We are a squad of riders who kept going back

Vardaan Saxena started The Himalayan Squad the way most good travel companies begin — by being frustrated as a traveller. Trips he joined were sold on photographs and delivered on shortcuts: no permits ready at the checkpost, one shared oxygen can for twenty people, and a driver seeing Khardung La for the first time.

So he did it himself. A borrowed SUV, five friends, and a route sheet written on the back of a fuel bill. That first Leh–Nubra–Pangong run turned into a habit, the habit turned into a waiting list, and the waiting list turned into a company that now runs fixed departures every season.

Vardaan's thinking is simple and slightly stubborn: a trip should be designed by someone who has driven the road in bad weather, not by someone reading a brochure. Every itinerary we sell is one he or a trip lead has run personally — which is why our acclimatisation days look "slow" on paper and why nobody in our convoy gets pushed to Pangong on day two.

He spends the off-season the same way: scouting new circuits in Spiti and Zanskar, re-negotiating homestay rates so hosts earn more, and testing gear that most operators would call optional. The result is a squad that grows mostly by word of mouth — 3,800+ travellers and counting.