Ace the Himalaya

[Grummy]

Hi all,

My wife & I were booked on an EBC trek with a well known Australian company departing in Dec. We were told yesterday that our trek has been cancelled because of low numbers.

Am now trying to find a tour company to match in with our flights etc... & came accross 'Ace the Himalaya'.

Has anyone used or heard of this company & what their reputation is like? I've spoken with the Australian director & I was impressed with her attitude & friendly nature. Any info much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Escher]

I can't help with the agency I am afraid but you do have some alternatives.

If you go through a western company you will pay approximately double the price that you will pay for the same service than if you go through a Kathmandu based agency, and that will be more than if you employ a guide/porter directly yourself. Western agencies cream off quite a lot but still use local staff to arrange your trek. Lots of people here can give you recommendations of a guide you could email. You could save quite a lot of money that way.

Also it is quite easy to organise the trek yourself. EBC is well setup for the independent trekker.

But if you want to be looked after a bit and not worry about making any arrangements then a good Nepali guide will do all this. Airport pickup, arrange you a hotel - everything (sometimes they are too good - they'll pick you up at 5.00 in the morning to personally take you to the airport to say goodbye!).

So I think the best option is to get a recommendation for a guide from here, email them and ask them to sort everything for you. You will get exactly the same service, save a stack of cash and then have the opportunity to spend that money in the local economy rather than through several middle-men.

[Spaceman347]

Yep, what Escher said. It's the local Nepali's who do all of the organising and running of the trek, the Australian company is just a broker who puts you in touch the the Nepali trekking company.

You don't have to be a tough seasoned traveler to it this way. Everything can be organised by email and as a general rule the Nepali companies are very well organised and very trustworthy. This way you have many more options and could organise a guide and porter(s) or just porters, you can vary the itinerary to suit YOU and stop for a day if not feeling well or otherwise change the trip on the fly.

I don't use a guide myself but others on here do and could give you a recommendation. Email a few and compare the services / prices with the Western prices and you will see a big difference.

OR, you could just get on a plane and go if you are a little adventurous. On my first trip the only pre-organising I did was the plane ticket. Any taxi at the airport will take you to a hotel in Thamel (every taxi driver has a friend/cousin who runs a hotel). The hotel will organise a Lukla flight for you or you can do it yourself very, very easily (if not walking in from Jiri that is). From there you just follow the trail; easy, peasy.

[Grummy]

They are a Kathmandu based company, just one of their directors is an Aussie girl. I would love to organise it all once in KTM but time is very limited with my wife & I. Also a little daunting being our first trip to Nepal. For a tour comapny, I thought their prices were reasonable, around $1500US compared with someone like Peregrine at around $2800US!
Next time I/we go (I'm sure there will be a next time!!!) we will do it all ourselves.
Not sure if you can make much of an assumption from a website, but their's does look pretty good. www.acethehimalaya.com

[kiwigirl]

I had a look at their website and filled in the Country, Astivity, departing, duration and price and it gave me nothing when I clicked Trekking in Nepal, December for 20 days at $5000.
I am in Australia and it cost me $2000 for my fare to Kathmandu and $1500 for all the travel for 3 weeks in Nepal last May.

if it is your first time maybe just go to Namche Bazaar ( part way on the Everest Base Camp Trek) for a few days and do day trips from there and maybe visit Pokhara and Chitwan. That is something that is very easy to organise :)

They are a Kathmandu based company, just one of their directors is an Aussie girl. I would love to organise it all once in KTM but time is very limited with my wife & I. Also a little daunting being our first trip to Nepal.
Next time I/we go (I'm sure there will be a next time!!!) we will do it all ourselves.
Not sure if you can make much of an assumption from a website, but their's does look pretty good. www.acethehimalaya.com

[Oli]

You could ask the Australian company who canceled your tour to give you the name & email of their partner agency in Kathmandu. They might be a bit coy about letting you contact their supplier direct, but it'd be a reasonable gesture of good will as they have just let you down. And I am quite sure that the Kathmandu side of the partnership will still be keen for your business even if their Aussie colleagues have lost interest. You ought to be able to do much the same trek as originally planned, probably with a more personal service and possibly at discount price.

