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The Nepal Project · Since 2023 · With Ang Gombu

Where the camera
gives back.

A school project in the remote Himalaya, built together with my friend and Sherpa Ang Gombu. It began in his home village of Hill, and it changed the direction of my work.

How it began

In October 2023, I travelled into the Everest region to trek and to photograph. I came back with something I hadn't gone looking for: a reason.

The journey started with an idea I shared with a guiding partner, Alex: combine an expedition with something that gives back to the region and to the Sherpa who make these mountains possible. That partnership fell apart before we left, but the tickets were booked and the pull of the big mountains only grew. I changed the plan, took on the harder Three Passes Trek with an attempt on Island Peak, and carried the social project forward on my own, always with Ang Gombu's guidance.

Before the trek even began, we flew by helicopter from Kathmandu into the remote village of Hill, Ang Gombu's home, to see the school there for ourselves and bring the children toys and basic materials. That first visit is where everything started. I never reached the summit of Island Peak that year. A cold turned into a lung infection and I turned back to be ready for Antarctica. But the more important thing had already taken root.

See it for yourself

The Himalaya,
in motion.

YouTube Video — click to load

The partnership

This is not
my project alone.

Ang Gombu Sherpa was born in Hill. He is a mountain guide, the person I rely on in the high places, and a friend. These valleys are his home, his language, his people. Without him, none of this would exist, and none of it would be right.

Too often, help arrives from the outside, decides what a community needs, and leaves. We work the other way around. Gombu visits the schools, listens, and finds out what is actually needed. He coordinates the work on the ground while I bring the camera and the reach. Between us, over video calls across thousands of kilometres, we decide the next step together.

It makes the work slower. It also makes it real.

What we have done

Three schools.
One step at a time.

No grand promises. Concrete work, paid for through donations and the income from my photography, delivered school by school, year by year.

School One · Hill · 2023

Where it started

Reached only by a helicopter flight deep into the mountains, the school in Hill was the first. On that first visit we brought toys and basic materials, and saw with our own eyes what the children were learning with, and without.

Over the following months, working through Gombu and with the help of a Swiss friend and the charity she works with, we delivered warm winter jackets for the cold season and laid new, frost-proofed flooring in the classrooms.

School Two · near Hill · 2024

A safe place to play

A second school nearby was in equal need. The focus here was the schoolyard and playground, so the children would be safe at play as well as in class.

  • New winter jackets handed to 16 students and 4 staff, including the principal
  • Classroom floors winterized against the frost damage
  • A rebuilt, secured playground, finished in July 2024, after heavy rain washed out the first wall and the villagers rebuilt it themselves
Champadevi — Foto

School Three · Shree Champadevi Basic School · ongoing

Taking shape now

The school we are working on today. Thanks to the support of others and the income from my photography commissions, two new classrooms have already been built, a major step for the school and the children. The work continues:

  • Securing the schoolyard and playground
  • Providing further learning materials, books, pencils, the basics for learning
  • Building solutions that last, so future generations benefit too

A message from the mountains

"They were so happy that they were asking where you are coming back. They were curious who is the sponsor, and I explained how this is possible. They clearly remember you from our last trip to Hill. And more, they were so grateful for the concrete flooring in classrooms."
Ang Gombu, after delivering the winter jackets in person

From the field

Faces, places,
progress.

An adventure that gives back

Travel with us,
become part of it.

Once in a while, Ang Gombu and I lead a small group into this part of the Himalaya ourselves. Not the standard Everest Base Camp route, but a journey that begins in Hill, his home village, a place you can only reach by invitation.

Guests spend a night in the village, visit the school we have supported since 2023, and share in a traditional Sherpa ceremony. By joining, you become part of the project too. These tours run occasionally and on request.

Ask about a Himalaya tour →

If you'd like to be part of it

You don't have to do anything.
But the door is open.

This project runs on a mix of donations and my own photography income. We have promised to keep covering the schools' annual material costs, so the children always have the basics to learn with. If the story has moved you and you'd like to help carry it forward, there is a way. And if you simply share it, that matters just as much.

Support via GoFundMe →

With gratitude to everyone who has made this possible so far, including Giovanoli Sport in Sils, the Lüdenscheid Lightnings, Praxis am Imberg in Olpe, Kletterwelt Sauerland, and Grafs Galerie.