Insurance and safety
Every guest is asked to hold travel insurance covering cancellation, medical care and evacuation in the mountains. From most places you will sleep, the nearest large hospital is hours down a single road, and that road can shut.
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The first line to read
A standard policy often stops at 3,000 m (9,840 ft). Lachung and Yumthang need cover to about 3,800 m (12,470 ft), the Singalila Ridge to 4,000 m (13,120 ft), Nathu La and the Old Silk Route to about 4,500 m (14,760 ft), and Goecha La to 5,000 m (16,410 ft).
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The wording
Above a stated height some insurers treat any walk as mountaineering, so name the trek and keep the answer by email. Check that rescue, air evacuation and repatriation are named separately, and whether the insurer pays the provider or reimburses you.
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Timing
Match the sum insured to what you have committed: deposit, balance and each house's cancellation terms. Declare every existing condition, since an undeclared one is the commonest reason a mountain claim is refused. Many policies exclude helicopters by default.
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Who answers for what
The hotel provides the room, the transport company the car, the guide the guiding, and in Bhutan a licensed operator the guide and vehicle the law requires. The team chooses, briefs and pays them, but cannot stand behind another company's negligence.
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Closures
Every day carries a written fallback, and your driver checks the route the night before and again at dawn. If a road, flight or permit fails for reasons beyond anyone's control, the journey is rearranged at no fee, and only supplier differences are passed on.
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In the moment
Your driver or guide first, for anything in the next hour. Then the team on +91 86178 24110, at any hour of a journey in progress. Your insurer's emergency line for anything medical, before you agree to a cost you mean to claim.
Photo: Simanta Saha
The honest limits
Monsoon slides close roads from about June to September, and snow shuts high passes in winter. If your month is a gamble, you are told before you pay. Once the policy is bought, send its number and emergency line: it saves an hour on the day it matters.
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