Ish Hasan Connect

Men's Rite of Passage

Ten days. Four months. Eight men.

A rite of passage on a sacred Andean mountain. You go in as one man and come home as another.

Applications open · cohort begins Jan '27

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The information isn't the problem.

You've done the weekend. You've read the books. You know more about your shadow than most therapists know about their clients.

And yet, you still feel it. The dread and unease and panic in your chest that nothing seems to ease.

You have enough information.

Maybe what you need is a crossing.

I was at a place in my life that I was going through a pretty significant change, and this work had a significant impact on me. I feel this sense of confidence in myself and sense of clarity in terms of where I'm going in my life and with my path.

Mark Maclean, Soul Purpose Coach & Sales Executive

The arc

A retreat is a place you come back from.

A rite of passage is something you go in as one man and come back as another. The mountain is the threshold. The months before and after are what make this a passage instead of a peak.

  1. Two calls, two months

    The preparation

    We meet what you're carrying with you. The armor. The unfinished business. The fathers you can't call. We name what you're crossing from — because a man who isn't clear on what he's leaving doesn't actually leave it.

  2. Ten days in Peru

    The expedition

    • Days 1–2 Arrival in Cusco. Land. Acclimatize. Meet your brothers. Begin the severance.
    • Days 3–6 Ausangate Circuit. Four days trekking around the most sacred Apu in the southern Andes. 16,000 feet.
    • Day 7 Rest.
    • Days 8–9 Machu Picchu + Huachuma. With Huachuma as ally, you walk up a mountain at dawn. By dusk, you will have met the man underneath.
    • Day 10 The Return. The circle names what changed. You carry it home.

  3. Four calls, two months

    The integration

    This is where most rites of passage end. This is where ours continues.

    Two months of integration after the mountain. Bi-weekly group calls, plus one private call between you and me. A circle of brothers you walk back into for the rest of your life.

Physically and mentally, this trip was a crossroads between staying weak and destroying my life, and coming out stronger with more motivation and willpower to accomplish my life's purpose. I can proudly say that I have a renewed strength to build my life with after working with Ish.

Duncan Smith, Yoga Instructor

The mountain

The Apu does work on you.

Ausangate is the most sacred mountain, or Apu, in southern Peru. The Q'ero — descendants of the Inca — have walked this circuit for centuries. The Apus are not metaphor. They are who the land was, and who the land is.

You don't do work on Ausangate. The Apu does work on you.

The guide

Me, and a few local guides.

I've walked this mountain. I've also been broken in by this mountain. I don't guide from having arrived. I guide from having gone in and coming back out.

The men alongside me are from the region and will bring a grounded presence to keep you tethered.

What changes

You'll have the life you already had.

A month after you get home, you will sleep differently. You will hold your partner's eye differently. You will speak to your son without the script. You will say the difficult thing in the meeting.

You won't have a new life. You'll have the life you already had — but you'll actually be in it.

It's definitely not easy by any means, but if you're ready to commit, I think you'll come out on the other side a much more evolved version of yourself. I know I have. This was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I will cherish this for a very long time.

Jake O'Rielly, Senior Software Engineer

Investment

$4,500

Includes all in-country costs — accommodation, guides, facilitation, group calls. Flights to Cusco not included. Travel insurance is required.

Payment plans available, discussed during the interview call.

Group capped at 8 men

This is for you if…

  • You've already done weekend experiences and still feel like you're missing something bigger.
  • You're willing to walk into something that takes preparation, reverence, and fortitude.
  • You want to be in a circle of men doing the work, not posting about doing the work.

This is not for you if…

  • You want a peak experience.
  • You're not ready to be different when you come home.
  • You have unmanaged mental health conditions that make ceremony unsafe — reach out first and we'll talk.

Common questions

Before you apply.

A mountain at 16,000 feet is not the place to discover something you should have asked about. Ask.

How fit do I need to be?

The expedition is four days trekking the Ausangate circuit at altitudes around 16,000 feet, with two days in Cusco beforehand to land and acclimatize. It asks for real physical preparation, and it's the part men most often underestimate. Raise it on the interview call and we'll be honest with each other about where you are and what the months before would need to look like.

And if you get up there and it's harder than you expected, you don't get left behind. We work with you to make sure you complete it.

What is Huachuma, and what does that part involve?
Huachuma — San Pedro — is an Andean plant medicine with a long ceremonial lineage in these mountains. It comes on days eight and nine: with Huachuma as ally you walk up a mountain at dawn, and by dusk you will have met the man underneath. If you have questions or reservations about that part, bring them to the interview call. That conversation happens before anyone is committed.
How do you handle the altitude?
Two days in Cusco before we go anywhere, which is what the acclimatization is for. Coca tea throughout — we provide it, and it's what people here have used for this as long as anyone has been walking these mountains. Altitude medication is easy to buy in country if you want it; you don't need to bring it with you.
What if I have a mental health condition?
Reach out first and we'll talk it through honestly. Unmanaged conditions that make ceremony unsafe are a genuine reason this isn't the right container, and I'd rather say so early than have you find out at altitude. I'm not a clinician — see the disclaimer — so this is a conversation, not an assessment.
What's included, and what isn't?
$4,500 covers all in-country costs — accommodation, guides, facilitation, and the group calls before and after. Accommodation is shared. Flights to Cusco are not included, and travel insurance is required. Payment plans are available and get discussed during the interview call.
What if it turns out not to be a fit?
Upon payment you receive the application, which takes ten minutes, followed by a thirty-minute conversation. If there doesn't seem to be a fit after that conversation, you get your money back. No questions.
What happens after we come down from the mountain?
Two months of integration, which is where most rites of passage stop and where this one keeps going. Bi-weekly group calls plus one private call between you and me — and a circle of brothers you walk back into for the rest of your life. The mountain is the threshold; the months on either side are what make it a passage instead of a peak.

The mountain is calling. Will you listen?

Upon payment, you receive the application. The application takes ten minutes. A thirty-minute conversation follows. After our conversation, if there doesn't seem to be a fit, you get your money back. No questions.

Eight spots. If you want in, get in.

Answer the call

Not this cohort?

Eight men go up in January. If this is a yes but not a yes right now, leave your name — you'll hear when the next cohort opens, before it reaches this page.

You'll get The Three Crossings meanwhile. No spam.