Friday 24 / January / 2025
Nadhira Al Harthy’s experiences climbing some of the world’s most challenging mountains have forever changed her for the better.
Her recent scaling of Nepal’s Ama Dablam has only emphasised the lessons she’s picked up along the way, and serve as a constant reminder to be grateful for all she has in life.
Standing at 6,812 metres, Ama Dablam is considered a technically challenging peak among mountaineers, and Nadhira and her five other climbers required plenty of training and acclimatisation before they could attempt to reach the top. As the first Omani woman to climb Mount Everest, she is not one to take preparation lightly.
“These expeditions have made me look at the world in different ways: I was used to living in a very small circle in Oman, where I was used to having everything,” she reveals. “I’ve learned how to attach more value the things we have. Earlier, whenever I used to want something, I would just buy it. But after going to the mountains, my attitude has changed.
“I now think two or three times before buying something, because I realise the value of our relationships with nature and with each other,” she goes on to say. “I have become a lot less materialistic. On the mountain, you learn about the importance of values such as being honest and kind to others, but in a far different way.”
“A lot people ask me why I climb mountains because I am just going to tire myself, but I do this because this is what I want to do, and I will work hard for whatever I want to do.”
In going where few dare to travel, Nadhira and those like her are following in the footsteps of brave souls like Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzin Norgay, the first men to climb Mount Everest, or Robert Peary and Roald Amundsen, the first people to successfully reach the North and South Poles.
But to Nadhira, inspiration does not necessarily need to come from great men. Much to her credit, she finds it all around her, drawing encouragement from the efforts of those pursuing their own dreams.
“I am inspired by people who work hard and fight for what they believe in,” she admits. “Sometimes, for example, I am inspired by my nieces, because I see the challenges they face and how they overcome them. My first inspiration was the late Khaled Al Siyabi. He passed away last year, and was the first Omani man to climb Everest.
“We had made plans to climb this mountain in 2020, but they were obviously cancelled, so when my friends told me they were going there, I decided to join them,” Nadhira goes on to say. “This was special for me, because I failed to climb this mountain in 2018, as part of my training for Everest. I fell sick then so I could not climb it, so I decided I would give it another shot this time.
“Things for me were quite different this time around,” she adds. “The mountain, of course, never changes, but we become stronger with our experiences. I decided to join my friends and tried to climb Ama Dablam. It is a beautiful mountain, and a very technical one. I have always loved climbing technical mountains and the challenge they pose.”
While climbing the mountain, the group faced sub-zero temperatures of up to minus 20 degree Celsius, and had to grapple with winds whistling past them at 100 km/hr. Reaching the summit under such conditions was nigh impossible, so they had to wait until conditions had abated. By the time they’d ascended to the top of Ama Dablam, the wind had picked up to a roaring 45 km/hr, greatly increasing the wind chill and intensifying the cold they felt.
Nadhira, though, had to focus on putting one hand in front of the other, committing to taking the next step forward, and head to the summit. It was either that, or turning back after having come so far.
“Whenever I am on a mountain, or even hiking in Oman, I often train alone. I love being alone up there,” she says. “Even when I am with a group, I feel like it is just the mountain and me. I feel the strength and power of nature, and how it impacts me. I feel so small there: when you are on the mountain, you realise that not everything is under your control.
“I would like the young boys and girls in our country to have dreams of their own, to test themselves and overcome challenges,” she says, by way of advice. “Let them learn the lessons of being tired, of suffering through challenges, of the rewards of patience, because only then they will appreciate what they have, and learn that not everything comes easily.” – [email protected]
