Climb Mt. Everest South Col
Program Policies

Payments:

A deposit of $20,000 per person secures your reservation. Payments may be made via wire or check only. Final payment is due 120 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 120 days of the program your reservation will be cancelled and all fees forfeited. Trips departing within 120 days from the reservation date must be paid in full at the time of reservation.

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. There will be no refunds for cancellations. 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 Cost:

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 / climbing
• 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
• Climbing oxygen will be provided as follows: 1800L at C3, 3600L at Col, 1800L at Balcony.  We will also supply a limited amount of "extra" oxygen at Camp 3, for "practice" during the C3 acclimatization cycle, prior to the summit bids
• Unlimited medical consultation at the BC Medical clinic.
• A single tent at Base Camp with a foam trekking mattress
• Handheld radios with speaker microphone
• High-altitude camp equipment and supplies, and Sherpa support on summit day
• Climbing Sherpa will establish camps, carry group equipment (including sleeping bags and pads), establish the route, etc

Not included are the following:

• International round-trip air fare and travel expenses to/from Kathmandu
• Meals in Kathmandu
• Hotels in Kathmandu after the climb
• Personal gear
• Excess baggage charges
• Airport departure taxes and Nepal entry visas
• Sherpa tip pool (we suggest $200 per person for trekkers, $500 for summit climbers)
• 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 winds, but they cannot eliminate them.

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 the risk and hazards of mountaineering, and make their own choices about whether or not to engage in this activity.

Climber Responsibilities

Mountaineering is both an individual challenge and a team endeavor. Some of the responsibility for the team is carried by the individual climbers. For this reason, we ask that each participant:

• is physically and mentally fit, properly attired and equipped, and continues to self assess throughout the program to ensure as safe a climb as possible. If a climber’s own physical fitness limits his or her ability to safely continue upward, that can have a negative impact on the summit experience or opportunity of other climb 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.

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).

RMI cannot guarantee that you will reach the summit. 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, team dynamics, etc.), are not Rainier Mountaineering, Inc.’s responsibility and will not result in refund or reschedule.

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.