ABU DHABI // They were on different teams and different trails, but the first two Emirati women to summit South America’s highest peak agree that teamwork and determination helped them on the climb.
Danah Al Ali and Hanady Al Hashmi were the first and second Emirati women to climb Aconcagua in Argentina, finishing the 14-day expedition this month.
They described the challenges and thrills of hiking Aconcagua, located in the Andes mountain range and the highest peak in the southern and western hemispheres.
On January 16, the morning Mrs Al Ali summited the 6,962-metre mountain, no one on her team had appetites. She drank hot tea to warm up.
“We left the camp at 5.55am and headed to the summit,” the 32-year-old said.
“We started with our headlamps in the cold and dark, but shortly after, the sun slowly started to rise above the mountains. It was breathtaking.
“Later that day, after a long, exhausting push, my expedition team and I all stood on the summit of Aconcagua.”
They spent 30 minutes at the summit, which felt “like a dream”, she said.
A climber who had carried a portable keyboard up the mountain started to play music, making it “even stranger”.
Reaching that dream moment was not easy. Mrs Al Ali endured long, cold, windy and sleepless nights after starting the journey from the mountain’s base camp on January 7. They spent two nights acclimatising to the altitude, then moved to the next camp, at 4,877m.
“We moved over the moraine and through a field full of tall penitents – blades of ice that can be more than three metres tall,” said Mrs Al Ali.
As the journey continued she learnt to be flexible and patient, working with the other climbers to make decisions on issues such as weather or someone being sick.
“We had an itinerary written in detail, but we had to change plans sometimes,” she said.
“Things changed fast and we had to be able to accept that.”
Ms Al Hashmi said that having to fetch and purify water and setting up her tent made another climb, Kilimanjaro, seem like a luxury.
The 29-year-old senior specialist at Al Dar summited on January 17.
“Seeing that we had team members from all around the world – Australia, UK, etc – it turned out that I wasn’t only learning about Argentina, but also about other nationalities, because mountaineering is really a sport of sharing,” she said.
The expedition required not only getting used to the lack of comfort, but technical climbing skills and equipment. As the amount of snow and ice begins to increase closer to the summit, it was necessary to use crampons [shoes with spikes].
She was one of seven in her 12-person team able to summit.
“Thank God I had no altitude sickness,” she said. “Some people had to go down because of eyesight, nausea.”
She hopes to encourage other Emirati women to try adventure sports.
“Honestly, it is hard work. It takes a lot of commitment to follow such an adventure sport,” she said.
“High altitude is a serious thing. I try to encourage other Emirati girls, to push them to achieve what they want and to challenge themselves.”
Mountaineering helps to build confidence, social skills and work relations, she said.
“It’s not just the physical success, but the emotional part of it as well,” Ms Al Hashmi said.
She hopes to climb the seven summits – the highest peaks on each of the continents, with Denali in Alaska next on her list.
“I want to earn it every step of the way,” she said.
“Because for me it’s more about taking mountaineering seriously, and reaching a level where I am self-sufficient.”
hdajani@thenational.ae
nalwasmi@thenational.ae
