Trekking & adventure

Routes with the numbers stated up front: distance, maximum altitude, total ascent, grade and the months the route is genuinely open.

Destinations

Monasteries above the treeline, the world's highest post office, and a road window that shuts by October.

Ficus roots trained across river gorges over sixty years by Khasi families. The wettest place on earth, still growing.

Frozen-river walking in January, monastery circuits in July — the same valley, two completely different trips.

A valley ringed by three glaciers, reachable only by river-crossing bus. Ash, moss and braided meltwater.

The Northern Japan Alps' front door. Closed to private cars, closed entirely all winter.

Shikara-worked lakes, Mughal gardens and alpine meadows — and the Great Lakes trek, one of the finest walks in the Himalaya.

Kanchenjunga on the skyline, rhododendron forest in spring, and the permit rules that decide where you can actually go.