Introduction
Nepal Mountaineering Association

Nepal Mountaineering Association was established on 1 November 1973 (2030 Kartik 16) Thursday. It is a non-governmental, non-profit and non-political organization working as a national alpine association of Nepal to promote mountain tourism, climbing sports, protect mountain environments and preserve and promote cultural heritage of mountain people. It is the only national alpine club authorized to issue climbing permits for 27 mountain peaks of Nepal.

About NMA
NMA has the following
7 broader Objectives
  • Explore Mountain peaks and promote for mountain climbing tourism

  • Issue the climbing permits as agreed with the Government of Nepal

  • Protect and promote mountain people, culture and heritage

  • Develop and promote skilled human capital for supporting mountain climbing

  • Develop Sports climbing tourism in Nepal

  • Emergency Rescue, Rehab and Humanitarian support for needy individual/community

  • Preserve natural environment in the mountain region for sustainable future.

    What we do

    Production of skilled Human Capita

    Climbing is naturally risky activity, which needs well trained,skilled support staffs. Climbers themselves need different levels of training. More trained climbers and support staffs mean better safety and encouragement in climbing sports. For this reason NMA organization has been conducting different level of climbing courses. Sports climbing Training school Kakani and Mountain Climbing Training School in Manang are two schools developed for this purpose. Training activities will be more institutionalized in the future.

    Climbing sports training

    NMA organizes the following types of Climbing Training:

    1. Basic Mountain Guide Course,

    2. Course-I,

    3. Course-II,

    4. Course-III,

    5. Mountain Leader Course,

    6. Mountain Climbing Instructor's Course

    Cleaning & Garbage management

    With the increasing numbers of visitors/climbers in Nepalse mountains,the environment is polluted day-by-day. Trails and base camp sites need much more attention for cleaning and garbage management. NMA has been consistently engaged for such cleaning and environmental activities.

    Developing peak profile

    There are still hundreds of mountain peaks above 5,000 m. high in Nepal which are not explored and not named yet. This is very challenging job, yet very important for Nepalese mountain tourism industry. More products identified, more sales followed by more income. Definetly we need to utilize more and more products. For that purpose, NMA is in the process of developing peak profiles in coordination with the government of Nepal, Ministry of Tourism Culture and Civil Aviation.

    Building porter shelters

    Fulfilling basic rights of the employees is necessary for true developmetn of sustainable tourism. The porters and support staffs during climbing activities need shelter for rest and spend safe night. For this reason NMA has been engaging in building porter shleters in high passes.

    Rope fixing & safety enhancement

    Some sections of the trails during climbing are very steep, Rocky and very risky to cross. In such sections NMA manages rope fixing and safety enhancement activities to minimize risks and support the climbers.

    New trail building

    Where necessary, NMA builds new trails that provide an easy access to the proposed mountain peaks.

    Policy building

    Based on practical experiences, NMA provides suggestions to the government to form tourism friendly policies. Disaster preparedness, environment protection, safety enhancement, climate change adaption, ethical tourism, and, in over all, developing sustainable tourism policy are the concerns of NMA.

    Humanitarian support

    NMA is a responsible organization. NMA supports orphans of the victims of mountain disaster, particularly the children of these guides, porters and Nepalse climbers who die during climbing activities. Also NMA supports the people /communiites which are victims of any natural disaster. Currently NMA has been providing scholorship to 50 students from primary to university level. Almost all of these students are children of the victims of mountain disasters at different times like Annapurna Hud-Hud in 2014 and Everest Avalanches in 2015. NMA also supported in rescue and rehab, emergency support to the victims of the mega earthquake 2015.

    Infrastructure Development Support

    Construction of Climbers memorial park in Kakani, Construction and Development of Climbing Sports Training School in Kakani and Manang, Construction and development International Mountain Museum in Pokhara, Construction of Porter shelters and toilets in high passes along the climbing routes, construction of new access trails to the newly explored peaks, Construction of central Secretariat building are some infrastructure development works by NMA. Being a responsible organization of the country, NMA has been planning many more mega projects to support mountain tourism in Nepal.

    Promotional Events

    NMA organizes different events for promoting mountain tourism in Nepal. Including regular domestic events like World Tourism Day, International Everest Day, World Environment Day, Manaslu Day, Annapurna Day, NMA Day; NMA actively participates in International forums like UAAA, UIAA, iFSC and so on. Promoting Nepalese mountain tourism in international market is prime responsibility of NMA.

    Exploring new peaks and destinations

    One of the responsibilities of NMA is to explore new climbing peaks and promote for climbing. We need more products sales. More peaks available for climbing means more choices for climbers.

    President's Message

    Nima Nuru Sherpa

    President | June 2022

    Namaste and Warm Greetings from Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA).

    Thank you all the members of NMA for electing me as the President of this prestigious organization for another 3 years. This is yet higher responsibility for development and promotion of mountain tourism in Nepal. Also, this is a real challenge to save our mountain environment and community in this time of industrialization and global warming. We have many different issues to respond to the mountain lovers around the world. This will be possible only if all the stakeholders work together constructively.

    We all know that Nepal has the potential to become the global center for climbing sports. However, currently we are lacking quantity and quality of human resources to claim that position. NMA is planning for different trainings and education to develop such human capital to boost up climbing sports. Our dedicated international partners like UIAA & UAAA are with us to share knowledge, skills and resources in this regard. I am very optimistic that all the development agencies have understood the importance of tourism and they are ready to join hands to implement creative ideas for sustainable development of tourism in Nepal; which NMA is planning for. Professional ethics and regulation is another important chapter in Nepalese tourism, which NMA is working hard to ensure tourists' satisfaction and establish the value for their money.

    Thank you all the advisors, members, well wishers of NMA for your continuous support. Thank you Park Young Seok Foundation for generous support in Climbing Competition activities and Scholarship support to the children of victims of disaster during mountain climbing activities. I thank the authorities from the Ministry the department of tourism, Ministry of Tourism, government of Nepal, Nepal tourism Board and all the associate members/agencies for kind cooperation; which will be enhanced in the days ahead. 24th June, 2022.