Dubai: A Saudi woman has made history by reaching the summit of the world’s highest mountain, reports said.
Raha Moharrak, 25, not only became the first Saudi woman to attempt the climb but is also the youngest Arab to make it to the top of Everest.
She is part of a four-person expedition that also includes the first Qatari man and the first Palestinian man attempting to reach the summit, a BBC report said.
They are trying to raise $1 million (Dh3.67 million) for education projects in Nepal.
Originally from Jeddah, Raha is a university graduate currently based in Dubai.
Coming from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia - a conservative Muslim country where women’s rights are very restricted - she had to break a lot of barriers to achieve her goal, her climb team said.
A biography on the expedition website said convincing Raha’s family to agree to her climb “was as great a challenge as the mountain itself”, though they fully support her now.
“I really don’t care about being the first,” she is quoted as saying, “so long as it inspires someone else to be second.”
In Kathmandu, mountaineering officials told AP news agency that 64 climbers have successfully scaled Mount Everest from Nepal’s side of the mountain.
Tilak Pandey of Nepal’s Mountaineering Department said 35 foreigners accompanied by 29 Nepalese Sherpa guides reached the 8,850-metre peak on Saturday morning after climbing all night from the highest camp on South Col.
All were reported to be safe.
Everest can be climbed from either Nepal or Tibet.
May is the most popular month for Everest climbs because of more favourable weather.
