Blog
Here you’ll find our blog posts, listed by main category. To receive posts by email as they appear, sign up for updates here!
- Animals and Nature
- Art and books
- Athletes
- COVID-19
- Climbing and Trekking
- Climbing clinic
- Climbing competitions and Events
- Comedy
- Dental camps
- Earthquakes
- Expert Interviews
- HRA
- Health and Medical
- Hospital
- Mount Everest
- Musa Masala
- Musa Newsletter
- Nepal
- News stories
- Nonprofits
- Our friends
- Outdoor Medicine
- Scholarships
- Search and Rescue
- Sherpa culture
- Sherpas
- Specialized Cards
- The Good Trekker
- Tributes
- Wongchu Sherpa
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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.
Hospital News and Happy New Year!
Happy New Year from Musa Masala! The very first thing we would like to do is wish everyone a 2021 that allows us to share and grow in health and happiness while helping others. We feel we are getting off to a good start, finishing 2020 with a great fundraiser. In concert with Dr. Paul Auerbach, we passed our matching mark and raised $5,000 for the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital in a little under a week. Thanks to all who donated and our Musa team who worked to get the word out last minute.
Season's Greetings to All from Musa Masala
As 2020 thankfully draws to a close, we want to take a few moments to thank everyone who has supported us through this fearful year. Our members and friends have experienced some truly horrible things. We hope you all are coping as best as you can, and that next year will see a new, brighter and healthier time for all of us. We have a few things going on in this post.
A Season for Hope: The Musa Masala Holiday Gift Package
This year we wanted to put something special together for the end of the year. We wish you all health, happiness and a brighter future. We celebrate all who have sacrificed so much this year to help others, to save lives and to comfort the sick. All of us at Musa Masala send our prayers and deepest sympathies to anyone who has lost friends or family this year.
Musa Masala: Who We Are
Thanks to everyone who participated in our very first virtual comedy Jam Jam!!
We’re grateful to our comedians and emcee, Louis Beck. A big thank you to Kellie Lin Knott, who engineered and ran the show, too. She did an amazing job shuffling everyone around.
We plan on using this format for more comedy events and we’ll also feature guest speakers and educational programs for climbers and trekkers and all sorts of outdoor enthusiasts.
Climb Mt. Baker with Musa Masala!
For the first time, we are excited to invite you to come with us! We’ll travel to the the beautiful Northern Cascade mountains for a three-day climb of the magnificent Mt. Baker. At 10,871 ft., this volcano is a perfect introduction to glacier climbing. And who better to go with than Willie Benegas of Benegas Brothers Expeditions?
Read on for more info. The climb will take place June 9-11, 2020. We have limited spots available.
Musa Comedy Jam Jam Returns!
We did it again, another comedy show! We were so lucky that the Voodoo Comedy Showcase in downtown Denver let us move in for a couple of hours to laugh and raise some money. Here is a little overview of last month’s show in Denver and last year’s in Utah! Keep your eyes open for more Musa comedy near you!
We dedicated this show to our inspiration and friend Dr. Jen. We miss her terribly, and we know she would have loved to have been there. Her infectious laughter and spirit will always be with us.
Musa Masala at Everest Base Camp: The Everest ER Interview
Once again the Musa team visited Everest ER, the medical tent run by the Himalayan Rescue Association to treat climbers, porters, guides and staff at Mt. Everest Base Camp.
The following video features an interview that Lakpa Sherpa and Dr. Jennifer Konopka did with Dr. Suvash Dawadi and Dr. Subarna Adhikari while they worked at the clinic during the 2018 climbing season. A great footnote is that this was the first year two Nepali doctors worked together at Base Camp. They were joined by Dr. Brenton Systermans from Australia.
Our friend Dr. Jen: Optimism and True Moral Courage
This is a very sad time at Musa Masala. We have lost one of our members, our friend and an inspiration to us all. Dr. Jennifer Kurmaski Konopka was a powerhouse, a true energy source. Dr. Jen leaves behind a loving husband, brothers and sisters and her patients, who loved her. Jen was a pediatrician who had a thriving practice.
You don’t start an organization designed to help people and imagine these things happening. The greatest gift of Musa Masala has been meeting incredible individuals doing meaningful and wonderful things around the world. It is a people-affirming privilege to enjoy the company of caring, enthusiastic doctors, nurses, paramedics, EMT’s and mountain and trekking guides. I think Jen would say the same thing. She set such an example for me in every interaction we had, I will continue to think of her and let her actions lead me to be a better person.
Our Book is Here! Musa Masala: Mountain Girl of the Himalaya
It's here! Now available worldwide, Musa Masala: Mountain Girl of the Himalaya, is available online and at our website. We want to thank the whole group from the Wilderness Medical Society 2016 Mt Everest Base Camp Trek, Wongchhu Peak Promotion and the 2016 crew at Everest ER. This is where it all started and now we are so proud of this beautiful book, illustrated by Julie Ramirez.
We 'd also like to thank Christina at BookBaby, who guided us through this crazy process.
Our Promo on the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital Premieres
It was Nepal Night at the Wilderness Medical Society’s winter conference in Park City, Utah. The team that put it together, Jenevieve Suzanne Kincaid, Paul Queior and Tony Islas, did an amazing job.
Tony was up on stage introducing the speakers and told stories about how he became involved with Wilderness Medicine, his friendship with Wongchhu Sherpa and his commitment to the hospital. Fellow speakers, Luanne Freer, Eric Johnson and Paul Auerbach passionately spoke of how Wongchhu influenced their lives and the importance of doing good works.
Himalaya Book Preview: Musa Masala Treks to Tengboche
Here we are with a quick wrap-up of the first book events for Musa Masala: Mountain Girl of the Himalaya. We printed some preview copies in Kathmandu and they all sold! We had to print additional copies to cover the orders we received at the preview launch. Read on to see highlights of each of the presentations and some of the fun places the book has already wound up!