EMMOA is a foundation created to manage the custody and conservation of Basque mountaineering heritage and history. Established in 2013 in Vitoria-Gasteiz, it embodies a dream that was already cited in the founding of the Basque-Navarre Mountaineering Federation in 1924. It is the principal guardian of Basque mountaineering history, by acquiring, conserving, transmitting, reinforcing dissemination, and researching its own treasures from the past.
The active leaders of the Foundation are prominent figures in Basque mountaineering and have been dedicated to promoting mountain culture for decades with the essential collaboration of several teams of volunteers.
The members of the EMMOA board of trustees are:
• Txomin Uriarte: current president of EMMOA, the “Pyrenaica” magazine editor for 30 years, and member of the Tximist expedition to Everest
. • Antxon Iturriza: mountain chronicler since 1976, historian and writer specialising in Basque mountaineering.
• Patxi Cortazar: architect and mountaineer.
• Mari Jose Lasa: influential figure and entrepreneur in the field of Basque mountaineering, widow of Antxon Bandrés, former president of the Basque Mountaineering Federation.
The Basque Federation (EMF-FVM), the Navarre Federation (MEKNF-FNDME) and Mendi Film are also members of the EMMOA foundation's board of trustees.
EMMOA's collections are truly diverse. A Library, a document, newspaper, photo & historical objects archive, along with interviews and exhibitions that constitute a unique treasure trove of Basque mountaineering, as listed below:
• It has 900 catalogued and photographed items donated by key figures in the history of Basque mountaineering.
• 4,500 books about mountains and mountaineering, including 1,500 books donated by Kartajanari (considered one of the world's finest collections on Himalayan mountaineering).
• 5,000 digitized photographs, documenting the period from the early 20th century to the present day.
• Continuous updating of more than 50 collections of mountaineering magazines published by publishers and clubs in the Basque Country and Spain.
• Copies of Alpine pages published in the press since 1922 are preserved, as well as complete collections of mountaineering pages published since 1976 in all Basque newspapers.
• In collaboration with the Basque Film Library, the recovery and digitisation of historical films has been facilitated, such as Javier Garreta's collection dating from the 1970s, or Fernando Larruquert's “Agur Everest”.
• The official archives of the Basque Mountain Federation from 1924 to 1970 have been catalogued and digitized. A wealth of historical documentation on Basque mountaineering has also been compiled and studied.
• Six permanent exhibitions and four travelling exhibitions with more than 40 locations visited.
EMMOA joins the IMMA-International Mountain Museums Alliance in 2025. This recognises and reaffirms the work being done by EMMOA and raises its profile both internationally and locally. The fact that IMMA decided to accept the Basque Mountain Museum was influenced by the fact that it is a project created by and for the country's mountaineers. They valued the fact that it is supported by the most renowned Basque mountaineers and top athletes in the world of mountaineering, as well as mountaineering clubs and federations from the four territories.
The IMMA-International Mountain Museums Alliance, founded in 2015 under the auspices of the United Nations, has its headquarters at the Museo Nazionale della Montagna in Turin (Italy). EMMOA has become the thirteenth member of the Alliance, alongside the museums and/or documentation centres in Turin, Trento, and Sondrio (Italy), Chamonix and Chambéry (France), Banff (Canada), Zakopane and Jelenia Góra (Poland), Sabadell (Catalonia), Bern (Switzerland), Pokhara (Nepal) and Brasov (Romania).
IMMA works to preserve, study and promote mountain culture. Its challenges are set against the current backdrop of climate & political change and social transformation. EMMOA will participate in these objectives as a full member, implementing its own models and collaborating on international projects.