I am with Escher and Spaceman on the "just go and do it" attitude. Trekking in Nepal is so straight forward, it doesn't need a lot of professional logistics to arrange. And whilst I do think that it is a good idea to have a local guide I do not think it desirable to have foreign tour reps along to shepherd the group and hold hands.

On balance, considering what we know of your circumstances, I would guess that Ace the Himalaya are likely to be a reasonable choice.

I'll also be in the Khumbu in December, maybe we'll meet in Namche, have a good trek.

[Landfall38]

I agree with the general suggestion of directly contacting a recommended Kathmandu company -- honestly, you will get the same (or better) service at half the price!

If the "well known Australian company" is Peregrine, then I know their Kathmandu counterparts (who do all their treks -- and are good): they are called "Himalayan Adventures" -- unfortunately, a Google using these words comes up with tons of agencies which are not the correct agency.

Every organised trek in Nepal, whether via an agency from outside of Nepal or organized within Nepal is actually carried-out by a Nepali agency.

It really does make sense to book directly.

Himalayan Adventures was good (I trekked with them way back in 1990 -- and have seen them many times since working with Peregrine); Last Frontiers Trekking was good (trekked with them in 1993; used their porters later; have recommended colleagues to them previously).

Of course, if not trekking independently, I prefer to go directly to a recommended guide, who will organize everything in Nepal.

Early December is not usually crowded -- should be lots of good guides available.

Whatever -- one way or another DO go -- it's a wonderful place!

[Michael Sunkist]

Nameste, holy crap! At those prices do yourself a big favor and just hit the trail and lead yourself. The trails are well marked, you can get travel info from the locals at any village or at the teahouses you crash at. It also adds to the adventure not having your itinerary planned out for you. I usually spend more for my air ticket to Nepal than I spend living 6 months trekking and hanging at hotels when not in the Himalayas or Annapurnnas. Happy trails

[frand]

Hi there!!!

We just back from the EBC trek with Ace the Himalaya. We strongly recommend them and we will definitely return in the future. Prem and his Team in Nepal, combining their experience and professionalism, made it a very successful and unforgetable trek to Everest base camp.

Frand

[frand]

I am not sure about Michael Sunkist post, now the rules has changed and seems lots of documentations work require. I heard that now it is necessary to go with authorize trekking company.

[Escher]

Inow the rules has changed and seems lots of documentations work require. I heard that now it is necessary to go with authorize trekking company.

That is incorrect. You do not have to go with an trekking agency. You can still trek independently in the main tea house trekking areas. Did your trekking agency tell you this? If so do you think that was an honest thing for them to do? Would you still recommend them if they did not tell you the truth?

[KMJ]

It is certainly not true that you need to gow ith an agency or guide. If you are going without a guide you do need to get a TIMS card. Again, this is not hard. You can just walk into the tourism board office near the city bus park and fill out the form and get the permit for free. Alrternatively, if you are a little lazy or tired, you can walk into any trekking company office or probably any hotel in Kathmandu and ask them to get your TIMS card for you, probably for 1000 rupees. You have to pay to get into the national parks, either in ktm or at the park entrance, but there is no problem trekking without a guide at all.

[frand]

Well, I was doing Island peak and Everest base camp and In Everest I didn't see many people without guide/porters. It is not hard to find the trail but it is easy to fall and have an accident, I wouldn’t recommend any one to go without guide, porter, agency I think it is lot of risk.

You can see many people get evacuated every day (attracted by AMS, fall and break their legs etc), so it is good to have some support from local company and people.

[Landfall38]

One can fall and break a leg while hiking on trails in Europe or NZ or here in BC, but that doesn't mean one needs a guide.

Nothing wrong with going with a guide -- often a good idea. But as other have clearly stated: certainly not "essential" (nor required by "rules") for main non-restricted trails. I would very much disagree with your statement that doing so puts one at "a lot of risk".

[Trekking peaks such as Imse Tse (Island Peak) do officially require a registered agency/guide.]

But I would "agree" that it is probably best not to trek alone, and all trekkers to the Himalaya should do proper research (reading) to understand risks etc of AMS, etc.

