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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Musa Masala at the Sierra Nevada Wilderness Medicine and Conservation Conference
Here is a look at the latest new conference on Wilderness Medicine in California. The town of Quincy, CA and Las Plumas Hospital did an amazing job welcoming everyone to this event.
Rock Climbing Safety: 5 Proven Ways to Prevent Accidents
Welcome back to Musa Masala's Good Trekker, Safe Climber series! As we are concerned with all aspects of mountain safety, we are introducing our first post on safe climbing. Here to help show you the ropes is Michael Wu. Mike is an emergency room physician in San Diego, California, an avid climber and a fan of the sport. He enjoys all aspects of climbing, from bouldering to trad wall climbing. Mike volunteered at the Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA) clinic in Manang, Nepal, in 2014. He worked there with Tatiana, aka Dr. Yak. They recently took a climbing trip to Joshua Tree National Park in California.
An Artist and Physician's Volunteer Work in Nepal
After Musa Sarah Frances McClure put word out about our fundraiser art show for the Wongchu Sherpa Memorial Hospital, we were fortunate to get a response from Sapana Adhikari, offering to donate a piece. Her painting of a Nepali woman was so moving, it sold immediately. We've since gotten to know Sapana a bit more and wanted to share her story with all of you. She's doing amazing work in Nepal, in addition to her work as an emergency room doctor.
The First Musa Masala Art Sale and Silent Auction: WMS Winter Conference, Lake Tahoe
Wow what a time we had. The Musa Masala team descended on Lake Tahoe for the Wilderness Medical Society’s Winter Conference. Not only was it another great opportunity to learn from some amazing instructors and speakers on the finer and rougher points of wilderness medicine, but it was the first big fundraising project by Musa Masala: an art sale and silent auction in conjunction with our merchandise table!
A Teen Climber's Take on Mountaineering and Empowering Girls
We are happy to share an extraordinary story with you about an extraordinary young person. Jaahnavi Sriperambuduru is tackling a lot for someone who is only sixteen years old. Starting from a very young age, her father has been taking her to the mountains and now she is looking to continue her #Mission7Summit this spring with an ascent of Mt. Everest. Jaahnavi already has on her resume ascents of Mt. Denali, Mt. Kosciusko, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt. Elbrus, Island Peak, Stok Kangri and Ayala Peak.
Traveling Solo: Lessons Learned From Loose Rocks in the Himalayas
We at Musa Masala are proud to enter for the second year the Beauty of a Woman BlogFest. Last year we had Lakpa Sherpa and her story of the creation of the Chyangba Girls Hostel, which allowed girls who lived far from the Chyangba School to have a safe place to stay so they could get an education. This year we have a friend of Musa, Tamar, with her story of taking her own fears and roadblocks and walking all over them as she treks to Everest Base Camp.
Art Show Benefitting the Wongchu Sherpa Memorial Hospital
All of us at Musa Masala are thrilled to invite you to an art show and silent auction during the WMS conference in Tahoe this week! The event will take place on Saturday, February 24th from 6-8pm, where attendees will have a chance to peruse the pieces and place bids.
All proceeds from the sale will benefit the construction of the Wongchu Sherpa Memorial Hospital in Nepal. The show will feature 20 artists and over 25 artworks, including paintings, limited edition prints, wilderness photography and autographed books. Scroll down to learn more and see a few of the available items, which were graciously donated by the artists.
Gyalpo Losar: How Sherpa People Celebrate the Tibetan New Year
Everyone at Musa Masala wishes you all a Happy Losar, the Tibetan New Year. This year, the year of the dog, starts on February 16th. Ang Diku Sherpa has written a great quick overview of Gyalpo Losar, the Sherpa celebration of the New Year. We are also celebrating the upcoming art show and sale at the Wilderness Medical Society’s Winter Conference in Lake Tahoe. On February 24th, Musa Masala will be showcasing amazing artists, writers and photographers who have all donated their work to fundraise for the Wongchu Sherpa Memorial Hospital.
Trekking in the Rolwaling Valley, Nepal
Last spring I explored another beautiful part of Nepal, Rolwaling Valley. My one-week trek was stunning, culturally rich and surprisingly tranquil. Here is the lowdown.
Rolwaling is a valley that lies just west of the Khumbu (Everest) region. I took a 14-hour bus ride into the bustling Singati (950m), where I met my guide, Gomba. (We were delayed due to road construction and a bus breakdown; otherwise it should probably take around 10 hours.)
