Explore Himalaya recently organized an expedition for an all female group to Mera Peak(6654m). While five of the climbers  were Canadian, one member was from France.

Mera Peak’s summit

The names of the members are are as follows:
1. SEVERINE TRALLI (France)
2. MARIE Légaré (Canada)
3. CAROLE CôTÉ (Canada)
4. HÉLÈNE MINEAU (Canada)
5. ISABELLE GAGNON (Canada)
6. LOUISE LAMONTAGNE (Canada) – Expedition Group Leader

The group was supported by Sirdar DAGELJI SHERPA, climbing sherpas TEMBA SHERPA and NAWANG GODHEN SHERPA. Though only one member HÉLÈNE MINEAU could reach the summit, the members were happy that all of them could reach High Camp.
HÉLÈNE MINEAU summitted Mera Peak along with Temba Sherpa and Nawang Godhen Sherpa on 18th November 2010 at 7:00 AM (local time).
Explore Himalaya congratulates HÉLÈNE MINEAU for her successful summit bid and the rest of the members for reaching  High Camp.

Mr. Salah Salim Ahmed Al Habsi was handed over Nepal Mountaineering Association’s certificate of achievement for being the first climber from UAE to summit Mera Peak by Mr. Suman Pandey at Explore Himalaya’s office this afternoon.

A shield commemorating the climber’s achievement was also handed over to the climber from Explore Himalaya’s side by Everest Summitteer and pilot Simeon Moro from Italy.

On 17th October 2010, Salah Salim Ahmed Al Habsi became the first climber from UAE (United Arab Emirates) to summit Mera Peak (6654m). The highest of Nepal’s trekking peaks, Mera Peak lies to the south of Everest, dominating the watershed between the wild and beautiful valleys of the Hinku and Hongu.

After his return to Kathmandu, we got to meet Mr. Al Habsi. It was a delight to meet this friendly and courteous climber, who is also a Lieutenant Colonel and Lecturer at Police College, Abu Dhabi Police G.H.Q. He seemed elated to have accomplished his mission and was grateful to the team from Explore Himalaya for their support in organizing his expedition. He said, “I am grateful to Explore Himalaya and the team of sherpas who made it easy for me to reach the top. They did a lot of hard work.”

Coming from a country devoid of high mountains (according to Wikipedia the highest point in UAE is a 1910m unnamed knoll), I couldn’t help asking how he got interested in mountaineering. Speaking about his passion for climbing, he said he got hooked onto climbing while he was studying in USA. According to him he has done a lot of climbing in America and Europe. In Nepal he has already summitted Island peak and Mera Peak. When asked what’s next on his agenda, he replied “Everest in March 2011!”

I have heard it often times and I heard it from from Al Habsi too. Like many others who had visited nepal, Mr. Al Habsi’s views did not differ: “Nepal is a beautiful country and it’s a great place to visit. The people are nice and the place is worth visiting, but the country needs to develop it’s infrastructure. I think to attract high end tourists the infrastructure needs to be developed.”

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the people concerned will take note of Mr. Al Habsi’s suggestion!

To know more about his views on climbing and others, check the video clip.

The pictures displayed below have been taken by a group of 3 climbers in Autumn 2007:
Barry Anspach, Pam Sbar, Mark Robbins.

Our trip: Mera Peak climb in 20 days

Photo Credit: Barry Anspach, Pam Sbar, Mark Robbins