[Escher]

A lot of people trekking in Nepal have a great deal of experience trekking and spending time in the mountains, both at home and abroad and are perfectly capable of looking after themselves. Often they will have much more experience than a lot of guides and porters.

While it might be considered foolish by some (there are many solo travellers who can handle themselves without any issue in the mountains) to trek completely alone, I do not agree that everyone should trek with a guide or porter for their own safety. In fact many of the trails in the main trekking areas are less treacherous and remote than you will encounter in many other destinations around the world and offer no more dangers (save for the altitude) than these places.

There are some inexperienced trekkers who will benefit from having staff to look after them and some that prefer to travel in that way. But many don't need it and the suggestion that everyone does reminds me of what the touts in Thamel will tell you. "It is not safe to travel on your own without a guide!" And quite patently it is not true. Many people trek independently all over the world and in Nepal without any problem at all. It is simply a way of drumming up business.

I do wonder though, that if you are somebody who is capable of climbing Island Peak why: you think everyone else needs looking after "for their own safety." Seems to me to be a strange attitude for someone who enjoys being competent in a hostile environment.

[marcy]

I just returned from trekking the Everest region. Only paper work is the 1000 rupee park permit (buy this at the park entrance in Jorsale whilst trekking) and the very cheap and simple to TIMS certificate that you can grab in KTM at any agency or the main office.

Yes. Even now with the TIMS certificate requirement you can go entirely independently; on your own with porter and/or guide; or through an agency-arranged trip. Your choice. No hassls.

Flights to Lukla are currently about $121 each way (western price) and you can book for the next day no problem. I took a porter and guide with me and my total one way price for the three plane tix was about $200. My guide ran 1000 rupee/day, my porter ran 800 rupee/day. Figure on another 1000-2000 rupee/day for your own food, lodging, hot beverages, water etc.

All this is quite simple - maybe takes an hour including walking and your KTM guide will walk you through all of it and hold your hand.

If you're interested, PM me and I can give you contact info for the porter and guide I used and liked a lot. I also agree with previous posters. Either just hire local guide/porter if you want when you arrive. Or if you want to go to agency, wait and due it on arrival. You will want to be in KTM for a day or two before the trek anyway to unjetlag and start your acclimatization.

[KMJ]

I must agree with Escher on this one. I just returned from five weeks trekking in the Everest region. It was just two of us and we trekked by ourselves with no porters or guides or anything prebooked. On the leg from Jiri to Namche this is absolutely no problem, in fact we didn't see any groups, only individuals and pairs carrying their own gear. Higher up, we encountered very few individual trekkers but there were still some. It is almost disappointing that very few peope want to carry their own gear or find their own way anymore. We had done little hiking and had little experience but trekking in Nepal is so easy that with a bit of research before hand, there we no problems and it never felt unsafe. There are villages pretty much every hour or two so even if you don't make it to the one you were aiming for or of someone gets injured, it's never that far from someone.

The only problem about being an individual trekker without porter or guide that we encountered is that you are an unattractive commercial proposition for the lodge owners in busy places like Gokyo and Lobuche. We found that it was hard to get a room in those places. Lodge owners would tell us they didn't have a room and we would later discover that they did but they didn't want to rent it out to us. People who bring a guide and porter or groups spend more money for the space they take up. We found ourselves sleeping with the porters or in dining rooms because of the apparent lack of beds (in Gokyo, there were no beds free at all). But there's always a dining room bench and the dining room is warmer than a room anyway so it's never a problem really!

From observing the groups in the lodges we stayed at, their guide did most of the interacting with the locals and organised everything for the group, including teh ordering of food so that the members of the group had very little interaction with the locals. On the other hand, they could always ask questions of the guide and probably learnt more about Nepal than we did on our own. Also, groups have to travel at a certain speed and in accordance with a certain itinerary. The people being evacuated that we saw were from groups. They couldn't stop for an extra day when they felt sick or they felt the need to push on to fit with the itinerary perhaps. Individual trekkers can do what they like.

It's really a personal choice but in no way should it be suggested that trekking on your own is any more dangerous or that you can't do it, or that you shouldn't do it.