Children Trekking: A Record-Setting Trek to Everest Base Camp
On October 18th, 2017, the JGI group of schools, with JanJay Adventures, reached Everest Base Camp with the largest contingent of students from India to date. The ages of the students ranged from seven to 16 years old. It was an enormous undertaking for the students, the parents, the teachers and the guides from Peak Promotion Nepal who made it happen. Ang Diku Sherpa was one of the guides and her story of working with the group is inspiring. She made sure each student had their Musa Masala altitude tips card to help them learn about safe mountain travel and the danger of altitude illness in the Himalayas
Musa in Ireland
In September I had the privilege of speaking about Musa Masala, the Wongchu Sherpa Memorial Hospital and the Suri Primary School Project at the Nepal Conference Ireland. I was delighted to tell the Ambassador and other esteemed guests about the projects I am involved in. A massive thank you to Shakya Deepesh and everyone on the Nepal Ireland committee for giving me this platform to speak at and attend some fantastic events this year.
Trekking in Nepal: A Gentleman's Guide on What to Bring
The Good Trekker welcomes one of the great trekkers, Brendan Barrett, to Musa Masala. Brendan was on the WMS fundraising trek via Pikey Peak to the site of the Wongchu Sherpa Memorial Hospital in November, 2016. For an example of Brendan's fearless trekking style, he introduced himself as a medical malpractice lawyer to his fellow Trekkers, most of whom were doctors! He made few friends but quite an impression. We have been waiting eagerly for this post and we hope you like it. It's full of important information, priceless hygenine tips and his own unique view of the world. Sit back and have a good read before packing those bags.
Benefits of Volunteering in Nepal: A Personal Experience — Part 2
We are so happy to welcome Mike Demas back to Musa Masala with part two of his amazing adventure with All Hands Volunteers. Mike's story of building the new school by hand alongside fellow volunteers and the village craftsmen is so inspiring. He shows just what you can accomplish when you step outside of your comfort zone and walk into a new world.
We are firm believers in the power of small, significant projects that a local community wants and will benefit from. Sometimes a little help can help help a community for generations.
Bees, Bamboo and Marigolds: Global Race 4 Good
Linda Cruse, the author of Marmalade and Machine Guns: One Woman's Quest to Help Disaster-Stricken Communities Back On their Feet, has created an amazing platform for change in the world. Global Race 4 Good is a brilliant mesh of young energy and good business sense. Linda has goes into communities in need, lives with them and then asks and studies to find the key to make each individual community thrive. It's no wonder Sir Richard Branson said, “Linda makes the impossible possible."
Musa Masala Goes to Breckenridge: The 2017 WMS Conference
Dr. Jennifer Konokpa sent us this post about the Summer WMS conference, where Musa Masala had a fundraising table for the Wongchu Sherpa Memorial Hospital. We had a very successful time helping the fund, and we had fun. One of the highlights for us was hearing Luis Benitez, an inspiring Everest summitter, speak. We made sure he got a Musa shirt for his fine effort!
Rebuilding Suri Primary School after Nepal's 2015 Earthquake
Binod Shakya shares his experience in working on reconstruction of Suri Primary School. Binod is a freelance tour guide who became a translator and volunteer in different parts of rural Nepal after the devastating earthquake hit the country in the spring of 2015.
Gosaikunda Lake Trek: A Short and Sweet Getaway
One of our hopes at Musa Masala is to help introduce people to the fun of trekking in Nepal. not only is this a beautiful country with many different environments to travel through, but culturally, Nepal is a wonder for exposing trekkers to the many different religions, tribes and cultural groups throughout the country. Lakpa Sherpa, along with Musa writer Ang Diku Sherpa and our friends Nwang Phuri Sherpa and Binu Rumdali Rai, took a quick break from their busy lives in Kathmandu to enjoy the trek around Gosaikunda Lake in Langtang National Park. Here is Lakpa's post on their short and sweet trek.
The Nepal Relief Fund: Part I
One of our hopes at Musa Masala is to help introduce people to the fun of trekking in Nepal. not only is this a beautiful country with many different environments to travel through, but culturally, Nepal is a wonder for exposing trekkers to the many different religions, tribes and cultural groups throughout the country. Lakpa Sherpa, along with Musa writer Ang Diku Sherpa and our friends Nwang Phuri Sherpa and Binu Rumdali Rai, took a quick break from their busy lives in Kathmandu to enjoy the trek around Gosaikunda Lake in Langtang National Park. Here is Lakpa's post on their short and sweet trek.
The Musa Masala Store is Now Open!
We are super excited about our store opening. We hope you find some things you like and will help support our fundraising for the hospital and our continuing efforts for equality and education in Nepal. If you purchase a shirt, post a photo of you sporting it on Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter and tag Musa Masala so we can like and share it. Jam Jam!
