The best view comes after the hardest climb ... and one team of Bahraini mountaineers have the photographs to prove it.
The Bahrain Royal Guard’s expedition 16-member team made headlines around the globe last month after it became the first international crew to conquer the new altitude of Mount Everest – 8,848.86 metres – around 86 centimetres higher than the previous measurement carried out in 1954.
In an exclusive interview with the GDN’s Sandeep Singh Grewal, the team’s leader Shaikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Khalifa – who unfurled the Bahrain flag on top of Mount Everest on May 11 – spoke about navigating through the peaks and rough routes, surviving the extreme conditions and conquering the mountain.
SHAIKH Mohammed bin Hamad Al Khalifa successfully led a team from one of the smallest nations to scale the tallest mountain in the world on a 79-day mission to scale the summit.
Today, for the first time, he shares details of the daring adventure. The Bahrain Everest team’s hazardous journey included going hours without food and water as they rose to the challenge which included facing a mountain of health issues, coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I volunteered for this mission after His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa wanted to set a team from the Royal Guard to be part of the Everest mission, and I was assigned the team leader,” Shaikh Mohammed, who holds the rank of Major in the unit of the Bahrain Defence Force.
A special team was set up last year to be trained for the mission, as well as to provide food to the Sherpas living in the isolated Himalayan range with limited access to food due to the pandemic outbreak last year.
Challenges
The word ‘Sherpa’ is often used to mean mountain guide, though it actually refers to a Nepalese ethnic group.
The team partnered with Seven Summit Treks in Kathmandu to help them in their first mission and later in scaling Everest last month.
To prepare themselves ahead of their main quest, Shaikh Mohammed led an 18-member expedition team last year. It successfully conquered Nepalese mountain Lobuche, 6,119m above sea level, followed by scaling the eighth highest mountain in the world, 8,163m Mt Manaslu.
“The team faced many challenges in that expedition related to weather conditions and the high altitude,” explained Shaikh Mohammed.
“The entire team was doing a lot of physical training for the past two years, but as you know there is no high altitude in Bahrain or extreme cold weather conditions. So, when we started our expedition last year to climb Lobouche and Manaslu we suffered from altitude sickness, severe headaches, loss of appetite and lack of sleep.”
Despite these obstacles, the Bahrain Everest team completed its first task and it was well received by the Nepalese authorities, so much so that they decided to name a mountain, more than 5,000 metres above sea level, after Bahrain’s leaders.
The ‘Royal Bahrain Peak’ in Nepal’s Samagaon valley was named last year after His Majesty King Hamad, and His Majesty King Hamad’s representative for humanitarian work and youth affairs, National Security Adviser and Royal Guard Commander Major General Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
The Bahrain Everest team did not take a break and from the lessons learned during the initial adventure, decided to step up their rigorous training throughout 2020, until they left in March this year well prepared and ready for action.
As a friendly gesture, 16-members of the team took with them a gift of 2,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine donated by the government to help 1,000 residents of Samagaon village.
“Our team was fully vaccinated before entering Nepal (on March 15) and upon arrival all of us isolated in a hotel in Kathmandu for 10 days before starting the expedition,” said Shaikh Mohammed.
“I would like to point out that during our first trip in 2020, we were lucky to receive climbing permits from the Nepalese Tourism Ministry and the Mountaineer association to climb Lobouche and Manaslu.
“We were the only team that was allowed to do so at the time due to Covid-19 restrictions. After our successful summits, the Nepalese government reviewed our performance and adherence to protocol and resumed the issuance of permits to climbers who wished to climb the Everest in 2021.”
It was a lucky break as Nepal closed its mountains in March last year to help control the spread of the coronavirus.
Eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains including Everest are wholly or partly in Nepal and hundreds of foreign climbers contribute millions of dollars in income annually to the cash-strapped nation.
Mount Everest is known in Nepali as Sagarmatha, meaning Goddess of the Sky. It straddles the border between Nepal and Tibet at the crest of the Himalayan mountain chain.
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Casualties
It was first recognised in 1841 by Sir George Everest and was called Peak 15. The name Mount Everest was later introduced in 1865 in honour of Sir George.
Scientists estimate the Everest is about 60 million years old and has approximately one-third the air pressure that exists at sea level. This poses a big risk as it significantly reduces the climber’s ability to breathe enough oxygen.
Mountaineers have died climbing the Everest, with four reported casualties this season (April until early June), with 11 deaths in 2019. The approximate success rate, in a typical season to reach the summit, is only 66 per cent.
Shaikh Mohammed said they arrived at the Everest Base Camp perched on the Khumbu Glacier at the foot of Everest at an altitude of 5,600 metres which is usually reached over a period of nine days with two complete rest days enroute.
The oxygen level drops steadily after base camp so nearly every climber has to take time off to help adapt to the weather and avoid mountain sickness. Everest Base Camp is stretched almost 68.7km up to Summit including short treks for acclimatisation.
The Bahrain Everest Team met American singer-songwriter Mike Posner at the base camp and Shaikh Mohammed admits that team members again struggled from lack of sleep and altitude sickness.
“We faced the same health challenges although it was not as bad as the last time … but the climb was difficult for all of us,” he said.
The team was backed by a team of about 250 Sherpas that trekked with them throughout the mission with supplies of food, oxygen cylinders and other items.
The team, in full gear and wearing specialist suits, navigated with their back packs and oxygen tanks through the journey.
Shaikh Mohammed said due to lack of appetite at higher altitude and sub-zero temperatures, having meals to survive and continue the mission was a daily struggle.