Sorry for the long post.

[Escher]

Also, groups have to travel at a certain speed and in accordance with a certain itinerary. The people being evacuated that we saw were from groups. They couldn't stop for an extra day when they felt sick or they felt the need to push on to fit with the itinerary perhaps. Individual trekkers can do what they like.



That is a good point KMJ and true in my experience too. I have only done one camping trek and on one day my mate had really bad food poisoning. He couldn't eat at all for 36 hours because of really bad cramps but still he had to hike the hardest day on the trek (10 hours straight - and we aren't that slow). There was no possibility of letting him rest and to have a day off, at the end of the day he was ****ed.

There is pressure to keep quiet about AMS symptoms if in a group even if it is only pressure you put on yourself. Flexible itineraries are much better to handle weather, injury, illness. Big organised treks rarely have much flexinility built in. You just have to keep ploughing on and this can lead to problems!

[rich]

Big organised treks rarely have much flexinility built in. You just have to keep ploughing on and this can lead to problems![/QUOTE]


Any decent (camping)trek set-up would have enough guides/assistant guides to allow one to drop off and stay with a sick client in a teahouse to allow them a chance to recover.

[Escher]

Any decent (camping)trek set-up would have enough guides/assistant guides to allow one to drop off and stay with a sick client in a teahouse to allow them a chance to recover.

That would be the hope yes. But this isn't what happened to us. The company in question is a UK affiliated one who perform a lot of charity work, is regarded as one of the companies that best treats its staff and equips its porters, was set up by famous world class mountaineer (with many ground breaking ascents in the Hiamalaya) and his Nepali wife to put something back into Nepal. Yet they still asked my friend to hike that day despite us challenging it. Every day (apart from that particular day) we were way ahead of the rest of the group and spent most of the time sat down waiting for them.

It took six days of asking to get them to allocate two of their 7-8 guides (we were a big trekking group) so that a small group of us could walk at our pace and go on ahead. They kept saying that we couldn't be split up or we would not be insured. The sirdar was a veteran of Everest (on the first ascent of the SW face expedition and had also climbed Kangch) - this was a top notch group and agency. I don't want to name them as they are a really great company but my experience of a fully organised camping trek with them was to be treated like I had never walked on a trail before and could not look after myself. I have seen the same thing happen with lots of camping treks and often the big - booked from a brochure - western advertised companies.

Admittedly it was my first trek in Nepal (and quite a while ago) and their attitude was to treat us like we were not able to look after ourselves at all. We were not allowed to go exploring on our own and had to be accompanied at all times. I am independent minded and I absolutely hated it and have either trekked independently since or organised eveything myself (for the climbing trips) and not had the agency shepherd us around in the hills. When organising it myself then the agency work for me and therefore any changes to the plan wil be my decision. The opposite of this is what I am alluding when I found myself on an organised trek, we were not allowed to decide on anything or even really ask! Never again!

So I guess my point is if you want some flexibility and to be involved in deciding what you do and want to go through an agency then organise something small locally and don't do the travelling circus, colonial, herding sahibs style trek! (can you guess it's not my thing?!)

[Grummy]

Just a quick follow up on this thread.

My wife & I are now back in Australia after our trek & we did end up going with Ace the Himalaya. I can't rate them highly enough. Every aspect of the trip went really smoothly, from the first moment of being picked up at the airport to being dropped back off again post trek.
We were supplied with excellent sleeping bags (didn't get cold once, even at -17 degrees celcius in our room at Lobuche!!!) & down jackets - I didn't end up using mine, but the wife said her's was good.
On the trek it was my wife & I with our guide, Gyanu, & porter Yuk. Gyanu was great with an excellent knowledge of the area & Yuk was a little powerhouse. After dinner we always discussed the next days movements & both of us never felt rushed, it was entirely our own pace the entire trek.

I would definately recommend them to anyone who wants to go with an organised trek & they are Kathmandu based so all money stays in Nepal.

[Spaceman347]

Thanks for the update Grummy. Good to hear that you had a great time (everyone does). When are you heading back? (everyone does that too) ;)

There are a few tragics around here who don't say no to trip reports and photos so don't be shy.