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The garlanded climbers pose for a picture (top right)
before taking the long flight to Kathmandu the night of May 6-7. A small plane (right) took them the early morning of May 8 to Tenzing-Hillary airport in Lukla. The photo to the left shows the group relaxing outside an authentic Sherpa home in Lukla |
Eleven Saudi women flew
out the night of May 6-7 to the Nepalese capital Kathmandu on the first leg of
their two-week journey to try and scale Mount Everest.
Their campaign --
dubbed “A
Woman’s Journey – Destination Mount Everest” – aims to
promote awareness of breast cancer, express moral support for women sufferers
and underscore
the importance of healthier lifestyles and physical fitness.
All 11 Saudi women taking the breast cancer
fight to the earth’s highest mountain – who I introduced
in an earlier
post -- have
relatives or friends who fought or are fighting the ailment.
Led by HRH Princess Reema
Bint Bandar Bin Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the
driving force behind the May 7-21 campaign, they are: Alya Al-Sa'ad,
Hatun Madani, Mona Shahab, Noura Bouzo, Lina Al-Maeena, Samaher Mously, Asma
Al-Ghalib, Mashael Al-Hegelan, Hasna’a Mokhtar and Raha Moharrak.
Here is a photo
update on their progress so far. The photo originals are from their Facebook
page:
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From Lukla, the trek led the climbers to the banks of
the Dudh Koshi (or milky river, inset) and on to the town of Phakding, where they are shown resting |
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May 9: The Saudi
pink mountaineers seen crossing the confluence of the Dudh Koshi and
Bothe
Koshi on a high-suspension bridge before their steep climb to reach Namche
Bazaar
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Seven of the
climbers pose for the camera on the way to Namche Bazaar (inset)
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This May 10
group photo of the 11 girls was taken outside Hotel Camp de Base
in Namche
Bazaar. They were to set out this Friday morning on a six-hour
trek to Thyangboche
at 3,780 meters. Thyangboche is the
spiritual center for the Khumbu,
a training center for new monks. It is also
the home of the famous Sherpas
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One of the Saudi
pink climbers nailing a "Fight Like a Girl" T-shirt
onto the wall of a local
cafe in Namche Bazaar. This is a
common tradition for all Mount Everest Base
Camp trekkers!
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