"We didn't plan to start a company. We planned a trek — and somewhere between the ice and the silence, we realised this is what we were born to do."
Where It Started
Rishabh and Reyansh have been friends for years — two people from Uttarakhand with wildly different skills but the exact same pull toward the mountains. Rishabh, a B.Pharm graduate turned mountaineer, had spent years studying altitude, physiology and safety on high-altitude terrain. Reyansh, an MBA graduate, understood systems, logistics, and how to build something that lasts.
On their own, each was good. Together, they were complete.
But the story of Vairagya Yatra doesn't really begin with them. It begins with everyone they had ever taken into the mountains before the company existed — the friends, the cousins, the colleagues who came back from their first Himalayan trek looking like a different version of themselves. Lighter. Quieter. More alive.
The Spark on the Glacier
It was during the Gaumukh Tapovan Trek that it became undeniable. Sitting beside an icy glacial stream at over 4,000 metres, surrounded by silence so complete you could hear your own heartbeat, Rishabh and Reyansh stopped talking about doing this someday and started drawing an actual plan.
On a torn notebook page — not a whiteboard, not a laptop — they sketched the first version of what would become Vairagya Yatra: the trails, the philosophy, the kind of experience they wanted to give people. Not a tour. Not a package. A transformation.
"What if we could create experiences that awaken the soul, challenge the body, and leave a lasting mark on the mind?"
The Two Founders
Rishabh
Mountaineer, guide, and the person who has memorised more Himalayan trails than most people have walked. Rishabh brings the deep field knowledge that makes every Vairagya Yatra trek genuinely safe and genuinely wild.
Reyansh
The architect of how everything runs. Reyansh's background in business and logistics means that behind every seamless trek — every permit, every meal, every pick-up — is a system that was carefully thought through.
It Wasn't Easy
Starting a trekking company in Uttarakhand as young founders without family backing is not as romantic as the mountains make it sound. There were permits that took months. Seasons where bookings were slow. Routes they had to redesign after unexpected snowfall. Tents that leaked during a monsoon night when a group of ten people were counting on them.
They argued over maps. They got lost — not metaphorically, actually lost — on a ridgeline at dusk while scouting a new route. They laughed about it later. At the time, it was less funny.
But every obstacle taught them something. How to read weather better. How to communicate with trekkers who were scared. How to be calm when everything is going wrong at 3,500 metres. These aren't skills you learn in a classroom. They are earned, one hard day at a time, in the mountains.
What Vairagya Yatra Really Is
Vairagya Yatra is not a tour company. It is the answer to a question they kept asking: why do people come back from the mountains changed, and how do we give more people that chance?
The name holds the entire philosophy. Vairagya — the Sanskrit concept of beautiful detachment, of letting go of what weighs you down. Yatra — a journey, a pilgrimage, a purposeful forward movement. Put them together and you have the experience they set out to create: a journey that helps you leave behind what you don't need, and discover what was always there.
Every decision they make — the trail they choose, the number of people in a group, the guide they hire, the campfire they light — comes back to that original question on the glacier. Does this awaken something? Does this leave a mark?
Who This Is For
- Seekers of adventure and self-discovery — people who know that real growth happens outside comfort zones.
- Dreamers who dare to step off the beaten path — people who want the offbeat, the real, the uncrowded.
- Travellers wanting genuine connection — with nature, with the mountains, with themselves, and with the people they share the trail with.
- Spiritual seekers — people drawn to the sacred temples, ancient lakes, and devotional energy that the Himalayas carry in every stone and stream.
From Rishabh & Reyansh
If you've read this far, you already understand something about who we are. We are not a company that treats you as a booking number. We are two people who love these mountains more than we can explain, and who built Vairagya Yatra because we wanted others to feel what we feel every time we step onto a Himalayan trail.
When you trek with us, you're not just a customer. You become part of the story — another person who walked into the mountains carrying the weight of ordinary life, and came back a little lighter, a little freer, a little more themselves.
That's why we do this. That's why it will always matter.
"Mountains are our mentors, rivers our guides, and every journey teaches us something new about life."
Ready to Begin Your Yatra?
Browse our treks or reach out — we'll find the journey that's right for you.