The other cornerstone is our Nepal staff. We have our own office in Kathmandu. This enables us to do something which no other operator has ever done, guarantee every Nepal trek departure shown in the brochure! Always have, always will. When you sign on to any of the treks shown in this brochure, you never have to worry that it might be cancelled due to insufficient signup. You can make your plans with certainty. The only exceptions to this rule are the newly opened areas such as Mustang, Dolpo, and Manaslu, where government regulations require more than just one participant.

There are other things which we do differently at Above the Clouds, Inc.. If there's a trek that we wouldn't do ourselves, we won't offer it. At this point, despite some folks still calling it one of the world's classic treks, the Annapurna Circuit is, in our opinion, no longer worth doing, for two good reasons. First, there are numerous alternate routes where you can get comparable scenery and not have to put up with the Coca-Cola signs, "Namaste Rupee," and VCRs playing Rambo III. Secondly, the 40,000+ trekkers who crowd these trails annually are already causing enough erosion—of both the soil and culture—that adding further to that by your presence is neither beneficial nor necessary. Ours is the only brochure that mentions those 40,000 trekkers; maybe nobody else noticed them.

Our specialty is taking people to those parts of Nepal where trekking is not well established, where you'll meet lots of local people going about their lives the way they always have been. We normally meet fewer than five other trekkers the whole time we're out on many of our treks, in contrast to the five hundred a day you can meet in some areas. Not that we have anything against other trekkers, it's simply that we don't imagine you've traveled 9,000 miles to meet some folks you might have met in Yosemite.

Our preference for the untraveled areas began long before the recent opening of several "new" areas in Nepal. Our director first did the Manaslu Circuit back in 1977. When we sat down to design our Manaslu itinerary, we did so having operated treks in the area since 1982. The result is we came up with an itinerary that is not only different from all the others, but qualitatively superior, spending much of the first week high on a ridge trail with mountain views instead of squeezed into a high, narrow valley with good views of the waterfalls and plenty of heat. Our depth of experience, and concern for the quality of experience of both you and your Nepali hosts, translate into a Nepal experience which is unmatched anywhere.

Our average group size of seven is one of the smallest in Nepal. We can accommodate a wide variety of special diets when necessary, including vegetarian, macrobiotic, and diabetic. On our treks, you walk at your own speed, pursuing your own adventure, with a guide always close by. Our Western leaders are knowledgeable about Nepal, skilled in wilderness medicine, and personable. Most of our sirdars (head Sherpa guides) have spent summers in the USA, brought here to lead trips by organizations who were impressed by their abilities on trek.

In addition to working with a number of projects devoted to saving the natural and cultural heritage of Nepal, we operate our treks according to the highest environmental standards. We cook over gas or kerosene, and porter out all non-burnable trash. And while we no longer offer treks into the Annapurna area, we still contribute to the Annapurna Conservation Area Project, to help remedy some of the problems left behind by other trekkers.

In addition to superior services in the field, the other component you look for is is to have top quality assistance in preparation for the trek. Besides our 25-page predeparture package, we're here to answer your questions right up to the minute you leave. No one in the field knows Nepal and the Himalayan area as well as we do. Furthermore, we enjoy talking about Nepal, so give us a call and let us help you prepare for the adventure of a lifetime.

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Above the Clouds
PO Box 388
Hinesburg, VT 05461
Phone: (802) 482-4848
Fax: (802) 482-5011
e-mail: info@aboveclouds.com

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