Adventure Companies ???

[theduksguts]

Hi guys , Im looking into doing a trek in the Himalayas next year up to a peak called Stok Kangri with a company called K.E Adventures .
I was wondering if any of you guys had used them before for any trekking abroad ?

Cheers

Rod

[bootsandpaddles]

I've been on a few trips with KE and have found them to be very good although they are expensive. I have found the leaders to be excellent and the trips well-organised.

[Quincy]

I'm afraid I had a terrible experience with KE Adventures but at the end of the day all these companies are much of a muchness. Most companies offer decent trips but it will be down to your guide and group on the day. My experience was in the Atlas mountains and it turned into a route march with a very bored guide running on ahead not checking our safety and being disappointed we were a mainly female group. All of us were very experienced but the days were exhausting. To make matters worse we got to each destination too early and had to sleep the afternoon! I wrote and complained and received a few lines in response to say the guide had quit! My advice check reviews on the guide you would be likely to have. Some companies are also much better at vetting their guides so check this as well. Goodluck, The Himalayas sound fantastic.

[Sgurr]

We went many years ago with Explore. It was just a routine trek to Everest Base Camp, but husband got altitude sickness after climbing Kalapathar and needed oxygen to get him down to see if he improved. He didn't as it had developed into pneumonia and he had to be picked up by helicopter. Whatever company you go with, check that they have this. He would be dead without it. As it was, he used to be far faster and fitter than me, but not since then. (Insurance shelled out except for our meals, as they said we had to eat anyway. Yes, but our paid for share was being eaten by the sherpas.)

Would have loved to go back, but daren't.

[jaybee]

A similar experience to Sgurr but with KE ten years ago on their Everest Base Camp trip. We were at Gokyo Lake when my other half took ill. Our trip leader suggested he returned alone (with a porter) to Kathmandu while I continued the trek.
We walked back to Lukla together with two porters. If I had continued, he would be dead now. He collapsed at our hotel then spent three weeks in hospital in Kathmandu with a thrombosis of the brain.

Any trek is only as good as the trek leader and their approach to the group and their safety.
Do your research and ask the company as many questions as you need to - and make sure you have good insurance that covers you for activities at altitude.

[Sgurr]

Should perhaps say that I have nothing but praise for Explore. The leader ran up a mountain ridge to get reception. When he saw childproof pill box was defeating husband he made sure that we would be met by their Khatmandu rep. who would take us direct to the hospital and booked us into a hotel for him to recuperate. Many years ago now, so personnel would have changed.

[malky_c]

Can't help with your question but have you seen Foggieclimber's set of reports on Stok Kangri?
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=35887&p=210439&hilit=Stok+Kangri#p210439

[Magoo82]

I did a bit of trekking in Kashmir this summer with a company called India Hikes and I was very impressed with the level of professionalism. It seemed a lot better organised than treks I'd done before in Nepal, Morocco and Tanzania. But one of the girls on the Kashmir trek did Stok Kangri the following week with India Hikes and whilst she seemed to enjoy it they didn't seem to have been provided with crampons or ice axes for the dicey bits near the summit. I have no experience with the company you've mentioned but from my travels I've come to the conclusion that a lot of it depends on the individual guide you're allocated. Like any job in the world you get good ones and not so good ones so there's always going to be a bit of luck involved.

[theduksguts]

thanks for the info folks , sorry for the late reply