Sustainable and responsible Travel is what we believe in and all our efforts are put into practicing this at our end. We respect the places we visit, the locals and their culture and our travelers’ experience is enhanced with meaningful interactions with local people and a greater understanding of the local culture, social and environmental issues.

Love and respect for all places we visit is of prime importance. To leave any place we visit unharmed and unspoilt, so that it remains as beautiful for future generations to come. We inculcate this value in our employees and encourage the same in our clients. We also try our best at giving something back to all the places we travel. The following are a few of our initiatives.

Jobs for Locals

The best thing we at Rimo do is to provide employment to the locals by using them as your crew on our treks. Most of our field Staff is from the mountains – the Himalaya. They come from Ladakh, Garhwal & Kumaon, Northeast (Darjeeling, Sikkim, Manipur), Nepal and other places. This has made Rimo a salad bowl of many races of people in the Himalaya. They look different, speak different languages and have different cultural backgrounds. Despite the differences, once outdoors everything melts away and what remains is just the spirit for adventure. The camaraderie between them during our treks is commendable.

Self Advancement of Staff

Apart from giving jobs to locals we also help them in advancing in their chosen careers. Whether they are cooks, sherpas or guides we help each one of them in improving on their skills so they always come out and perform better.Our cooks are sent to big Hotels in the off-season for cooking classes to learn dishes from different cuisines and that’s the reason they whip up delights on your treks. All our sherpas who have not been so lucky to have a college education are sponsored to English Speaking Lessons so they are not at a disadvantage on the mountain with Western clients. We also send our budding stars on the mountain to mountaineering courses at premier institutes in India to polish their climbing skills. Our Guides are kept busy in the off-season with first Aid courses, foreign language learning courses, Trek etiquettes and lessons from expert tour leaders.

Ice Hockey Club

Ice Hockey was played in Ladakh for a long time but without proper equipment. Rimo Expeditions contacted NHLPA (National Hockey League Players Association) in Canada through some friends and brought in more than 100 pairs of donated ice skates and ice hockey equipment. This gave a great boost to Ice Hockey and the Ladakh winter Sports club under whose initiative ice hockey flourished and has now become popular among the youth. Rimo Expeditions formed its own team of stellar players six of whom were selected to represent India at the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) challenge cup held in Abu Dhabi in 2009. This has encouraged and given an international exposure to the budding Ladakhi players.

www.ladakhwintersports.com
www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET-Cetera/All-eyes-on-Ice-Hockey-Team/articleshow/4265266.cms
www.nhlpa.com/GoalsAndDreams/ProgramDetails.asp?ID=283

School Projects

The whole Himalayan stretch lacks good schools and a sound education system. Rimo is involved in many school development projects in all the regions we operate. We also help many schools in getting sponsors from abroad. Rimo contacted Juniper Trust who raised funds for building a school for monks in Kalimpong and rebuilt a school in Jorebungalow Darjeeling (Congress School) as well as putting a roof on the Markha village school in Ladakh. Through our foreign School groups visiting Ladakh we have raised funds for local schools in Leh and Shey and continue on with our endeavours to make a difference.

Medical Camps

Rimo has been helping in organizing medical camps in remote areas of Ladakh. We help by providing infrastructure (tents, transport) to doctors willing to be of service to the people of Ladakh. Dr Norboo of Ladakh Institute of Prevention has been organizing medical camps every summer in different areas of Ladakh. We have always pitched in with our bit in terms of providing medicines, food and lodging to the doctors at medical camps held in Ladakh.

www.lipladakh.org/index.html

Cleaning Himalaya Expeditions

We are committed to protecting the fragile environment of the Himalayan mountain ranges and believe in zero impact travel. We inculcate environmental consciousness amongst our staff and encourage similar responsibility in fellow travelers. As an active member of the All Ladakh Tour Operators Association (ALTOA), Rimo initiated and organized, together with tour operators of Ladakh, the first-ever clean up of the Markha and Stok Valley. We brought back 30 horse-loads of tins, bottles and garbage. We make sure to bring back all garbage from our treks and continue to spread awareness among locals and other operators. Our rafting division too has clean up runs on the Indus and Zanskar rivers during the season.

Setting up Campsites & Sanitation Awareness

Rimo has built campsites where there was a problem camping in many trekking routes where we operate. The proceeds of the camping go directly to the villagers. As part of our ongoing commitment towards the rural communities we visit, and the environment, Rimo is building twin vault composting toilets in villages with limited campsites in Ladakh and helping in creating awareness about sanitation among the locals.

Porter Protection

Rimo Expeditions supports the International Porter Protection Group (IPPG) and as such we undertake to abide by their guidelines regarding the treatment of our camp crew and porters. On our post trek questionnaire we ask clients how they felt about the treatment of porters.

Ladakh Marathon

The Ladakh Marathon was founded by Rimo Expeditions in the year 2012 two years after the devastating flash floods tore through the region, leaving a trail of death and destruction. The marathon was a way to say that “Ladakh is back and running”. It is the highest and amongst the toughest marathons.

The Event became a full member of AIMS (Association of International Marathons and Distance Races) in 2015, thus becoming a key stop on the global marathon calendar! Over the past years it has become one of the most reputed High Altitude Marathon in the world with every edition getting bigger and better organized, with the support from the people of Ladakh.

The Ladakh Marathon remains a way to encourage the young people of Ladakh to live a healthy lifestyle by taking up running, and by becoming more aware of the need to protect a stunningly beautiful, yet environmentally fragile region.

For more information please click here.

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