Terms of Use

Himopedia is a free, documentation-only encyclopedia of the Himalaya, Karakoram and Trans-Himalaya, operated independently from India. By using the site you agree to these terms. Please use it lawfully and in good faith.

The knowledge is free

Reading Himopedia is free, and we intend to keep the core encyclopedia open. Any future paid or community features (for example, support for guides or homestays) will be introduced openly and clearly marked, and will never put existing documentation behind a paywall.

Acceptable use

You may read, link to, and cite Himopedia freely. Please do not use the site unlawfully, misrepresent it, attempt to disrupt or gain unauthorised access to it, or scrape it in a way that degrades the service for others. A machine-readable data export is offered for researchers — use that rather than aggressive crawling.

Accuracy, provenance and safety

We work hard to attribute facts to their sources and cross-check them, but we cannot guarantee that every entry is complete or free of error. Himopedia is a reference work, not travel, navigation, mountaineering or safety advice, and not a booking or trekking service. Mountain conditions, routes, access rules and permits change constantly — always verify safety-critical details (weather, permits, current route conditions) with local authorities and experienced guides before you travel. You rely on the content at your own risk.

Your contributions

When you contribute text, corrections, images or other material, you confirm that you have the right to share it and that it does not infringe anyone else’s rights or privacy. You grant Himopedia a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to review, edit, translate, publish and archive your contribution as part of the encyclopedia, with attribution where appropriate. Contributions are reviewed before they go live, and we may decline, edit or remove content at our discretion — for example if it cannot be verified or does not fit an encyclopedic record.

Listings

If and when listing features are enabled, guides, homestays and agencies who register are responsible for the accuracy of their own listing. Listings are reviewed before publication. Himopedia is a documentation project and a directory at most — it does not itself provide guiding, lodging, transport or travel services, and it does not broker bookings. Any arrangement is strictly between you and the provider.

Intellectual property and licences

Himopedia hosts only content we own or are licensed to use. Third-party material is used under its own licence with attribution — for example, encyclopedic text adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), images from Wikimedia Commons (per their individual licences), structured data from Wikidata (CC0), and map data from OpenStreetMap (ODbL). If you reuse anything from the site, please respect the licence and attribution shown on the relevant page.

Third-party links and services

Some pages link to or load content from third-party services (such as maps and image hosts). We are not responsible for the content, availability or practices of those third parties.

No warranty

The site is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that the site will be uninterrupted, error-free or that any entry is accurate or current.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Himopedia and its operator are not liable for any loss or damage arising from your use of, or reliance on, the site or its content — including any travel, safety or expenditure decisions.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of India, and any disputes relating to them are subject to the courts of India.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. When we do, we will revise the date above; continued use of the site means you accept the updated terms.

Contact

Questions about these terms? Reach us through the contact page. See also our Privacy Policy.