How we vet a trekking agency

We only list local agencies that employ their own guides. Most of the applications we turn down come from intermediaries: an outfit that takes the booking, keeps a margin, and hands the walking to whoever is available that week.

The seven criteria

Every one is checked before an agency is listed.

• Licence — current, issued by the Ministère du Tourisme, in the agency's own name. The number is published on their profile.
• Insurance — civil liability and mountain rescue cover, for every traveller, on every departure.
• Own guides, not brokers — employed or contracted directly, certified, and named on the trip. The walking is never subcontracted.
• Fluent French and English — not the office: the guide who will be with you, for days at a time. Checked at interview.
• Same-day response — tested before signing, on an unannounced request, in the traveller's language.
• Three years operating, at minimum — long enough to have handled a bad season, an incident and a cancellation. We ask about all three.
• Signed code of conduct — signed by the owner, with pay rates disclosed to us in writing.

An agency that cannot name the guide who will walk with you should not be taking your booking.

The code of conduct, in five points

• Guide and muleteer pay above the regional minimum, paid in full on the last day.
• Group caps: twelve on valley routes, eight above 3,000 m, six on winter ascents.
• Animal welfare: load limits respected, mules rested and watered, no animal worked on consecutive multi-day trips.
• Waste: everything carried in is carried out, grey water included.
• Cultural conduct: no photographing someone without asking, no entering a home uninvited, Ramadan observed on the trail.

What gets an agency removed

• Subcontracting a trip without telling the traveller.
• A guide, muleteer or cook paid below the rate the agency signed.
• A group run over the cap, or a winter ascent run without the right equipment.
• A safety incident concealed from us, or a rescue we hear about from the traveller first.
• A licence or insurance certificate that lapses and isn't renewed.

Removal is immediate and we don't negotiate it.

The full detail: how we select. The listed agencies: our agencies.