A museum that pays homage to those who lost their lives on the tallest summit in the world, including Omani mountaineers, is offering a mountaneer all that he wants to know while putting on record and chronicle those brave climbers who planted their national flag atop the snowcapped heights in Nepal.
The International Mountain Museum (IMM) located in Pokhara, some 200 kilometres away from the capital Katmandu is a rare treat to those who love heights as it has preserved the saga of the momentous feats in the history of mountaineering in the Himalayan peaks in particular by the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) in 2004.
Since then, the museum has been welcoming tourists from across the world who spare a thought for those daredevils who made it to the top of the world and those who lost in between.
Hundreds of visitors, mostly students and climbers from across the world, are making it to the museum that built upon the purpose of maintaining systematic records of the successful eight thousanders, geographic flora and fauna and human activities in the range.
The history of human urge to conquer the 8,848 metres high Himalaya begins with mountaineers M Herzog and Louis Lachenal who scaled up Annapurna on 3 June, 1950 and since then thousands of different nationalities have scaled the heights and all their details are on display at the gallery of this vast museum.
“Mountains and mountaineering have a history of their own. Without preserving it, it will not be long before all the records and evidences will be lost forever. The basic objective for its establishment was made to record, document and chronicle the past and present development of mountaineering activities in the world in general and to highlight the achievements while encouraging those stopped it before reaching the peak,” commented an official from the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).
Mountain People Gallery:
This is the first gallery that welcomes the visitors to this mammoth edifice and showcases indigenous habitants of the mountain regions of Nepal and the world including the Khumbu inhabitants. Their life style and culture are exposed impressively below this first basement hall, influencing the subconscious of the visitors that they are at the height to understand and know the information displayed just below them.
Hall of World Mountains:
The second hall is the Hall of World Mountains where visitors are introduced to the national and international mountains, historical background, highest peaks,
Information of all 14 peaks spread over 8 thousand metres of height and their photographs are available in this section. Geological section in this hall displays collection of important rock samples that formed geological formation of the Mountain range.
Mountaineering
Gears Section:
This ection has in display all the equipment, gears necessary for climbing mountains and rocks, their varieties and uses make the visitors familiar on how hard the scaling these mountains can be. A view of the gadgets used in the past and present is certainly a passage down the memory line.
Legendary Tales of Yeti:
The final section is dedicated to the famous legendry tales of Yeti, the stories surrounding this character, its myths, and publications of the illusive giant brown bear in one corner of the first floor.
Although nobody has seen the creature, many have claimed of witnessing Yeti. Some have claimed to have photographed its foot prints on icy blanket, and some have seen it with their eyes closed. This section is dedicated to the Yeti whom nobody has seen but many like to believe in.
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