About Monk Trails

Our story

Local guides, small groups, honest mountains

Monk Trails is run out of Shimla by people who grew up walking these valleys. We started because we kept meeting trekkers who had paid a lot of money to be marched up a mountain by someone who had never been on it before.

So we built the opposite. We only run routes our own leaders have walked repeatedly across different seasons — five of them, from a two-day forest walk to hot springs, up to a nine-day glaciated crossing into Spiti. When conditions on a pass are bad, we say so and we turn around.

Groups stay between 8 and 14 trekkers so a leader is always within reach on the exposed sections. Every expedition carries a certified trek leader, a guide, a cook and a helper, plus a full medical kit with BP machine, thermometer and oximeter, and an emergency oxygen cylinder.

What we believe

• Say no to the summit. No pass is worth an evacuation. Our leaders have the final call.
• Small groups only. Fourteen is our hard ceiling, and it is lower on the harder routes.
• Leave no trace. No single-use plastic on any Monk Trails trek. Everything comes back down.
• Local first. Our guides, cooks, porters and homestays are all from these valleys.