Special Features from Himalayan Experience Ltd

WHY CHOOSE HIMALAYAN EXPERIENCE?

There are an ever-increasing number of expedition operators offering trips to Everest and Cho Oyo, and often at far lower prices than ours. You may be tempted to go with one of these cut-price operations, but before you do, please take the time to think very carefully through all the possible downsides and then weigh them against the major advantages you would gain from being with the Himalayan Experience team.

Russell Brice Curriculum Vitae

Our Sherpa ratio of 1:1 is the optimum ratio. The norm is 1:4. This dramatically increases both safety and your chances of success

We endeavour to have a 1:4 Western guide ratio.

In addition, we always have someone stationed at the top camp - an invaluable asset in an emergency.

We have dedicated medical tents at BC and ABC, both equipped with Gamow bags and the most comprehensive medical chests, including intravenous antibiotics and intramuscular painkillers.

The experience of our Sherpa team is second to none, our senior Sherpas have been on all our expeditions since 1994. They are the only Sherpa team, from summit climber to cook, to be totally kitted out in the highest quality clothing and equipment, and are the envy of all other expeditions. It cannot be over stressed how invaluable this level of Sherpa backup proves to be time and again in gaining safe and successful ascents.

Our oxygen management is crucially superior to most other operators. On Everest we allow for 5 bottles per person, 3 of which are for the summit day - the norm is 2. This provides our climbers more oxygen for the ascent, putting them on the summit up to 5 hours before many others, which ensures sufficient oxygen for a safe descent.

We have developed an infrastructure for dealing with emergencies. To date, Himalayan Experience staff have been involved in the rescue of 18 climbers, above 8,300m, all from other expedition teams. Since 1994 Himalayan Experience has had one rescue, at which time our infrastructure proved to be adequate in order to assist our clients to safety.

We try to minimise the harshness of the environment by providing the best food and highest possible level of comfort. This has a dramatically beneficial effect on both morale and physical conditioning - 2 essential ingredients for success on the mountain.
Our mountain kitchen and cooks are second to none, with hygiene standards to match. All cooking is off the ground, we use stainless steel sinks, and only use gas for cooking as opposed to the norm of kerosene, so there is no chance of a cook chopping up vegetables with kerosene on his hands. Hygiene points such as these can make or break a trip.
We provide a fantastic variety of foods, including plenty of fresh vegetables, and our menus are always highly appreciated. Base Camp and hill food has a reputation for being bland and boring - ours is the opposite.

Lachhu is generally considered to be the best in the business, having cooked for Himalayan Experience since 1994.

Our mess tent is a haven of comfort, with carpet on the floor and is gas heated and electrically lit. It also features really comfortable chairs, music, battery recharging (for video cameras etc), and our celebrated goodie barrels filled with a huge selection of chocolate bars, savoury snacks, cappuccino sachets and other delights. The result is a happy team, better prepared for the mountain.

Our sleeping tents are state of the art domes manufactured for us by Antarctica and Terra Nova. Our Sherpa team pre-equips each tent on the mountain with sleeping bags, thus reducing the weight you have to carry between each camp.

Yes really, we provide gas heated hot showers at BC and ABC. This is a most wonderful luxury that has an immediately beneficial effect on morale.

Even our toilet tent is both comfortable and hygienic. We are also extremely conscious of not despoiling the Himalayan environment - all our waste, human or otherwise, is removed from the mountain in barrels. Costly, but we consider it an essential responsibility.

On Everest we maintain a staffed Interim camp between BC and ABC throughout the duration of the trip, fully stocked with food and sleeping bags.

We have made a major investment in radios, so that now every Sherpa and every camp has a hand held radio. We also have four 50 watt heavy-duty sets at BC and ABC that are on 24 hour alert. Such a communications network is an essential safety back up.

We are exclusively provided with a weather forecasting service for which we have many years experience disseminating and reacting on this information. This enables us to make superior predictions on when it is safe to make our summit attempts.

This Himalayan expedition could well be the biggest adventure and most serious undertaking of your life. We would ask that you consider the above points very carefully before making your final choice of operator. We openly admit that we are not the cheapest, but we are not offering the same product. Is this really the time to be trying to cut corners and save every last cent? We have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years in refining our service and creating a structure totally geared to your safety and success. Quite simply, Himalayan Experience is the best there is.