Abu Dhabi: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on Monday received Abdullah Mohammad Al Ahbabi, the youngest person from any Arab country to have reached the North Pole.
Shaikh Mohammad exchanged cordial talk with Al Ahbabi, who was accompanied by his father, and commended his tremendous achievement.
“I wanted to do an initiative in the Year of Zayed. And I chose to do this because it was challenging,” Al Ahbabi said.
His trip started on April 4, when he left the UAE for Oslo, where he took a flight to Longyearbyen, an island off Norway. There, the expedition group of six underwent an intensive training programme to teach them how to set up camp, ski and pull their sleds.
“It was very intense. It’s one of the very toughest expeditions if you compare the North Pole, the South Pole and the seven summits. It is right at the top, under Everest. I knew it would add more value to the claim that nothing is impossible,” said Al Ahbabi, who is studying political science.
