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Wandering Yaks

Purpose · Planet

Small footprints on very cold mountains.

Glaciers don’t forgive litter. Here’s what we do about it, and what we ask of you.

Carbon score, per person, per journey

Every journey publishes an estimated kg CO₂-equivalent per traveler, calculated from ground transport (jeeps, buses, porters’ overland travel), fuel used in mess-tent kitchens, and a share of our office overhead. It does not include your international flights — those are yours to measure and offset, and we provide guidance in the pre-trip pack.

We’re working on a full third-party carbon audit for the 2027 season.

Zero plastic in homestays and camps

Since 2023 no journey we run carries bottled water. Kitchen teams boil and filter drinking water daily; every traveler is expected to bring a reusable bottle. Snacks in mess-tent are unwrapped; leftovers are packed out.

On the Baltoro and other permit-required glaciers, we carry out every wrapper, every wipe, every tea bag. Human waste on long treks uses W.A.G. Bags or a leader-managed pit-toilet setup depending on the site.

Glacier stewardship

We do not run technical mountaineering ourselves — that’s not our expertise. What we do is respect the ground rules of the operators who do. On the K2 basecamp trek that means:

  • Group size capped at 10 travelers (industry standard is 16+).
  • Porter loads capped at 25 kg with insured, medically-checked crew.
  • No burning of trash on the ice.
  • Contribution to the Central Karakoram National Park clean-up fund.

What we still burn a lot of

Diesel. Jeeps up the Braldu, the KKH, the Wakhan road, the Pamir Highway — there’s no electric alternative and there won’t be one for a decade. We’re honest about that. Where we can, we consolidate journeys and reduce empty leg-runs. We’re not greenwashing this: mountain travel has a real carbon cost. The best we can do is measure it, publish it, and try to bring it down each year.