At Alpine Outdoor Adventure, safety is not a marketing line — it is our operating blueprint. As a government-registered trekking agency based in Thamel, Kathmandu, we run every Everest, Annapurna, Manaslu, Mustang and Dolpo itinerary under a strict medical protocol: trained guides, daily health checks, high-altitude emergency gear and a rehearsed helicopter evacuation chain. This page explains exactly how we keep you safe above 3,000 metres.
Most trekking emergencies in Nepal are not accidents — they are slow-moving medical events that were missed early. Altitude sickness, dehydration and fatigue all announce themselves days before they become dangerous.
Our entire system is built to catch those early signals: conservative itinerary pacing, mandatory acclimatization nights, daily pulse-oximeter readings, and guides who are trained to turn a group around without hesitation.
We would rather refund a summit attempt than gamble with a lung. That is the standard we apply to every client, on every departure.
Every Alpine Outdoor Adventure trek is led by a government-licensed guide with high-altitude first aid training, including field recognition and treatment of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), HAPE and HACE.
If your numbers trend downward, we add a rest day or descend — no discussion, and no extra charge for the decision.
Every guide carries a comprehensive mountain first aid kit sized for real altitude medicine, not just bandages:
Nepal has the best high-altitude helicopter rescue network in the world, and we use it without hesitation when a client needs it. Our evacuation chain runs like this:
From most Everest and Annapurna trailheads, a rescue flight reaches Kathmandu within a few hours in a normal weather window.
The cheapest rescue is the one that never happens. Our itineraries follow the mountaineering rule of “climb high, sleep low”:
Every guide carries a working Nepali SIM with coverage on all major trekking corridors, and on remote routes (Dolpo, far Mustang, Tsum) we plan around satellite communication and scheduled check-ins with our Kathmandu office, which monitors your trek 24/7.
Pass-day weather forecasts are checked before every high pass — Larkya La (5,106m), Thorong La (5,416m), Cho La (5,420m) — and we hold or reroute rather than push a group into a closing window.
Stomach bugs weaken you faster than altitude does. We steer clients toward lodges with proven hygiene, advise boiled or properly treated water, and guides carry purification backup. Group kitchens follow strict safe-handling rules for vegetables, meat and drinking water.
We require every client to hold travel insurance covering emergency helicopter evacuation and high-altitude trekking up to 6,000m. Send us your policy number and insurer’s emergency phone line before departure — we store both with your guide.
Train sensibly: months of cardio (hiking, cycling, stair climbing) beat gym strength for trekking. Disclose heart, lung and blood-pressure conditions early so we can adapt the plan.
If you develop mild altitude sickness, your guide halts your ascent, administers oxygen and monitors your SpO2; if symptoms worsen toward HAPE or HACE, we initiate an immediate descent or helicopter evacuation. Mild AMS usually resolves with a rest day and hydration, and our itineraries include buffer days precisely for this.
Yes — every Alpine Outdoor Adventure guide carries bottled emergency oxygen, and teams on remote routes such as Manaslu, Tsum and Dolpo additionally carry a PAC (Gamow) bag. Together these buy critical time while a descent or rescue is organized.
In a normal weather window, a trekker evacuated from the Everest region typically reaches a Kathmandu hospital within a few hours, door to door. High winds or cloud can delay flights, which is exactly why our guides carry oxygen and PAC bags to stabilize you while the weather opens.
We route emergencies to international-standard clinics in Kathmandu, such as the CIWEC Clinic, that specialize in high-altitude and travel medicine. We handle admission coordination and insurance paperwork from the moment you land.