Himalayas through their eyes KATHMANDU: Three prominent mountaineers and climbers — Pete Athans, Conrad Anker and Renan Ozturk — gave a glimpse of what they have gained or observed during their expeditions to the Himalayas in a presentation titled Vision and the Himalayas on February 7 at the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology (TIO). The programme began with Athans sharing the experiences of his exploration of different caves in Mustang that hold religious, cultural and archeological significance. “Some of the findings we made in the caves were truly unbelievable,” explained Athans. Then Anker presented the history of Mount Everest mapping since 1924. “Techniques that were used to ascend Himalayas at that time were very different and climbers had very few ideas to protect their eyes in high altitude,” said Anker. His presentation centred on George Mallory, who had tried to measure and ascend Mount Everest back in 1924, with his expedition group. Meanwhile Dr Govinda Poudel, Senior Consultant at Tilganga Eye Centre, elaborated on the eye surgical health camp held in Bardiya. The surgical health camp — Outreach Micro Surgical Eye Clinic — was conducted from January 19-23 in which 4,054 patients were examined. In the five-day camp 10,078 operations were successfully conducted. “The patients were selected from preliminary screening examination,” briefed Dr Poudel. “The technique of cataract operation has been made cheaper and simpler but it is still a major health problem in Nepal.” The last presentation was done by Ozturk and Cory Richards. They screened a short movie produced by them that unravelled their expedition in Tawoche. “People and nature is so rich in Nepal that it was wonderful experience to catch these beautiful sights in our camera,” said Richards.