Safety

Almost everything that goes wrong on a northern trip is a road or an altitude problem, and both are manageable. Here is how we manage them.

Roads and driving

• We do not drive mountain sections after dark. Every itinerary is built so the group is off the KKH, the Skardu road and the valley roads before nightfall. This is the single largest safety decision we make and it is why some of our days start at six in the morning.
• Driver rest is scheduled, not improvised. No driver does two consecutive twelve-hour days. On trips of seven days or more we carry a second driver.
• Vehicles are checked before every departure — brakes, tyres, lights — and we carry a spare, recovery gear and a tool kit.
• Jeeps are driven by local specialists. Fairy Meadows, Deosai, Naltar, Mahodand and Ratti Gali are driven by men from those valleys who do those tracks year-round.
• Landslides happen. If the KKH closes we wait or reroute. We do not attempt a blocked section and we do not send a group through a police closure.

Altitude

Khunjerab Pass is 4,693 m, Babusar is 4,173 m and Deosai sits above 4,000 m for hours. Most people feel mild breathlessness and nothing worse, because our itineraries go up and come back down rather than sleeping high on the first night.

• We carry an oxygen cylinder on every trip that exceeds 3,500 m.
• Tour leaders are first-aid trained and know the symptoms of acute mountain sickness.
• If someone is genuinely unwell at altitude, the answer is to descend, and we will turn a vehicle around to do it.
• If you have a heart condition, a breathing condition, or are pregnant, speak to your doctor before booking a high-altitude trip — and tell us, so we can advise on the itinerary.

Medical and emergencies

• A full first-aid kit travels on every trip.
• Every group has a written emergency plan with the nearest hospital for each night of the itinerary — Mansehra, Gilgit, Skardu or Muzaffarabad depending on where you are.
• Your family is given an office number that is answered outside working hours while a group is on the road.
• Tell us at booking about any medical condition, allergy or medication. It stays with the tour leader and nobody else.

Travel insurance

Travel insurance is not included in any of our packages and we recommend it for every trip, particularly trekking. Helicopter evacuation from Fairy Meadows, Deosai or the Baltoro is expensive and is not something any tour operator can absorb.

Connectivity

Inside Gilgit-Baltistan only SCOM works reliably. There is no signal at Fairy Meadows, on Deosai, or above Kel in Neelum Valley. Tell your family before you go, and use the office number for messages while you are out of range.

Things we will not promise

Snow on a given date. Brown bears on Deosai. A Skardu flight that PIA has not confirmed. A pass that is open when the snow says otherwise. Any operator who promises these is guessing, and the guess is not theirs to make with your holiday.