Blog
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Musa Masala Advanced Lead Climbing Competition
What a day! We really hope all the climbers had as much fun as we did at our Advanced Lead Competition at Kathmandu Sport Climbing Center on November 23rd.
Our goal with these competitions is simple: provide an opportunity for climbers to come together to test themselves and have a good time.
So many people helped to bring this competition together, let’s start with the organizers, Lakpa Sherpa and Wongchhu Peak Promotion. Our special thanks go out to Ang Diku Sherpa, who, with all her duties coordinating a full trekking season, put the entire program together and got everyone to the same place on the same page. Sangita Rai and Rajat Maharjan worked tirelessly to bring it all together.
Lama Dai Walks to the Top of Everest!
On May 20th of this year, Rajesh Lama (Lama Dai), summited Mt. Everest. Okay, a few people do that every year — pretty cool, a major athletic and mental feat. But that’s just part of it…
On April 1st, Lama and his partner, Rachana Lama, left their home in Kathmandu and started walking to Mt. Everest. After doing the two passes trek, they reached Everest Base Camp. Then, after an acclimatization climb of Mt. Lobuche, he took a short rest before heading up Everest. Oh, and a stint as the event medic for an endurance race, too. So, a busy spring outing…
The Himalayan Rescue Association and Musa Masala: Coming Together for Mountain Health and Safety
Musa Masala and the Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA) have gone into an agreement for fundraising and education! We got together at the Wilderness Medical (WMS) summer conference in Snowbird, Utah to celebrate our new partnership.
We actually got started at the HRA’s medical tent at Mount Everest, Everest ER, in 2016, during a WMS trek to Everest Base Camp in support of the clinic. Our co-founder, Dr. Tatiana Havryliuk, was one of the three doctors working for the spring climbing season. As we were sort of helping put up the tent, we talked about ways to help raise money to build the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital. That project became our book, Musa Masala: Mountain Girl of the Himalaya, and led us to where we are today.
Second Physician Team Visits the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital
We are back with a story of the second physician team to visit the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital with the University of Nevada Reno Wilderness Medicine Fellowship program started by Dr. Tony Islas. (We wrote about the first here.)
We are super happy to have an update by Dr. Bridget Martinez. She, along with Dr. Donald Harker, visited and worked at the hospital with our superstar leader of the hospital, Dr. Gyaltsen Gurung.
Here is Bridget’s tale of their journey and time at our most special place, the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital. You'll also hear a few thoughts from Dr. Gyaltsen Gurung, at the bottom.
Celebrating the Open Lead Climbing Competition at Kathmandu Sport Climbing Center, 2024
Musa Masala is so proud to have been a part of the March 9th Open Lead Climbing Championship at Kathmandu Sport Climbing Center. We co-sponsored the event with our friends at Wongchhu Peak Promotion. We did this for a very simple reason: to allow indoor climbers in Nepal to compete and challenge each other to grow the sport and community. This great group is wonderful at inspiring one another and we believe in supporting their dream of being able to one day represent Nepal internationally.
Helping Others, Fundraising to Create Opportunity for Nepal's Up-and-Coming Climbers
This is one of my favorite posts to put up. The reason? It’s simple. Good people doing good things to help good people. I couldn't have been more happy that Jocelyne Sze and Omar Saif agreed to tell us about their fundraiser to bring five climbers over from Nepal for a 10-day climbing training trip to Singapore.
We will let everyone tell their story, but just to take a second, all of us at Musa Masala would like to thank Jocelyne and Omar for making such a huge effort that brought so much joy and inspiration to not just the climbers, but everyone involved. We would like to thank everyone who donated, all the climbing gyms in Singapore and the families and friends who made this happen. To the climbers, Bikash, Swastika, Prena, Ronak, Sajan and Tenzin, we thank you for participating in this post and we hope your time in Singapore will always stay with you and inspire you with your climbing while giving back and helping others on the way. Jam Jam!!
Lead Climbing: The 2023 Musa Masala Indoor Competition
On November 6th, Musa Masala sponsored our second year of climbing indoor competitions in Kathmandu, Nepal at Crimpanzee Adventure Hub. Building off last year’s beginner top rope style event, we offered an intermediate level lead climbing event. Our goal is to encourage the growth of indoor climbing in Nepal while working with the existing climbing gyms to provide challenging competitions that will grow the sport, allowing for better climbers to be able to climb internationally to represent Nepal.
A Puja for our Friends we Lost
In late April of 2022 the Musa Masala team came together to celebrate the incredible lives of our friends who were involved in the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital project who so sadly and too early left this world. They all devoted their lives to helping others and strove to make the world that much better for us all — and they never got to see the finished hospital open.
We planned a puja ceremony to honor their memory and our love for them. It has taken a while but here is the video of the ceremony, filmed with permission of the monks at the Khamding Monastery in Nepal.
The Musa Masala Intermediate Lead Climbing Competition 2023!
The Musa Masala team, along with our co-sponsor, Wongchhu Peak Promotion, is back with our second climbing event! Our goal is to make competing at an international level a real choice for young Nepali climbers. We consider providing fun and challenging competitions a key part of the recipe for success.
Nirvana Gears will again supply each climber with an awesome shirt-and-shorts climbing outfit.
Come join us at the amazing Crimpanzee Climbing Hub in Kathmandu, Nepal, on November 6th for a day of fun, food, climbing and friendship. We want to see you there. Jam Jam!!
