our clients enjoy their experience with us and we have become a family. Our Google reviews are just the face of it.
- Leading From The Front: Himalayan High has been running good right from its opening in April 2015 till date and we have served many clients both Domestic and International with great satisfaction. But that doesn't mean that I am a settled guy and now it's just about sitting on the office chair and earning money. I had been and will be trekking and going higher and deeper into the Himalayas. I am a trekker myself and I will keep trekking and leading our clients deeper and higher in the Himalayas. My team's experiences and outlook towards the Himalayas are certainly different and this will definitely impact anyone who treks with us.
- Just Focus On Trek, I Do The Rest: Through Himalayan High, my focus is to give you the best experience of the Himalayas, but as we all know, venturing into the Himalayas for some real adventures like trekking and mountaineering involves a lot of planning, logistical and professional help. I take off all the pain involved in planning an expedition, gathering logistical and professional support with my expertise, experience, and network of trustworthy local personnel so that you can focus just on the trekking and your personal preparations.
- Small Team Helps In Flexibility, Enhance Experience And Result In Successful Summits: We trek in very small groups and trekking in smaller groups makes our team special. It adds much to our trek experience, ambience, solitude and serenity. It gives us the flexibility to modify our itinerary according to the weather and other emergencies. It makes our team much stronger and safer as we are not let down by weak members of a large team. It allows us to invest in good quality equipment of the highest standards and add to our comfort and privacy during the trek. Most importantly, our guide to trekker ratio of 1:6 for easy treks and 1:2 for summit treks above 6000 meters is the key reason for our excellent success rate on the summit above 6000 meters and treacherous treks.
- Quality, Hardwork and Trust: These are the three most important pillars of a successful trek in the Himalayas. The quality and expertise of my operational capability have been used by some big trek organizing companies in our country and I have benefited them huge, not only in terms of profit but also in setting up proper workflows. I worked with India's largest trek operator to set up transparent processes for them, un-messed complications, increased trust and goodwill amongst the locals who actually mattered, because ultimately it is their effort that makes a trek look cool. Can you believe that India's largest trekking organization operated without any paperwork with the locals and worked amidst an environment of chaos, mistrust, loot and dishonesty? I parted ways with them for causing continuous Moral Breaches with the locals which were below my dignity and work ethics. I have a compassionate heart and could not think like a businessman maybe. Most importantly, money is a very small thing for me to change the way I am, breach trust or harm someone else. So we take pride in Not being India's largest Trek operator.
- We are Making A Difference: I feel proud that with Himalayan High I am making a difference which is the main reason I started it. Companies who used to trek with 35 - 50 trekkers are now advertising below 25 trekkers on their websites. On the other hand, our campaign against FIXED CAMPS has worked good and on many treks, locals have restricted fixed camps which reduces the price of the trek and allows large groups to trek causing tremendous harm to mother nature.
- Safety is a Priority. No Fatal Incidences On Our Treks Since Inception: I prioritize medical safety and emergency evacuation strategies. I put all of my previous experiences firstly to prevent it, and then if anyhow there's an incident on the trek, I have the experience to handle it better. Huge planning and logistics are required in safeguarding the team's Physical and Medical Safety. Emergencies on any adventure are something that always needs to be given priority and handling of those delicate situations needs even better planning, experience, and capability to handle the crisis at that very moment. It is for this very reason that on Himalayan High operated treks right from its inception, there have been zero casualties. Not even a mere case of twisted-ankle has happened in our groups for the strict rules and protocols that we follow, whereas we keep hearing about the bad stories of mismanagement, fatal injuries and even deaths, coming from the Himalayan treks every year. Mostly these come from big and popular operators in our country, and India's Largest Trek Company lead them. Their trekker dies even on a simple trek like Kedarkantha or the easiest trek in the Western Ghats.
- Get More Than Just Trekking: I look forward to taking care of not only your Logistical and Professional requirements but also seeing to it that we give you MORE in form of what you witness and what you take back as your experiences of the Himalayas. Everything cannot be written but have to be experienced or heard from our past trekkers who used our services in the past.
- Word Of Mouth Is Our Only Marketing Strategy. Unlike other companies, we do not have a social media manager, marketing or sales department. We focus on delivering what we promise and then rely on customer feedback and referrals to grow Himalayan High. I and my team are crazy in love with the Godly Himalayas, and the same Himalayas teaches us to be humble, sincere, hardworking and honest. We bank on that.
- Un-Manipulated And Transparent Reviews: We mean Quality, Safety, Comfort, Inspiration, and trust. We have great reviews to showcase that and most importantly, we keep our reviews boldly and transparently on Google, unlike others who keep it on their own website and highlight only the positive reviews. You may please read about us on Google Reviews. Just type in Himalayan High on Google and read the reviews. How many companies have kept their review live on Google?
- Your Money Is Safe With Us. Flexible And Lenient Cancellation Policy. There are many of our trekkers who still have their money safe with us for future use - both Domestic and International. There have been many incidences when I myself enquired with our trekkers in the event of NO SHOW and I kept their money safe on learning that the cause of the event was due to some mishap beyond their control. We do learn about many bad experiences and forfeited money caused by businesses showing their hidden policies.
- Its A Very Small Company, Not A Corporate: Finally, unlike big businesses and corporates, I am a 1 MANY ARMY in my office. I have a team of trusted local resources to work with me on the trek. Though a private limited company, we are not corporate. It's a One-Person-Company. I work on all the aspects of Himalayan High from accounting to auditing to tax filing. From answering customer calls to WhatsApp enquiries and email. From writing content on this website to maintaining the Server. From coding new features on the website to managing whatever SEO upliftment I can get for it. From planning my schedule to preparing for the trek. From leading a trek to requesting reviews after the trek completion. Everything! And I love it so much. I never feel stressed. That does happen to you if you are living a life of your passion and love what you do.
Come - Ditch the big companies and large groups. Together, let us feel The Himalayan High !!