A BAHRAINI father and his two teenage sons trekked through rain and snow up thousands of metres above sea level to reach Everest Base Camp (5,364m) on a family adventure.
They originally planned to travel in May to Nepal but the trip had to be postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic and plans frustratingly placed on hold despite all their preparations.
Fourteen-year-old Ali Shakeeb was aiming to achieve his dream of trekking along with his father Dr Ahmed Shakeeb, a retired plastic and burn surgeon, who has climbed to the camp more than 25 times since 1990.
The family had been training for months and 16-year-old Hamad successfully completed a technical climb of Island Peak (6,189m) after successfully climbing to the Everest Base Camp in 2019 with his dad.
The waiting proved worthwhile. “Going to the Himalayas with my two sons was the high point of my life and it’s a great achievement for us as a Bahraini family!” Dr Shakeeb told the GDN.
“We were prepared four months ago but a lockdown in Kathmandu delayed our original plans which was a good thing as we had time to complete our vaccinations and even get my booster shot!
The boys and their father
“After 30 years of trekking I think I’m getting too old for such hard trips. At the age of 62 I’m by far the oldest Bahraini to reach these heights and my two sons are among the youngest.”
Hamad and Ali, plus their sister Sara, 18, are extreme sport enthusiasts who also enjoy endurance horse-racing, mountain biking, marathon running and scuba diving.
“I was very excited about the trip and, although we had to postpone our journey because of Covid-19, it gave us more time to prepare and train,” said schoolboy Ali.
“To train I would go on long walks with my father while wearing heavy mountain boots even in the heat of Bahrain’s weather but that prepared me well.
“The trip was very hard on my dad but we carried out the plan and learnt so much from him.”
Meanwhile, 16-year-old Hamad told the GDN that postponing the trip led to the family enduring monsoons and bad weather, which made the journey even more challenging.
He also added that the trip has brought all of them closer together.
“Some of the challenges we faced, such as the bad weather, made it very challenging. It was also was the first time I had to wear snow boots and crampons.”
The family left Bahrain on August 25, but were delayed in Kathmandu for 10 days due to the bad weather and travelled to Lukla a small town in the Khumbu Pasanglhamu rural municipality of the Solukhumbu District in the Province No. 1 of north-eastern Nepal, on September 4. Situated at 2,860 metres, it is a popular place to arrive for visitors to the Himalayas near Mount Everest.
The GDN previously reported that in 2012, Hamad and his father trekked to the 3,964m Tochal Peak of Alborz Mountain range in Iran, along with diving adventures in Thailand, Oman and Bahrain.
During their previous trip, Hamad and Dr Shakeeb climbed an altitude of 5,364m up the South Base Camp of Mount Everest, which took two weeks in a bid to avoid altitude sickness, while the trip down the mountain took four days.
reem@gdn.com.bh
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