Dubai mountaineer aims high for gender equality
A Dubai mountaineer is ready to tackle Mount Everest to raise awareness of gender inequality.
Dolores Al Shelleh has set her sights on the 8,848-metre peak, the world’s highest.
The Jordanian, 28, has already made history as the first Arab woman to climb Mount Manaslu in Nepal, the world’s eighth-highest mountain.
But now the communications officer has a new target – the North Face of Everest.
“As an Arab woman in my 20s, gender equality is an important issue to me,” she told The National. “I am doing this because I want to inspire women to achieve new heights and follow their dreams and goals.
“I’ll be speaking to women in the villages about how life is for them and what has changed over the years. It is important to me to support and empower women everywhere.”
Ms Al Shelleh is due to leave the UAE for Tibet at the start of April in preparation for an attempt on the summit in May.
Almost all climbers require a minimum of two weeks at Everest base camp prior to an assault to allow time to adjust to the high altitude.
The North Face is renowned for its unpredictable weather, with high winds, snow and cloud rolling in at short notice.
Famous explorer George Mallory died there in 1924, with his body lying buried and undiscovered for more than 70 years until 1999.
More than 4,000 people have summited Everest since it was first climbed by Edmund Hillary in 1953. Since then, 297 people have died trying to reach the top. The last year no deaths were recorded on the mountain was 1977. On May 10, 1996, eight people lost their lives in only 24 hours.
On Thursday, the eve of International Women’s Day, Ms Al Shelleh described being mocked by some of her male friends for wanting to become a mountaineer.
She said the cost of the expedition was likely to exceed $65,000 (Dh239,000) and that part of her training involved sleeping in a high-altitude tent that mimics the low oxygen levels experienced by climbers at high altitudes.
“It’s going to cost us [her team of four] around that because we have to pay for the equipment, the tickets to get there and the Sherpas who will act as guides,” she said.
“We are going to be spending around two months in total on the mountain and we’ve got to provide food and a salary for the Sherpas because none of this would be possible without them.”