Payments:

A deposit of $1,500 per person secures your reservation. Payments may be made via MasterCard, Visa, American Express, or check. Final payment is due 90 days prior to the start of your program, and we will send a payment reminder approximately three weeks before your payment is due. If your final payment is not received within 90 days of the program your reservation will be cancelled and all fees forfeited. Trips departing within 90 days from the reservation date must be paid in full at the time of reservation. Please note that balance payments may be made via check or wire transfer only.

Cancellation:

Once we receive written notification (mail, e-mail, or fax) that you are canceling an individual participant or your entire reservation the following fees will apply. A fee of $750 per person will be charged for cancellations made more than 90 days before departure. There will be no refunds for cancellations made less than 90 days before your program. Unfortunately, due to the time-sensitive nature of our business, and the difficulty in re-booking a trip close to departure, we cannot make exceptions to this policy.

Land Costs:

Included are the following:

Transportation to and from the airport in Kathmandu

Hotels with breakfast in Kathmandu for stated itinerary at beginning of expedition

Welcome dinner

Round-trip flight to Lukla

All group camping supplies such as tents, stoves, etc.

All meals while trekking

Park fees and climbing permit fees

Liaison officers

Sherpas

Camp staff

Radio communications

Power supply at Base Camp for charging electronics

Yaks and porters

Hyperbaric bag and emergency medical oxygen

Unlimited medical consultation at the BC Medical clinic.

Not included are the following:

International round-trip air fare and travel expenses to/from Kathmandu

Meals in Kathmandu

Hotels in Kathmandu after the trek/climb

Personal gear

Excess baggage charges

Airport departure taxes and Nepal entry visas

Porter tip pool (we suggest $200 - $300 per person)

Satellite telephone, air charges and internet use

Personal expenses, room charges and beverages

Recommended insurance policies (medical, evacuation, trip cancellation, etc.)

* Single Travelers: If you wish to share accommodations, we will assign you a roommate. If you wish to stay alone, a supplemental fee will be charged for a single room. The single supplement is not available in huts, tents, or in all hotels.

Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. reserves the right to modify the land cost of a trip at any time before departure.

Risk Management:

RMI guides draw from their wealth of experience and training to make sound decisions that improve your chance of reaching the summit without compromising the necessary margin of safety. Managing risk is RMI’s number one priority. Our guides manage significant hazards inherent in mountaineering such as avalanches, ice fall, rock fall, inclement weather, and high altitude, but they cannot eliminate them. 

The maxim of safety dictates every move on the mountain. We do not climb with a summit-at-all-costs attitude. As experienced mountaineers and Island Peak veterans, the guides will make the final decision(s), but we encourage you to communicate with the guides, ask questions and learn from their extensive experiences.

Additionally, Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. cannot guarantee that you will reach the summit of Island Peak. Weather, route conditions, your own abilities, or the abilities of other climbers may create circumstances that make an ascent unsafe, and you or your entire party may have to turn around without reaching the summit. Failure to reach the summit due to a person’s own lack of fitness or to any of the events associated with mountaineering (such as weather, route, avalanche hazard, illness, team dynamics, etc.), are not Rainier Mountaineering, Inc.’s responsibility and will not result in refund or reschedule.

Please clearly understand that mountaineering is inherently a hazardous sport. You are choosing to engage in an activity in which participants have been injured and killed. While those accidents are indeed infrequent, they may occur at any time and be out of our control. We ask that participants acknowledge that risk, and make their own choices about whether or not to engage in this activity. We ask that each participant is physically and mentally fit, is properly attired and equipped, and continues to self-assess throughout the adventure to ensure as safe a climb as possible. We ask that participants honestly and accurately describe themselves, in terms of fitness, health and skills, and their equipment to their guides, and that they adhere to the advice of their professional mountain guide.

Climber Responsibilities:

RMI has a goal of achieving the highest possible success rate while maintaining a significant margin of safety on each program. We recognize that mountaineering is an individual challenge as well as a team endeavor. This puts responsibility on individual climbers. If a climber’s own physical fitness limits his or her ability to safely continue upward, that can negatively impact the summit experience or opportunity of other climb participants. For this reason, when signing up for a program, we strongly encourage you to honestly evaluate your fitness. This will allow RMI to suggest the best program for you, and will allow the greatest opportunity of a safe, successful adventure for all participants.

General Policies:

All participants must be 18 years or older at the time the expedition begins.

RMI’s program plans and itineraries are subject to change or adjustment based on a number of factors. These include, but are not limited to, route conditions, weather, terrain, and many other factors. RMI has complete discretion to change plans to accommodate any of these or other factors, including discretion to change program schedule or itinerary, and change guides or staff, as necessary for the proper and safe conduct of the program.

We reserve the right to cancel any program due to inadequate signups, weather or route conditions. In such a case, a full refund is given; however, RMI cannot be responsible for any additional expenses incurred in preparing for the program (i.e., airline tickets, equipment purchase or rental, hotel reservations).

If the Participant decides to leave a trip at any time after the start of the trip and prior to its conclusion, he or she will not be entitled to a refund.

RMI reserves the right to dismiss the Participant from a trip or to send the Participant to a lower altitude at any time if RMI determines, in its sole discretion, that the Participant is not physically, technically, or psychologically prepared for or capable of participating in the program.