I am glad to announce that The Mountain Company has recently joined the Great Himalaya Trail (GHT) Alliance as an accredited trek operator. GHT Alliance is a group of organisations and individuals who voluntarily adopt their Codes of Conduct, one Code has been developed for visitors and another for operators organising treks in the Himalaya. For more information on Codes of Conduct please take a look at Great Himalaya Trail website.
GHT is a trekking route that crosses Himalaya from Burma to Pakistan taking the highest feasible route along the spine of this mountain range, the trail involves very challenging trekking as well as several mountaineering sections over technical passes (eg Sherpani Col near Makalu in Nepal).
GHT Alliance has been set up by several people who have spent a lot of time exploring the Himalaya and believe it is important to give something back. The organisers of GHT Alliance work on a voluntary basis and over heads for GHT Alliance at a very low level.
The main objective of GHT Alliance is to promote local, sustainable and responsible tourism to remote areas of Himalaya that in the past may not have benefitted from trekkers. GHT Alliance is a transnational project covering Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan and the hope is that this project will enhance sharing of skills and experience between the existing trekking industry in these countries.
GHT Alliance supports two GHT-related development goals: first, to promote vocational training programs, especially for porters and kitchen crew and second to initiate livelihood programs for villages along the trekking routes. GHT Alliance do not plan projects, rather registered NGOs apply for funding through GHT Alliance partners and then match them up.
Now that The Mountain Company is an accredited GHT Alliance trek operator we have agreed to adhere to Operator Code of Practice and also to encourage our clients who have signed up for one of our GHT labelled trek to donate £80 (US$120) to GHT Alliance.
Roland Hunter
www.themountaincompany.co.uk
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