Teaching Nepali Children About Menstruation, Dental Care and Hygiene
Since the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital opened in April, 2022, it has enhanced the ability of the people in the area to have healthier families. Anyone can walk up the hill to the hospital and receive excellent primary healthcare from a dedicated staff. Knowing that some patients are too old or sick to make the walk to the hospital has led to some unique outreach programs.
We are so honored to have Dr. Gyaltsen Gurung, the physician leading the hospital, here to tell us about two of the outreach programs he has initiated: a class on menstruation and a class on dental hygiene and hand washing. These topics are not covered in the general education at the local schools. Giving young girls the tools and knowledge to understand what is happening with their bodies is paramount to changing the way menstruation is approached in Nepal. Boys are included in the lectures to help educate everyone. Dental hygiene is more important than ever, too, with the influx of sugar drinks that are now available locally.
Painting Party at the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital
In May of 2022 the Musa team gathered together for the first time since the pandemic outbreak at the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital. Here is a video that does a great job of showing the challenges the team faced and the amazing friendships that were formed when this group was brought together.
We send our greatest thanks to the staff of the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital who welcomed us and adapted to our presence while treating a steady stream of patients every day.
The Musa Masala Healthcare Profession Scholarship Program
Here it is. We are behind in providing all of this information about our program, but now you have it! In concert with the Himalayan Yokpu Foundation, Musa Masala provides funds for two students each year at this time, for a complete degree program in healthcare.
The Musa Masala Dental Camp, 2023
We are privileged to have Dr. Anumesh Dahal give us his firsthand account of the second Musa Masala Dental Camp, held at the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital Tapting at the end of April, 2023. We are so grateful for the team he put together to bring the only oral health organization to the area. We are thankful to Dr. Gyaltsen Gurungand the staff at the WSMH for working with us to make this possible.
We also thank our friends, Jason Tartalone at Sergeant Rescue and Pem Dorjee Sherpa of Imperial Expeditions, who helped put up the funding for this camp. Without the donations, we simply could not do this. Jason donated the funds raised during their Spring 2022 Everest Base Camp Trek to help us. Sergeant Rescue is based in Pennsylvania and provides classes in SAR, EMS and wilderness medicine. Pem Dorjee Sherpa is a friend of Musa Masala and a board member of the Himalayan Yokpu Foundation.
Animal Experience International in Nepal with Nora Livingstone
Hey, animal lovers, we are back with our friend Nora Livingstone of Animal Experience International! Nora wrote for us a while back. Check that post out here. This time, we asked her to talk about her last trip to Nepal. Find our earlier post on Sneha’s Care here.
Nora has been a great friend of Musa Masala and we are so happy she has shared with us again. We love the dogs, and all animals, of Nepal so this is a meaningful one for us, with a special person who has created an amazing organization, Animal Experience International. Please check out their website. You may very well find that a life changing trip awaits you. Jam Jam!!
Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital Visit: An Interview with Dr. Marlena Strandir
I have to say this is one of my favorite posts ever. It covers so much of what Musa Masala has been working towards and cares about - a complete and open hospital to provide care in an area where people had few options available, and the people who do it. The ones providing the care and who really make the hospital happen.
How did this magical post come about, you may ask? Well, through the awesome efforts of Dr. Eric Johnson and the hard work of the Himalayan Yokpu Foundation. Dr. Marlena Strandir and her husband, Jason, visited the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital Tapting this past October. They arrived for the opening ceremonies of the hospital with the team from the Wilderness Medical Society. They stayed on for two weeks to work with Dr. Gurung and the staff. You could not find two better people to fit right into the pace of the hospital.
Supporting Nepali Climber, Panchamaya Tamang
Musa Masala is starting the new year off right! With the success of our first climbing competition, we are proud to announce that we are entering into a sponsorship agreement with one of the judges, Panchamaya Tamang. She is well-known in Nepal and one of the up and coming indoor climbers in the country. We're also pleased to present the completed video featuring our first climbing competition, which took place in October, 2022.
We have agreed to help Panchamaya participate in and make her way to as many competitions as possible. We have the shared goals of bringing indoor climbing to the forefront in Nepal, to increase exposure for the sport and advance a new generation of competitive climbers that can represent Nepal to the world.
Hospital Opening in Nepal! Celebrating Wongchhu Sherpa's Dream
On October 12th, 2022, the dream of the late Wongchhu Sherpa, to provide a hospital for his home village, came true. Musa Masala is excited to share the details of the day with you.
The difficulties the local population had in seeking proper care before the hospital was built became a present day reality when poor weather made getting to the opening ceremony difficult to impossible!
Lots of too-late monsoon rain kept Dr. Luanne Freer, one of the driving forces behind the project, stranded in Lukla, along with the entire Wilderness Medical Society trek team. Pem Dorjee Sherpa of Imperial Expeditions and the Himalayan Yokpu Foundation was also stuck…
Announcing: Our New Store!
Jam Jam, Musas!! We have so much going on with our projects with nursing scholarships, our climbing competition, the official opening of the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital, and our upcoming dental camp and live Facebook/YouTube show, but we want to take a second and introduce you to our brand new Musa Masala online store!!
We are very grateful to Shannon Edwards who put the store together.
Beginners' Climbing Competition in Nepal!
Come on everybody, time to go climbing! The Musa Masala team, along with Wongchhu Peak Promotion and Nirvana Gears, as well as Crimpanzee Adventure Hub, are holding a beginners' climbing competition on October 16th!!
Crimpanzee is an amazing facility and we are so happy to be working with them on this event. This is an awesome opportunity for climbers who have never entered a competition, or who have only entered a couple competitions, to get out there and see what it is like. Brand new climbers can see what it is all about. It's about fun!!