A Himalayan Times story reports that an association of trekking agencies is urging the Nepalese government to open several areas of Nepal which are now restricted for trekking. Other changes being urged are reductions in trekking fees and a simpler permit process.

Embark Adventures supports this effort. We agree with the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal that more trekking equals more economic opportunity for the people in areas such as Upper Mustang, Upper Dolpo, Manaslu and Kanchanjunga. Currently those areas are listed as Restricted.

Embark considers each of these areas to be among the great trekking destinations of the world, and in fact one of our 2012 Nepal treks will be to Mustang and Everest Base Camp in October.

Mustang is politically part of Nepal but geographically and culturally much more Tibetan. It’s a high, arid region — the name translates as “fertile plain” — hunkered in the rain shadow (and on the Tibetan side) of the Annapurna Massif and the Dhaulagiri Range. Though it was annexed by Nepal in the 18th Century, it had its own monarchy until 2008, and many people still recognize the current king.

Today only a couple thousand people visit Mustang every year, and it was only opened to tourists in 1992. Mustang’s history is still alive and well; the capital of Lo Manthang is a walled city dating to the 14th Century, and recently 800-year-old Buddhist paintings were discovered in cliffside caves. Whitewashed villages, unchanged for centuries, dot a desert landscape below snow-capped peaks, and Mustang’s primary river, the Kali Gandaki, runs through the deepest gorge in the world.

We can’t wait to get there, and we hope even more of it becomes open to the mutually-beneficial trekking business.