Approximately five to seven hours a day including breaks to absorb
the scenery and views. Some days can be longer if the terrain
dictates or for example summit days on a big peak such as
Kilimanjaro or Toubkal. As long as you are reasonably active and in good health
you will find a walk to suit you.
Vehicle
Support
Unless it is necessary,
such as on our Icelandic treks, carrying a large backpack is not a feature
of a Sherpa holiday.
Your
baggage will generally be moved by the hoteliers or our
own support vehicle each day. On some tours on some days this may
not be possible and you may have to carry overnight gear perhaps
if you are staying at a high Alpine hut etc.
Camping
Support
On
tours involving camping, a team moves the
camp each day and organize the catering including ubiquitous tea
making! Porters (in Nepal) or ponies (in Morocco) maybe
employed to move baggage.
Our escorted group walks explore some of the world's most beautiful mountain
regions.
Our walks are either based in small inns and hotels, mountain huts and
refuges, or you may have the chance to sleep out under canvas or even
under the stars on a camping tour. It
is the type of walk and terrain that dictates where we stay rather than the facilities, but
we always seek a blend of ambience and comfort.
Our camping treks are assisted by a support team so you have
little to carry. Meals vary from walk to walk - some nights we dine in
camp, others we eat in local restaurants as a group, on others you may
want to take off and choose your own place to eat. It very much
depends on the tour itinerary in each case.
Group sizes vary in number: On our 'Research and Development' tours
there may only be a handful of people, but in a general group there will be between 6 and 15
walkers and an international flavour prevails, with companions from North America to New Zealand.
Whether camping or staying in charming village pensions and tavernas, the
experience will bring you closer to your fellow travellers and the local
culture you are visiting. The role of the leader in this sense is crucial
to your overall enjoyment of the tour, not only in just finding the
trail, but also checking out for possible hazards, looking
after you, nurturing, encouraging and hopefully inspiring you. They
are selected for having a good range of experience in the field.
Some will have specific mountaineering qualifications, others will
be more specialists in a certain area. Some tours will have a more
of a historical content than others and thus more history to relate
(such as Treasures of Tuscany Escorted), others will be a more direct
physical challenges such as Everest Base Camp.
Leaders
will either be locals tried and tested in their own
environments, U.K. nationals or a mixture of the two. They will all
hold First Aid qualifications and a rudimentary First Aid kit is
always carried, whose content will vary dependent upon the isolation
experienced during the tour.
