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Tribune News Network
Doha
For this Qatari adventurer the sky is the only limit! Fahad Badar, the Qatari high-altitude climber and adventurer made Qatar proud again after seven days of skiing the last degree to the South Pole on December 28, 2019.
This was just the beginning of the expedition — going on to climb the highest mountain in the Antarctic, Mount Vinson at 4,892m and reaching the summit on January 2, 2020.
“I knew they would be challenging expeditions and I am so proud that once again I was able to achieve success and fly the flags of Qatar, Qatar 2022, the Cancer Society and the Commercial Bank at both the South Pole and on the summit of Mt Vinson, in Antarctica,” Fahad stated.
“With two guides and nine team members in the first expedition we faced some punishing weather conditions, with frost bite and extreme exhaustion for some. Eating mostly provisions of dehydrated food, pre-cooked frozen meals of rice and dal and energy gels during the hours of skiing; the journey was a challenge both physically and mentally,” Fahad said.
Skiing the last degree in Antarctica, means one degree of latitude. Skiing from 89 degrees South to 90 degrees of the South Pole, is an incredible crossing with 24 hours of continuous daylight involving skiing at intervals up to 10 hours a day to total 110km, using sleds to haul provisions across the Antarctic in temperatures of minus 20 to 40 degrees Celsius below zero.
For many reaching South Pole would be enough of an achievement, but not for Fahad.
Mount Vinson was to be his fourth of the seven summits.
“The second leg of the expedition to scale one of the coldest mountains on earth, Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica, was led by one guide and two other team members. We were roped together to avoid slipping. To scale the steep ice ridge of Mount Vinson we used spiked crampons on our boots to dig into the ice so we could scale the steep ascent. It was tough but we made it,” Fahad added.
In May 2019, Fahad made history by becoming the first Arab male to double summit both Mount Everest and Lhotse in a single expedition.
He is one of 85 people in the world to have succeeded in achieving this milestone, making him also one of the only two Qataris to successfully climb Mount Everest to date. In 2019, he went on to climb Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn and Ski the last degree in Antarctica.
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23/01/2020
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