Celebrating Himalaya Day

Nepal Himalayas. Photo by Sibylle

Last Friday I celebrated Himalaya Day (29^th May) with about 70 people from the Melbourne arm of the Australian Himalayan Foundation. There was good Indian food and a video of the Foundation’s current work in Ladakh where Garry Weare has a team teaching simple principles of western medicine to the local amchis.

For many centuries, amchi (traditional male and female doctors following the Tibetan medical tradition) have been the only access to medical treatment throughout Ladakh. Today they are still the main medical health providers especially in remote areas.

Alfred Gregory with ice ax he used on the 1953 Everest acsent. Photo The Age by Joseph Feil.

The AHF also do fund raising for the Snow Leopard Conservancy’s Ladakh programs. Special guest for the evening was Alfred Gregory, known as Greg and now 96 years young, who became world famous after he was chief photographer on the successful 1953 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Everest expedition. Last year Greg published a beautiful book of his photographs from the expedition and all over the world. Although Greg was originally British he now lives in Emerald, just outside of Melbourne. Greg  recently became an Australian citizen, prompting us all to be very pleased that we had an Australian on this first successful Everest expedition 🙂

Alfred Gregory “Photographs From Everest to Africa.”