Nepali expeditions are now eligible to apply for Mount Everest Foundation grants

KATHMANDU, June 6: To mark the centenary of the 1924 Everest Expedition, the British Embassy in Kathmandu invited Nepali and international friends to highlight the early contribution to links between Nepal and the UK in the spheres of tourism and mountaineering.

A photo exhibition about the 1924 Everest Expedition was mounted at the Embassy on Tuesday. Titled The Fight for Everest 1924, it was first displayed at the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF) last week, linked to screening of the documentary Everest Revisited (www.mef.org.uk/news/mef-to-premiere-new-film-on-1924-everest-expedition). The collection will now move to Pokhara for permanent display at the International Mountain Museum (IMM), according to the British Embassy.

Speaking at the Embassy event on Tuesday, Ambassador Rob Fenn commented that, although the 1924 expedition had not come to Kathmandu, Nepalis played an important role in it and “have continued to be pivotal in Everest attempts since.” He added that “Britons are besotted with raw courage”. “It’s what has been drawing us to Nepal and to Nepalis for more than two hundred years”.

Ambassador Fenn shared news announced in the UK in December that Nepalis are now eligible to apply for expedition funding from the UK-based Mount Everest Foundation (www.mef.org.uk/news/mef-opens-grants-to-nepali-applicants). Since its inception in 1955, the MEF has provided funds to over 2,000 expeditions in remote locations and to scientists researching high-altitude medicine, glaciology and climate change.

John Porter, director and producer of “Everest Revisited” and MEF’s Honorary Secretary, said “It is an honor to represent the Chair of the Mount Everest Foundation, Rebecca Stephens, the first British woman to climb Everest, at this reciprocation of the event hosted by His Excellency Gyan Chandra Acharya at the Embassy of Nepal in London on the International Day of the Mountains last December”.

Porter was also representing the Alpine Club, as associate curator of the exhibition. “Alpine Club member, Ian Wall, created this superb exhibition with the financial support of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. I am looking forward to seeing it reach its permanent home in Pokhara on 8 June. One hundred years on from the 1924 Exhibition, The Royal Geographical Society and Alpine Club are delighted they have been able to work together on this exhibition as they did on the expeditions in the 1920s”.

The change in funding criteria helps mark the next chapter of the Britain-Nepal mountaineering story. Ambassador Fenn and guests from the Nepali and international tourism, trekking and climbing sectors congratulated MEF for making this change.    

 
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