Most operators have a page like this. Ours is deliberately specific, because the only version of it worth reading is the one with numbers in it.
Where the money goes
You pay us directly, so there is no international margin and no agency commission. Almost all of what you pay is spent within Ladakh: guides, cook, horsemen, drivers, horses, food bought in Padum and the villages, and camping equipment.
A concrete figure: roughly what share of the trek price is spent in Ladakh, and how many people are employed per group. A number here is worth more than a paragraph of intent.
Group size
Two to ten people, and we do not make exceptions. Above ten, a camp stops fitting on the good ground, villages cannot host properly, and the valley stops being quiet — which is the thing people come for. A larger party gets split across two departures.
Waste
Everything we carry in is carried out, including what does not burn. Toilet pits are dug and filled in. We do not leave food waste for animals, and we do not bury packaging. If you see one of our crew doing otherwise, tell us — that is not what we pay them for.
Water is treated rather than bought in bottles. Bring a filter, tablets or a SteriPen; we do not hand out plastic bottles.
Villages
- We camp where we have agreed to camp, not wherever is convenient.
- We buy locally where we can — vegetables, eggs, sometimes a night's accommodation — rather than carrying everything in from Leh.
- We do not hand things out to children. If you want to give something, we will help you give it to the school or the village.
- We ask before photographing people, and we take a no as an answer.
Fuel
We cook on kerosene or gas, not on wood or dung. Wood is scarce here and dung is winter fuel for the households that produced it. This is not symbolic: a trekking group burning village fuel is a real cost to that village.
The animals
Load limits are respected and the horsemen have the final say on what a horse carries and where it crosses. If you are uncomfortable with anything you see, say so on the day.
What we do not claim
We do not offset your flight and we are not going to pretend that a week of low-impact walking cancels out a long-haul return. The flight is by far the largest environmental cost of this trip and it is yours to weigh. What we can say honestly is that the money you spend on the ground stays on the ground, and that the way we run a group is about as light as a group can be here.