UNPROFESSIONAL, RUDE, THREATENING, UNSAFE This is a long review, but I request you to read fully! Myself and my friend (2 women) from India got in touch with Ram Barakoti from Sherpa Exped for our Everest Base Camp trek in Oct 22. I had paid 100% of the trek amount and my friend paid 30% at the time of booking. We booked 2.5 months in advance. Ram was initially very friendly, polite & responsive. The fun started on the day we landed in Nepal! 1) No proactive info/ communication: Ram never bothered to get in touch till the day of our landing. No detail on the group count, driver details, hotel details were provided until we contacted Ram on our arrival in Kathmandu airport after waiting for an hour trying to locate our driver! 2) We were promised stay in a 3-star hotel. Upon arrival though, we were smartly placed in the older, non-3 star annexe of Thamel Park Hotel, but were charged according to 3-star prices. We were given a very basic room on the 2nd floor with no lift! Ram never bothered to check on us! 3) On our arrival in Nepal, Ram stated that there was a change in plan for our return flight from Lukla to Kathmandu…That we be flown from Lukla to Ramechap only and then be driven from Ramechap to Kathmandu (adding 6.5 hrs to our trip!). Adhoc change in govt regulations were blamed conveniently, with no apology. Also, we were never informed that there was no one else in the group other than the both of us and another trekker from Denmark (We had specifically asked for group booking for safety reasons). When we resisted these changes and questioned the irresponsibility, Ram unapologetically indicated that he is okay to cancel our trek! (after we had arrived in Nepal!) Ideally, all of this should have been communicated to us well in advance! 4) Ram never informed us that Indian debit & credit cards did not work in Nepal and that we should be making alternate arrangements. This led to major issues as my friend struggled for six days to make the balance payment. The same issue occurred when we decided to take a heli back down from Gorakshep to Lukla. Ram and our guide Lakpa Sherpa threatened and harassed us for the money while they were already being made aware of all our desperate attempts to make the payments (refer the whatsapp snips attached). Kindly note that the bal 70% payment by my friend was made on the 6th day of the trek and the heli payment was made the next day). The language used was so impolite and threatening that we were almost on the verge of seeking the help of Nepal police towards the end of the trek! This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable and a blot on a national tourism reputation! 5) No safety measures: the only thing the guide Lakpa Sherpa had was an oxymeter! No oxygen cylinders or first aid kit was available through the trek as against what Sherpa Exped claims in their trek description. EBC is a high-altitude trek and oxy cylinders are crucial & basic. This was a major miss from Sherpa, thus exposing us to a life- threatening situation! The guide was incompetent and fell short of guiding us when myself and the other trekker from Denmark faced altitude sickness in Gorakshep. We were advised to take paracetamol. 6) Pure money minting organisation: a) Stay in Kathmandu was definitely not a 3-star, but we were charged for it b) Kathmandu siteseeing was to be in a private ac car, but we were stuffed with a group of 16 people into a bus with a not working ac. No refund was provided. c) No partial refund for return flight changes from Lukla to Kathmandu( refund should’ve been for at least $100. Ram seemed to have done us a favor by arranging a car according to him! Even if they did organise a car to take us from Ramechap to Kathmandu, they did save a considerable amount of dollars. Even worse, it caused us 6.5 hours of road travel which was not anticipated. Lukla to Kathmandu flights were very much on.. d) Sherpa quoted NPR 900 per person for heli from Gorakshep to Lukla and Lakpa Sherpa initially agreed to cover hotel stay in Kathmandu for three days as we would reach well before our anticipated arrival. However, we managed to get the heli @ 400 per person arranged by the local tea house at Gorakshep, thus saving $500 each. Sadly, Lakpa backed out on his commitment to arrange for our Kathmandu stay when we reached there. Neither did they refund our tea house stay and food expenses of 3 days that we had paid as part of our fee. We had to pay out of pocket for our 3-days stay in Kathmandu. (we had decided to take the heli back down instead of trekking due to health & altitude issues and fatigue, but Sherpa Exped did not seem to care. e) The expense description says that porter charges are covered in the trek fee. But Sherpa forces you to pay $150 min additional to every guide and each porter. This may be a very small amount for US citizens but is a significant amount in INR. We ended up paying addtional INR 10k in total to our guides and porters as Lakpa Sherpa got pretty upset when we refused... It is clear that Sherpa Exped was hungry to earn more than the anticipated profits from us through unethical ways as mentioned above. Lastly, our trip was due to end on 18th Oct. However, since we reached 3 days prior in Kathmandu, Sherpa started pushing and harassing us to handover their duffle bag, sleeping bag and down jacket in advance. Since we had totally lost trust in Ram and his team due to their behaviour all through our trek, we were not convinced that they would arrange for our drop to the airport and hence indicated to them that the items would be returned on 18th which we duly did. However, Ram kept harassing and threatening us between 14th to 18th Oct repeatedly for the return. (refer attached whatsapp) Sherpa boasts about being in the business since 1977 and I was convinced about their experience going by all the good ratings and reviews. (I wouldn't be surprised to find out that these reviews are either all fake or purchased!) If you are a solo traveler (esp a woman), I would recommend you trek with Sherpa at your own risk. Ram is arrogant, unprofessional, very rash in his dealings, has no respect or sense of dealing with women! If he does not change his attitude, he will surely take the business and its past reputation down in the coming years!! Positives: Lakpa Sherpa was a pretty good guide. The porters were hardworking and reliable. Lakpa did change his attitude, threatened us and changed his words towards the end as well, however, I'd still give him a few brownie points for the overall experience. About the trek: EBC is very strenuous and should be attempted by amateurs at own risk. Altitude becomes your biggest challenge as you scale up. There are few days of extremely steep elevations (like Phakding to Namche- 800 mtrs gain in one day and the Kalapathar summit-500 mtrs incline) with all other days on continuous ascends. The views after Namche change dramatically and are rewarding. Expect sudden downpours and snow(we encountered a day of walk in snow in Oct!) Cost: Be prepared to spend around 15-20K INR over and above your trek cost. A small cup of hot water costs you NPR 50 in Namche and NPR 150 in Gorakshep! a universal wifi card that you can use in all tea houses costs 2000 NPR. Phone Charging @ NPR 400. A Sneaker bar is NPR 250-450, pringles @ NPR 600- 900. Cost of everything increases as you scale up. Very IMP! : Indian debit and credit cards DO NOT work in Nepal. we couldn't withdraw cash, do money exchange or place money into local bank account. Ram doesn't care and is too busy to help. We spent the whole day in Lukla on wasted attempts to transfer money for the heli. Finally had to take an Indian account detail from Ram to get the money transferred. in return, the harassment, threat and follow ups were next level insanity!