Trek Grading

All travel in the Himalaya involves some degree of difficulty. To make the most of your adventure holiday with Wild Heights, it is essential that you choose the tour suited to your interest and capabilities. All our tours are graded reflecting relative levels of difficulty. An ‘A’ grade trek is the easiest, while an ‘E’ grade trek is the most strenuous. A plus (+) sign indicates that the trek/ tour is slightly harder than the grade described below. These are to be used as an approximate indicator only, as everyone has different expectations and perceptions of their abilities and levels of fitness. The main benefit of grading is to provide you with an overall indicator to compare one trip against another.

Also consider this-

• No trek/tour/ walk in the Himalaya is a stroll; they all involve going up and down at altitude;
• Altitude, particularly when it’s a new experience, affects everyone differently;
• Temporary local conditions such as adverse weather or trail conditions may make any tour harder;
• Smokers may find it harder going than expected.

Grade A– EASY

These trips can be enjoyed by anyone who leads a reasonably active life. Closely resembling standard tours, they may involve city sightseeing, relaxed river rafting, jungle safari, relatively long drive or some walking. None require strenuous activity for an extended period.

Grade B- MODERATE

Moderate trekking (by Himalayan standards) involving some longer walks between 900m/3,000ft and 3,500/ 11,500ft. Possibly involving side trips to higher elevations. There are always plenty of ‘ups and downs’ anywhere in the Himalaya and clients need to be regular walkers to get full enjoyment from their experience. It is possible however to design ‘easier’ three to four day treks with perhaps only three to four hours walking per day on request.

Grade C- DIFFICULT

These treks are generally longer (minimum 12 days) and more strenuous (altitudes up to 4,300m/ 14,100ft with side trips to higher elevations, long ascents/ descents, steep gradients, rough ground). Some treks included here will, in part, be well away from villages on ill-defined mountain trails. Hill walking experience and a reasonably high standard of fitness and stamina are essential for enjoyment. Our exploratory treks are included here.

Grade D- STRENUOUS  

Treks of a demanding nature, requiring all participants to be fit and in excellent health, often in remote alpine areas and sometimes reaching altitudes in excess of 5000m/18,000ft. We include treks which involve river, moraine, high pass, glacier and snow crossings. All our Tibet trips are included here primarily because of the rigors of the climate and overall altitude, varying between Lhasa, at 3,700m/12,000ft, to high pass crossing, by vehicle or on foot in excess of 5,000m/16,000ft.

Grade E- ALPINE

Extremely demanding treks sometimes in very remote areas on rough terrain and perhaps including one or more of the so called ‘trekking peaks’ – i.e. Mera Peak (6,461m/21,192ft). A high level of fitness and a basic knowledge of walking on scree, snow, ice and packed snow are desired. There will be ice axes, crampons and in some cases ropes used. Climbs however are non-technical. It is important that you choose ‘Alpine’ treks only if you are properly prepared, both mentally and physically.