Prague and Brno, Czech Republic

20 - 23 November 2009
Festival Alpinismu Setkani 2009. In Prague, the Capital of Czech Republic, Apa and Dawa will address a gathering of 2000 mountaineers including veteran mountaineers like Reinhold Messner and the Mayor of Prague. They will appeal to their fellow alpinists to support this important cause and join hands with the Himalayan people to raise awareness about this issue.

At Prague, Apa and Dawa were speakers at the Festival Alpinismu Setkani 2009 where more than 3000 mountaineers and mountain-enthusiasts were participating including veteran mountaineers like Reinhold Messner and the Mayor of Prague who is also an Everest Summiteer. They talked about their experience of seeing the changes in the Himalayan landscape while climbing mountains and appealed to their fellow alpinists to join hands with the Himalayan people to raise awareness about this issue. They even got a standing ovation from the crowd who applauded the tireless work done by these two individuals to raise awareness on Climate Change in the Himalayas like Apa taking the Climate Change banner to the top of the world.

The two also extended an open invitation to the participants to join Nepal at the Summiteers Summit to be held in Copenhagen on 11 Dec.

Renowned mountaineer Reinhold Messner also spoke about the rapid changes he witnessed in the Himalayas, noting how the old routes used during expeditions were unrecognizable in recent years and old feats performed by mountaineers were difficult to repeat by younger generation due to the change in the mountain terrain like melting of snow and ice.

WWF US Managing Director for the Eastern Himalayas Jon Miceler also made a presentation on how Climate Change is impacting the Himalayas and what the consequences could be in terms of the lives and livelihoods of more than a billion people living in its drainage system.

Nepal Tourism Board CEO Prachanda Man Shrestha was also present on the occasion.

Dawa with Reinhold Messner