Team leaders are people too. Perhaps that sounds like a rather unexpected statement to some of our participants 😉 We’ve run programs in Nepal for 11 years, and this is the first time we’ve found ourselves in a situation like the one we’re about to share with you.
Our team leader was on the internship during an Everest trek when they suddenly fell seriously ill. We arranged an evacuation, and they were admitted to a local hospital. The hope was that a few days down at low altitude under medical supervision would help to recover enough to lead the next two groups.
The problem was that those “few days” were all we really had. We waited, but their condition still wouldn’t allow to head back up into the mountains. Worse yet, they urgently needed to fly home to Ukraine to finish the treatment.
And the very next day, a new group was due to land in Kathmandu for their Everest trek.
We combed through every Ukrainian we know in Nepal, along with Russian‑speaking Nepalis (quite a few Nepalis studied in Ukraine, by the way). Mid‑April is peak season, so no one was free.
We considered the last‑resort option — letting the group go with local guides only. But that isn’t our usual level of service and would have required far more involvement from the participants. So we put that idea on hold and started searching for a replacement team leader.
Another complication was travel time: getting to Nepal from Ukraine takes at least two days, and we no longer had two days to spare. So we switched to checking leaders based in Europe.
One more phone call — and Andrii Kharatyn says, “Okay, I’m in! When do I fly? In two hours? Then I’m off to pack!” Quite literally, within a couple of hours, Andrii — who hadn’t planned any trip to Nepal — was already on his way to the airport. As he wrote on Facebook: “I woke up this morning and had no idea I’d be flying to the other side of the world by evening.” Andrii, thank you for answering the call and getting ready so fast!
Andrii landed on the evening of Day 1 of the program together with another participant. Meanwhile, our local partner had met all the other participants at the airport and brought them to the hotel. Despite feeling unwell, the original team leader organized the check‑in and helped with the last‑minute preparations in the capital.
That evening the whole group gathered, held their briefing, and the very next day set off toward the dream ⛰️
And that wasn’t all. The group still had another (fairly typical) challenge ahead — flying to Lukla in bad weather. Continuous rain made fixed‑wing flights impossible. Helicopters were overbooked and painfully expensive. But after some searching — and thanks to reliable partners — we found a helicopter with a reasonable surcharge, and in three shuttles the group reached Lukla.
From there it was on foot, and from there it was easier.
Right now the group is on the trail, has already seen Everest, and is steadily making its way to the goal — the Base Camp! We hope their impressions will be nothing but the best. Greetings to the group and to Andrii!
In the end, KULUAR “took the hit” for extra tickets for Andrii, for changing the the tickets for the original team leader (whose health is now stable), plus a few other expenses — altogether a few thousand. But those risks are on us, and even in situations like this we must do everything possible so that the participants get the best program and feel these difficulties as little as possible.
If you’re heading to the mountains — then with KULUAR! 💚