Dr. Kumar Mainali,
Mountain Legacy president

Mountain Legacy was founded in 2003 as a Nepali non-governmental organization dedicated to the stewardship of mountain landscapes, ecosystems, and communities. Since then we have incorporated Mountain Legacy International, Inc., as a New York State non-profit corporation. MLI is intended to serve as an umbrella group for the original Mountain Legacy and collaborating organizations based in other countries. Dr. Kumar P. Mainali, an ecologist, statistician and AI expert at the Conservation Innovation Center of the Chesapeake Conservancy, serves as President of both Mountain Legacy and Mountain Legacy International.

Cornell University anthropologists David Holmberg and Kathryn March received the 2021 Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medals

Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal

The primary ongoing remit of Mountain Legacy is the administration of the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal. In addition, Mountain Legacy undertakes projects, including publications and international events and exchange programs, designed to promote more equitable and more effective stewardship of our mountains.

The Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal, personally authorized by Sir Edmund in 2002, was first presented at the Tengboche observance of the 50th anniversary of Sir John Hunt's 1953 British Everest Expedition. The joint recipients, Helen Cawley and Michael Schmidt, had led the effort to reconstruct and enhance the monastery after it was substantially destroyed by a kitchen fire in 1989. Since then, a total of ten Hillary Medals have been presented.In 1918, an MOU was signed with the Nepal Mountaineering Association, according to which the subsequent three Medals would be presented annually on December 11 (the UN's International Mountain Day) in conjunction with the Mountain Festival held at the International Mountain Museum in Pokhara.

Publications

Mountain Legacy, in collaboration with the Himalayan Association for the Advancement of Science, has published two monographs by Jack D. Ives (Hillary Medalist, 2015). The first was a greatly enhanced second edition of Himalayan Perceptions: Environmental Change and the Well-being of Mountain Peoples (2006, first published by Routledge in 2004).

In 2013 HIMAAP published Sustainable Mountain Development: Getting the Facts Right

In 2016, Mountain Legacy published Jack D. Ives, Montologist: Festschrift for a Mountain Advocate.

Uma Khakurel of Highland Excursions;
Dr. David Molden, Director General of ICIMOD;
Dr. Harshwanti Bisht, 2014 Hillary Medalist;
Peter Hillary and Amelia Hillary,
son and granddaughter of Sir Edmund

Sister Cities

Currently, Mountain Legacy is leading a project to establish a Sister Cities link between Ithaca and Pokhara. The plan has been approved, provisionally, by Mayor Svante Myrick of Ithaca NY, and by the Honorable Man Bahadur GC, Mayor of Pokhara. The next step is to seek approval by the legislatures of each municipality. Eventually, the objective is to establish an extended family of mountain sisters, linking mountain destinations and centers of mountain research around the world.

Advisory Board

Didar Ali
Sr. Research Advisor at TANGO International Inc.

Alton C. Byers, PhD
Mountain Geographer

Ganesh Gurung, PhD
Founding Chairperson of Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS)

Kul Bahadur Gurung
General Secretary, Nepal Mountaineering Association

Kushal Gurung
Founder and CEO, Windpower Nepal Pvt Ltd

Jack D. Ives, PhD
Montologist, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University

Scott MacLennan, PhD
Executive Director, The Mountain Fund

Jony Mainaly, Esq
Managing Partner at Vidhigya Legal Services and Research Center

Kathryn March, PhD
Department of Anthropology, Cornell University

Daniel Mazur, PhD
Adventurer, philanthropist

Alfred Pach III, PhD
Consultant in Research and Program Management

Ing. César A. Portocarrero Rodríguez
Civil Engineer

Dhananjay Regmi, PhD
CEO, Nepal Tourism Board

Johan Reinhard, PhD
Explorer, anthropologist

Ram Raj Rijal
Executive Director
Himalayan Research Expeditions

Ang Rita Sherpa
Chairman, The Partners Nepal

Karsang Sherpa
Executive Vice President at Tralee Affordable Multi-Family Housing

Teiji Watanabe, PhD
Professor, Graduate School of Env.Science / Faculty of Env.Earth Science Hokkaido University

Contact

Do you have suggestions or other feedback? Contact Seth Sicroff at CEO@MountainLegacy.org; 511 W. Green St., Ithaca NY, 14850 USA; (607) 256-0102; (607) 279-7925