“I am speechless; it’s been the longest two months of my life,” Dolores Al Shelleh wrote on Instagram on May 24 last year.
It was the day after she'd conquered the world's highest peak, Mount Everest. That was no mean feat in itself, but it was all the more haunting considering the mountain had claimed a large number of fatalities last year, which many argued was due to overcrowding on the summit.
A picture published around the world at the time showed a queue of climbers waiting to ascend from what is known as the “death zone” – an area above 8,000m – which laid bare the extent of the dangers. In the first five months of 2019, 10 people had already died or had gone missing while attempting the 8,848m climb in temperatures that can drop to below 40 degrees Celsius.
But on May 23, Al Shelleh, a Dubai resident from Jordan, stood triumphantly on the "summit of the world" as the first Arab woman to climb the daunting peak from the treacherous Northeast Ridge.
The Northeast Ridge route is considered the toughest climb in the world in mountaineering circles, due to its exposed and treacherous terrain.
Speaking to The National after the climb, Al Shelleh revealed how her journey had been fraught with danger every step of the way.
She watched unable to help as a fellow climber died right in front of her. She herself suffered several fractured ribs in a fall.
“He died as we were making our climb down the mountain,” Al Shelleh said.
“It all happened so quickly. It looked like he had an oxygen issue before he started struggling. He fell over and died.”
The 2019 Everest season was the fourth-deadliest on record, with 11 confirmed deaths.
There has been criticism of the number of permits issued by the Nepalese government, with 820 climbers and sherpas trying to reach the summit in a short weather window. It has been claimed some climbers lacked experience and appeared unfamiliar with their own equipment.
Al Shelleh said many of her family had feared for the worst when reports began emerging last week of 10 deaths on the mountain.
Just a day before Al Shelleh summited Everest, another Dubai resident and female climber, Fatima Deryan, 26, had summited the peak. Deryan became the first Lebanese national to climb Everest.
National Geographic Abu Dhabi will premiere the Al Shelleh's story, The Lone She on March 8, International Women's Day.
The film is part of National Geographic Abu Dhabi’s wider programme of content for International Women’s Day, which is set to highlight several stories about women, both from the Arab world and internationally.
Al Shelleh had earlier made history by being the first Arab to summit Mount Manaslu in the Himalayas, the world’s eighth highest mountain at a height of 8,156m.
“There are many sad and joyful stories to share, after years of hard work and compromise and having the right support behind me,” Al Shelleh wrote on Instagram after her successful Everest climb.