Blog
Here you’ll find our blog posts, listed by main category. To receive posts by email as they appear, sign up for updates on the homepage!
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.
Tribute to Lhola, an Unforgettable Companion
LhoLa, the dog that started it all, our model for independence and excitement, has left us. First we send our biggest hugs and thoughts for such a huge loss to Dr. Luanne Freer, who was with LhoLa for over 15 years. We also send our best to Wes Johnson, Luanne’s partner, who has been by her side. We want to mention all of the friends and family who had the good fortune to spend time with LhoLa.
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.
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.
What's New with Musa! Spring 2024
We are starting a new feature on our website. We will post our quarterly newsletter here for everyone to see. We have been sending these out to our mailing list, but with all the rapid progress we want everyone to see how Musa Masala is moving, grooving and making it happen with awesome projects! We will also have all the old newsletters easily accessible so you can relive the good times.
Check out our spring newsletter below and please take the time to make a donation. We only move forward with the support of people like you. Jam Jam!!
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!!
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!!
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.
The Musa Masala Nursing Scholarship Program
This scholarship program is a project we've hoped to start since the beginning of Musa Masala.
The idea to help provide for the medical education for young people living in the area around the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital has been brewing and stewing all through its construction. Now, as the hospital is open and offering quality healthcare, we are proud to say that we have three students in medical programs in Kathmandu who all are from the local area.
Cleaning Up Mt. Everest, an article for Wilderness Medicine Magazine
Thank you to the Wilderness Medical Society and the team at Wilderness Medicine Magazine. We have an article in the Headwaters section in the latest issue, featuring our program with Thom Pollard, Mt Everest: Who Takes The Trash Out?Find the article here:
Musa Masala: Who We Are, What We Do
We thought for this post we would put the brakes on, pull over and have a little chat: What is Musa Masala all about and what do we do?
So here you go. Always remember you can contact us here if you have any questions. We hope you get some good answers and that you will help support our projects.
The Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital Tapting - Update!
We are so proud to present the latest from the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital. This film was shot and edited by the incredible Yaman Shakya and Bibek Bartaula. (They are also awesome singers.) It gives a great overview of the story behind the hospitals founding and comes right up to our visit to paint the pediatric room.
We hope it gives you all some perspective on what has been accomplished by the Himalayan Yokpu Foundation to open the hospital from just an idea on a hill in 2016.
A Puja for our Friends
For the first time in three years, the Musa Masala team was back together. Arriving at the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital Tapting at the end of April, we had come to paint the pediatric room in honor of our friend, Dr. Jennifer Konopka. Jen had been a powerful force in Musa Masala and a big supporter of the hospital project.
Musa Masala 2021: Our Year in Review
Everyone of us at Musa Masala would like to thank those of you who have helped support our projects in 2021. The challenges of continuing while being healthcare workers during this COVID-19 pandemic has been great. Certainly there are many things we have not been able to do, but what we did accomplish has felt significant.
Musa Stokes New Hampshire
Have you ever been to New Hampshire? What a beautiful state. The White Mountain Range is absolutely amazing—rugged, colorful and so easy to get to! But best of all, New Hampshire has Thom Pollard.
After our first two shows on our Facebook/YouTube, we decided we need to sit down with Thom to start planning our next round of shows. His proximity to Mt. Washington sealed it and we headed north for some some hiking and serious planning sessions.
From the start, Thom and Kristen, Thom's girlfriend and a super athlete, were simply amazing.
Join us Thursday night! With Special Guest, Thom Pollard
Join us for a special event on May 20th at 8pm EST for a live event on our Facebook and YouTube pages. Listen in and join with comments and questions as Thom Pollard discusses the mystery of what happened to George Mallory and Andrew Irvine on Mt Everest in 1924.
Thom was a member of the 1999 expedition that found the body of George Mallory. He was also a member of the 2019 expedition that searched for Andrew Irvine, which inspired the National Geographic film, "Lost on Everest." Recently teammate Mark Synnott wrote a book about the experience, The Third Pole.
Introducing: Thom Pollard, All about Everest
Musa Masala is going live! On May 20th, EST, we are opening our new Facebook Live Series with mountaineer, cinematographer and spiritual adventurer Thom Pollard. The topic will be The Great Everest Mystery, Mallory and Irvine.
Thom Pollard is uniquely qualified to talk about the great Everest mystery. The high altitude cameraman for the 1999 expedition that found the body of the legendary George Mallory (Conrad Anker actually found him), he was also on the 2019 expedition for Nat Geo that searched for Andrew Irvine and was made into the film Lost On Everest, and the book by Mark Synnott, The Third Pole. Thom also summited himself in 2016 with his friend, Lhakpa Sherpa.