“You don’t have lots of food options and its mostly instant noodles or an apple and boiled rice water,” he said. “We had to force ourselves to eat and drink enough to get energy.
Trap
“With regards to living conditions, three team members were squeezed in one tiny yellow tent and after Camp 2 there were no bathrooms.
“It was difficult for us to conduct our daily activities on a regular basis due to the severe weather conditions and the constant risk of hypothermia and frostbite, but we managed to pull ourselves through it all with high morale and with the summit in our sights.”
The list of challenges kept growing larger though, revealed the team leader, especially when the team started to climb through the Khumbu Icefall that lies at an altitude of 5,486 metres and is the only route to reach Camp 1 from the Base camp’s Nepalese side.
The steep glacier can be a deadly trap for climbers as deep crevasses and ice towers called ‘seracs’ can splinter and fall at any moment. Some mountaineers have christened the icefall’s most notorious sections with names like ‘Popcorn Field’ and ‘the Ballroom of Death’.
“It’s considered the most dangerous part of the climb because it’s a moving glacier, and that is where most of the avalanches happen,” explained Shaikh Mohammed. “The Khumbu Icefall can only be scaled in the middle of the night before the ice melts during the day.
“A climber must do a couple of rotations on the icefall and reach the higher camps so the body can acclimatise before the summit push.”
The team leader added the mission got more intense as teams navigate their way to Camp 3 and on to the Summit, as well as when they eventually ascend back to Camp 2.
“We started our climb from Camp 3 at 8am and it took us between eight to nine hours to reach Camp 4, then we all rested for a couple of hours, and continued to trek to the summit and got to the top within 10 to 12 hours.”
“Overall, we did between 38 to 40 hours of climbing and descending without any sleep or food, but we managed to push ourselves to our limits and we were rewarded for our efforts with success.”
The team scaled the Summit on May 11 that is described by climbers as a small dome of snow where about only a half dozen climbers at a time can stand and enjoy the breathtaking view from the ‘roof of the world’.
The Bahrain flag was unfurled for the first time on Mt Everest and Shaikh Mohammed said the view he witnessed is ‘hard to explain in words’.
“When I reached the Summit, Khalid Ali Aldosery, one of the team members, was next to me and he was the first person that I hugged and we congratulated each other,” he recalled.
“We started to take selfies and videos to capture the moment. Honestly, I have never felt a feeling like this in my life, as we were the only group from Bahrain standing on the highest point on earth – but nothing was higher than the Bahrain flag at that time!
“It was a very sincere sense of accomplishment and pride when we reached the summit and that marked the successful end of our mission.”
Shaikh Mohammed said, like many other team members, he was desperate to share the good news with his family.
“I really wanted to share the news of this great achievement with my family and friends but because of the severe cold weather the battery of the sat-phone drained,” he said. “I was only able to make one phone call.”
Accomplishment
That phone call was to His Majesty King Hamad to congratulate and inform the leader, that ‘mission was accomplished’.
Addressing the Bahrain Everest team as ‘brave men’ in an audio clip His Majesty last month praised the strength, determination and courage they needed to display to conquer the climbing challenge.
“Each and every Bahraini is proud of your achievements, and we wish Eid Mubarak to all,” His Majesty told the team members during the call. “We hope peace prevails across the world and this is our message from the highest mountain in the world – Mount Everest.”
Shaikh Mohammed recalls sharing the news with the King on the sat-phone to inform him that the ‘dream had come true and that the Bahrain flag was now unfurled on the highest point on earth’.
“I was touched by His Majesty’s message of world peace from the top of the world,” he added.
“I have to take a moment and express my gratitude to His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa too for making this possible as he supported us from the beginning until the end and followed our progress closely.”
Twelve members of the team scaled the summit, while the remaining members had to stay back due to health issues and had to be evacuated and later treated.
“Our mission was to raise the Bahrain flag on the Mt Everest summit and even if one Bahraini made it to the top, we all completed the mission,” said Shaikh Mohammed.
Proud
“I’m very proud of the entire team that pushed themselves hard to achieve this mega feat and thank God as all of us returned back safely to Bahrain.
“Some of the team members have minor injuries at the moment and are receiving treatment but they will recover soon hopefully.”
The royal described the entire journey as a ‘lifetime experience’. “I have found out that there is no limit to what any person can do and achieve through hard work and determination,” he said.
Sir Edmund Hillary – who would have celebrated his 102nd birthday on July 20 – was one of the first people along with Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay to reach the top of Mount Everest.
The Kiwi climber was known for his worldly wisdom that included this famous quote: “Life’s a bit like mountaineering – never look down.”
He devoted his life supporting the unsung heroes of Himalayan climbing – the Sherpa community.
Shaikh Mohammed expressed his gratitude to Seven Summit Treks that planned the expedition and the Sherpas. “Their impeccable planning meant that the weather conditions were clear on that day, and we had the privilege of enjoying the most amazing view of the never-ending chain of mountains which are the Himalayas at sunrise.”
“I have never seen people as strong as the Sherpas. They were all polite and always ready to help, so I would like to thank them all for the help they gave us to succeed in this mission.
“As for my message to the people of Nepal, yours is such a unique and magnificent country. I have enjoyed the beautiful landscapes and the friendly, genuine and hospitable people of Nepal and I’m sure that I shall visit again sometime in the future ... whether as a tourist or to conquer another challenge.”
“We have created history once, but this is just the start, as we constantly look for new challenges to conquer and push our limits to the max,” said the experienced Bahraini mountaineer.
sandy@gdn.com.bh
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