Our Story
Musa Masala is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization creating an internationally adventurous outdoor community focused on safe, healthy and culturally aware outdoor activities while prioritizing projects for healthcare and education in Nepal.
Our Origins
Musa Masala originally started as a book, the proceeds of which would help fund a hospital for people of the lower Khumbu Valley in Nepal.
In our book, Musa Masala: Mountain Girl of the Himalaya, Musa, an orphan Sherpa girl, notices how many of the trekkers are unprepared for high altitude conditions and unfamiliar with the customs of the Khumbu community. During the hospital’s construction, we constructed our website to provide information on the unique conditions of the high mountain environments, and to tell the stories of the people who live and work there.
In addition to the original fundraising idea for the book, we launched an art auction fundraiser at The Wilderness Medical Society’s Winter Conference, for which 23 artists donated their work. We raised $15,000 at that event and it cemented our commitment to keeping art as a part of Musa’s mission. When Julie Ramirez came on board to illustrate the book, our path to our current art workshops for stress relief opened up for us.
After The Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital opened, we asked, what else can we do? When we learned that there were no dental facilities in the area, we decided to team up with Dr. Anumesh Dahal to provide dental camps for people to receive free basic dental care.
Our entrance into the indoor climbing scene came when we met Panchamaya Tamang, the national indoor climbing champion who let us know there were no competitions in Nepal since the COVID-19 pandemic. With Panchamaya, we started a program of climbing clinics and competitions with several goals: Promote the climbing sport in Nepal, support the local gyms, give the climbers initiative to achieve, and provide scholarships to promote wilderness medicine training for guides who are such a big part of the indoor climbing community.
Looking toward the future, we want to continue creating and building friendships with people and organizations interested in improving the education, healthcare availability and access to the outdoors and wilderness activities. We have come a long way since our first time to Mt. Everest, but unlike a mountain, there is no summit — just a series of successful belay stations and lead climbs that take us on continuous adventures with exciting new friends, please join us. Jam Jam!!
Musa Masala: Mountain Girl of the Himalaya
Follows the story of a Sherpa orphan girl who discovers adventure while trekking to Everest Base Camp, making friends and finding her purpose along the way. With vibrant illustrations of the Himalayas, our book proceeds support the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital in Nepal's SoluKumbu region.