Guides first.
Operators second.

We did not start as a company. We started as climbers.

Map & Mountain was founded in Kathmandu in 2004 by three Sherpa guides who had spent a combined forty years leading expeditions through the Himalayas. They had worked under foreign operators, watched margins extracted from Nepal without local benefit, and decided to build something different.

Every guide on our team is Nepali. Every rupee of profit is reinvested in our guides' children's education or in trail maintenance. We charge a fair price because we pay a fair wage — our guides earn three times the Nepali industry average.

We keep group sizes small — no more than eight trekkers per guide — because the mountain experience deserves attention, not crowd management. We refuse bookings that would push a group beyond what we can safely manage.

We have never lost a client. We intend to keep it that way.

21
Years operating
4,800+
Treks completed
38
IFMGA-certified guides
0
Client incidents

Senior Guides

Pemba
Pemba Sherpa
Co-Founder · Head Guide
Born in Namche Bazaar, Pemba has led over 600 expeditions in the Everest region. Holds the record for summiting Lhotse five times in a single season as support for different teams.
IFMGA · 24 yrs · 42 Everest summits
Dawa
Dawa Tenzing
Co-Founder · Annapurna Lead
Specialist in the Annapurna Circuit and Upper Mustang. Dawa has worked with the Annapurna Conservation Area on trail rerouting and community benefit sharing programs.
IFMGA · 20 yrs · 850+ treks led
Karma
Karma Dorje
Remote Region Specialist
The only certified guide currently operating in the Upper Dolpo restricted zone. Karma grew up near Shey Phoksundo and speaks four dialects used along the old salt trade route.
IFMGA · 16 yrs · Dolpo specialist

How we operate

01
Guide first
Every decision is made with guide welfare first. Our guides are partners, not contractors. They share in profits and have full authority to abort any trek they judge unsafe.
02
Leave trace
We operate a pack-in, pack-out policy on all routes. 5% of every booking fee goes directly to the Nepal Trail Maintenance Fund we co-founded in 2012.
03
Small groups
Maximum eight trekkers per guide. No exceptions. The mountain deserves quiet. You deserve attention. Neither is possible at larger scale.