A dream come true for UAE mountaineer

The first UAE national woman to scale Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania said her success will hopefully inspire many more of her people to accept challenges and overcome them.

Hafsa Al Ulama said her achievement was "a dream come true" and a big step towards promoting sports among national women.

"Overall, I feel good to have achieved it, for my dream to have come true. It was a little bit difficult because there are some aspects of the climb you don't realise," she said.

"No matter how much you read up, some things come with experience. I had focused a lot on the ascent and not paid much heed to the descent, which was much more exhausting for me.

"We went up from the western side and came down on the southern side. The ground was covered with hard pebbles that made it slippery.

"Also there was heavy rainfall, so I had to walk through mud for eight-and-a-half hours. That quite did me in. I was glad it was in the last part of my journey.

"We descended about 10,000 feet in one day, which was quite rapid."

Hafsa started her climb in the early hours of August 12. Her first and second day climb were without incident.

On the third day, there was heavy rainfall and winds, which made the climb quite tough.

"We had to spend a lot of time in our tents because of the weather. However, we still managed to be on schedule," she said.

Hafsa added she was extremely anxious about suffering from altitude sickness.

"I saw a European woman being rushed down from the mountain because she couldn't climb any more. Even a porter had to be evacuated.

"The company that organised my climb made sure we had enough time to get acclimatised. I was also extremely disciplined by drinking plenty of water and resting frequently while climbing.

"I did have a headache through the climb, which was most probably due to the lack of oxygen as one goes up. Breathing becomes harder and the climb gets tougher."

She said having conquered her fear of altitude sickness, she wants to scale more difficult mountains.

"It is quite addictive, but I would like to get more trained in the technical aspects of mountain climbing before attempting another one."

Hafsa reached the summit of the 19,340 feet-high peak on August 18 at 7.30am.

"I felt exhilarated and took pictures. The view from the top is incredible.

"As you climb you walk through mist and clouds... you are literally on top of the clouds."

An economist and strategist by profession, Hafsa works in The Executive Office of the Rulers of Dubai.

Head of Business Development and Support in the think tank, Hafsa regularly faces challenges that involve the growth and development of the emirate. Mountain climbing was just another challenge.