Conquering the mountain within

culture > doha diary

Conquering

the Mountain

Within

By Ayswarya Murthy

98 > qatar today > july 2013

photography by Elia Saikaly

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Thani, the first Qatari to scale Mount Everest, opens up about the two months he spent in the shadow of the great mountain and the unexpected lessons learnt.

qatar today > july 2013 > 99

culture > doha diary

"Arabs with Altitude"

S

heikh “Moe” Al Thani has chosen to address the country’s media at that atrium within the Qatar Foundation Student Centre where sunlight pours in through the glass ceiling with clouds casting their passing shadows. It is as if the lack of a roof is conscious and deliberate; maybe it seemed improbable to contain the man under one when, barely a few days ago, he proudly hoisted the Qatari flag atop the “Roof of the World”. Or maybe journalists tend to read too much into things.

The articulate and softly-spoken young sheikh, whose sense of humour shines throughout the session, is no novice to mountaineering, Everest being his sixth peak in less than three years, but it was the sight of this looming mountain that set him on the snowy Seven Summit Challenge almost five years ago. “I was river rafting in Nepal and our 60-year-old guide, in the course of talking us through the culture, history and political turmoil of his land, started talking about Everest and the enduring appeal it has held for adventure-seekers.”

His interest piqued, Moe declared that he was going to climb it one day, only to be met with laughter from the other end. “He had inspired me without even knowing it,” he smiles, “and I invited him to the press conference we had in Nepal after the climb.

His eyes filled up with tears when I told him that I did it and had him to thank for it.”

100 > qatar today > july 2013

"My first call from the peak was to my mother, and even before she could say hello I asked her: 'Do you know where your son is at right now? The top of the world!' "

If it weren’t for the well-meaning but bluntly honest fellow, Moe wouldn’t have been at the peak on May 22 at 10 a.m. (local time), after a gruelling 12-hour trek, feeling like he had “won a gold medal at the Olympics... But I hadn’t just conquered Everest.

I had conquered the mountain inside me.

I can’t explain the feeling,” he says, trying to find words to describe the near-spiritual experience. “Those few moments there gave me an amazing clarity on what was important in life.

“My first call from the peak was to my mother, and even before she could say hello I asked her: 'Do you know where your son is right now? The top of the world!',” he

beams. “And my mother said she had never heard so much pride in my voice.”

Everest was the worthy reward at the end of a monumental four-year effort. “I had begun training soon after my return from Nepal and never stopped,” he says. “Each mountain I climbed after that prepared me for Everest. If one summit helped me master the technique, the next one taught me to endure the weather, while another one got me used to the altitude.” But Sagarmatha (the Nepalese name for Mount Everest) had her own lesson to teach still – patience.

“The climb isn’t meant for adrenaline junkies,” he says, distancing himselffrom that tag. “It’s about patience and survival.

Ultimately, it’s the mountain that decides whether we make any progress that day or not. Sometimes the weather is so bad that you can’t move at all.”

Something else that Moe felt unprepared for, despite having “done the homework”, was the amount of time he would end up spending in the shadow of Everest.

“Two months in the company of your fellow-climbers, away from family and barely knowing what was happening around the world – it was the harder than any physical strain I faced. It was like being in jail,” he says, “but one with a beautiful view.” And while the mountain had Moe firmly in her icy grasp, the world chugged on down below: his first daughter was born, the war in Syria continued to deteriorate and some guy was being deported from Saudi Arabia for being too handsome (he shakes his head

With ROTA sponsoring his climb and funds from the feat set to go towards education-based projects in Nepal, he simply couldn't allow himself to fail.

and laughs at the last one) – and he would receive news bites of these goings-on on his patchy satellite phone.

And all the while, they were creating their own news at their end. This year many “firsts” and records were set on Everest – the first Pakistani woman, the first amputee, the oldest man, the first female twins...

“I am exceptionally proud of all of them. Especially the first Saudi woman and youngest Arab to have scaled Everest, Raha Moharrak, who, along with Palestinian Raed Zidan and Iranian Masoud Mohammad, made up our group, Arabs with Altitude. We have been doing the Seven Summit Challenge together and hope to complete it with Mount McKinley in Alaska some time in May next year,” Moe says.

“I wouldn’t imagine climbing without these guys. We have been doing this together for so long now that we know each other's strengths and weaknesses. We know when someone needs to slow down, when they need a push. They are like family.” Through the many mental and physical challenges that Everest threw at them, they stuck together. “Staying healthy was a top priority.

If you got sick, it was all over. I don’t know how we managed that, despite sleeping on icy cold floors and drinking gravelly water.

While at the base camp, I found out about my long-dormant asthma, suffered a rib injury and a bad frostbite. All this in addition to the worry of falling into a crevasse and breaking your neck,” he jokes.

More than anything else, he says what kept him going was the cause he was representing. With ROTA (Reach Out to Asia) sponsoring his climb and funds from the feat set to go towards education-based

projects in Nepal, he simply couldn’t allow himself to fail. “When thousands of children are depending on you reaching the summit, you don’t feel like giving up,” says ROTA’s brand ambassador, who is committed to raising awareness about its projects.

He describes his experience at a ROTA-sponsored school in a village in Nepal.

“We were talking to the children, telling them where we were from. To my surprise all of them knew Qatar. Then I was told most of the men in their families worked here. When I was introducing a fellow climber, who was from Lebanon, a little girl in the class became quite upset and started crying. In between sobs she explained that her mother was working in Lebanon, carrying apples up and down a hill every day, and suffered many beatings at the hands of her employers. She was inconsolable.” Moe is quiet for a while. “Most of us employ maids, but we seldom think about what they have left behind at home. More often than not their only priority is giving their children a good education and better opportunities.

This is what ROTA is working towards,” he signs off, urging people, especially corporates, to donate generously towards the cause.

The mood is sombre and the silence is deafening. Celebration had given way to reflection. Effortlessly, Moe Al Thani has succeeded in giving the occasion a whole new dimension. This was more than just an adventure of a lifetime; it was more than a personal achievement; it was more than something to fuel the fierce Qatari pride – it was one man's effort on behalf of an unnamed girl in an obscure village in Nepal who was missing her mother

Everest and the environment “Our guides on the mountain pointed out how there were now new lakes that weren’t present even a few years ago.

The ice, too, was soft in many places. It made the climb easier for us, but again, as the Sherpas noted, these were all effects of global warming. As for physical pollution, all climbers are cautious to 'Leave No Trace' and littering is not allowed.”

Climbing K2 “K2 is the second deadliest mountain in the world. It is called ‘the widower’ and I am married (laughs). It’s not on my list right now, the risk is too high. I love my kids and want to watch them grow up.”

Trailblazer “Currently there isn’t much interest in Qatar for mountaineering. I’d be flattered if this inspires more people to take it up.

I’d be more than happy to take a group from Qatar to scale Kilimanjaro, the highest point on the African continent.”

What’s Next?

"Who knows! My bucket list is long and never-ending, so there’s no telling what’s in store after I complete the Seven Summit Challenge. Maybe the Grand Slam (seven summits plus the two poles), or the deepest point on Earth..." qatar today > july 2013 > 101