Supporting the people who make adventure possible.
Tiger of the Snows Fund supports outdoor tourism workers and their families through education, training, emergency relief, and direct assistance in communities worldwide.
For decades, these workers have helped climbers, trekkers, and travelers experience some of the world’s most extraordinary places. Tiger of the Snows exists to give something back to the people and communities who make those experiences possible.
CURRENT CAMPAIGN
Nepal Flood Relief:
Three members of our Everest community remain missing.
The recent floods in Nepal have hit close to home for Tiger of the Snows and Climbing the Seven Summits (CTSS). Dambar Rai, Pandeu Rai, and Pragyan Rai, who are longtime members of the Nepali team supporting CTSS Himalayan expeditions on Everest, Lhotse, and Lobuche East, remain missing after flooding in Nepal near Timure.
Damer Rai:
CTSS Lobuche & Everest Base Camp Chef
Pandeu Rai:
CTSSEverest Camp 2 Cook & Kitchen Crew
Pragyan Rai:
CTSSEverest Base Camp Kitchen Crew
These are not simply names on a staff list for all of us here at Tiger of the Snows Fund and CTSS. They are our friends and colleagues who have worked alongside our climbing teams season after season, helping make life on Everest, Lhoste, and Lobuche possible. Their families, friends, and all of us here at Tiger of the Snows and CTSS are still waiting for news.
We want to highlight members of the Nepali climbing community assisting with recovery efforts on the ground, including CTSS guides Dorjee Sherpa, Abiral Rai, and Dawa Yolmo, among others, who are working with the Nepali National Mountain Guiding Association (NNMGA). We are deeply grateful to them, and to everyone involved in the search and recovery effort, for the work they are doing in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
We are also incredibly thankful to the many climbers, friends, colleagues, and members of the wider mountaineering community who have already reached out asking how they can help. That support means a great deal to the families and to all of us who care about these men.
Tiger of the Snows Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is raising money to support the families of Dambar, Pandeu, and Pragyan, as well as the broader recovery effort through the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law, and you can direct your gift during checkout.
Damer Rai
Pragyan Rai
Pandeu Rai
OUR MISSION
Supporting Outdoor Tourism Workers
The Tiger of the Snows Fund was created to support outdoor tourism workers and their families in communities where access to education, training, and other opportunities can be limited. We work directly with individuals, families, and trusted local partners to understand where the support is needed most and how we can make the greatest impact.
Our roots are in the Sherpa community of Nepal, where the Tiger of the Snows Fund first grew from a need to support the families of mountain workers who had been injured or killed. Over time, that mission expanded beyond the Himalayas as we saw similar needs among outdoor tourism workers and their families in communities around the world, including Nepal, Tibet, and Tanzania.
2019: Tiger of the Snows Fund founder Mike Hamill, along with “Little” Tendi Sherpa, presents scholarship funds to Ang Dawa Sherpa, Treasurer for Nepal’s Karikhola region, on behalf of three local students who had lost both parents and, shortly before this photo, their grandmother. The Fund supported the children’s continued education in Karikhola.
OUR WORK
Support looks different depending on the needs of the worker, family, or community.
Education & Scholarships
We help mountain workers, their children, and families access school, scholarships, tuition, and other educational opportunities.
Professional Development
We support technical, medical, language, and professional training that helps outdoor tourism workers build skills and strengthen their livelihoods.
Family & Worker Support
We provide direct assistance when injury, death, or other hardship affects a worker or family’s livelihood, stability, or ability to move forward.
Emergency Relief Funding
We respond with direct support when natural disasters and other crises create immediate need in the communities we work alongside.
OUR IMPACT
Support when and where it’s needed most.
Over the years, Tiger of the Snows Fund has helped children stay in school, funded professional training for mountain workers, responded when disasters strike, and supported families facing injury and the loss of a loved one.
Our work has included education for children in Nepal and Tanzania, funding for the Khumbu Climbing School, professional guide training, annual technical and medical training for Himalayan climbing staff, rehabilitation assistance for an injured outdoor tourism worker, and support for families following the death of a loved one.
FEATURED STORY
Supporting Yangdi Sherpa and her three daughters.
After Yangdi’s husband, Nima Tenji Sherpa, died on Everest in 2021, she was left raising their three daughters near Lukla, Nepal. Tiger of the Snows Fund helped support the girls’ continued education so they could continue attending school close to home.
Yangdi Sherpa and her three daughters in October 2025
Help us support the people behind every adventure.
Your donation can help a child stay in school, provide professional training for an outdoor tourism worker, support a family after the loss of a loved one, or help a community respond when disaster strikes.