The first trekker in Nepal was Bill tilman, who somehow wrangled permission from the maharaja in 1949 to make several treks, including the Kali Gandaki, Helambu and Everest. His Exploits are described in Nepal Himalaya, a mountaineering classic that has been reprinted by the Seattle Mountaineers as part of a Tilman collection, the Seven Mountain-travel Books. Anothere early visitor was maurice Herzog, who led a French expedition to Annapurna in 1950.

During kin Tribhuvan's visits to India, the king met Boris Lissnnivich, a Russian ballet dancer who was running a club in Calcutta.Boris Convinced the king that people would like to visit Nepal and would actually pay for the experience. Soon a few well- heeled landies flew from patan to kathmandu's Gaucher ('cowfield') airport in an Indian Airlines Dakota. Boris accommodeted them in his new establishment, the Roal Hotel. The women were charmed by Boris and the exotic kingdom of Nepal. Thus Nepali toursm was born. The Royal Hotel and its yak & Yeti bar became the meeting place fro climbers from the 1950s until 1971, when the Royal Hotel was closed.

Colonel James OM Roberts was the first person to realise that trekking would appeal to tourists. Jimmy Roberts had spent years in Nepal attached to the British residency and accompanied Tilman on his first trek. In 1965 he took a group of ladies up the kali Gandaki and founded Mountain Travel, the first of Nepal's trekking companies and the inspiration for the adventure travel industry.