Standing atop the massif at a height of 4,892 metres, Sheikha Asma raised the Qatari flag and shared photos of her feat at Mount Vinson with a caption: “2021, what an EPIC year! Hello from Vinson Massif, the highest point in Antarctica!”
Qatari mountaineer Sheikha Asma Al Thani capped 2021 conquering the highest peak in Antarctica, Vinson Massif.
Standing atop the massif at a height of 4,892 metres, Sheikha Asma raised the Qatari flag and shared photos of her feat at Mount Vinson with a caption: “2021, what an EPIC year! Hello from Vinson Massif, the highest point in Antarctica!”
Sheikha Asma began the new year with a historical achievement as she became the first Qatari woman to ski to the South Pole and climb Mount Vinson.
The Qatar Olympic body expressed their enthusiasm on this achievement with a post on Twitter stating: “We’re starting 2022 with a huge first time achievement in women’s history in Qatar.”
Sheikha Asma’s adventure in Antarctica didn’t end at Mount Vinson as she also skied around 117 kilometres to reach the South Pole.
“Our adventures in Antarctica didn’t stop at Vinson. We then skied the Last Degree to the South Pole. The Last Degree is the process of making the journey over the last latitude of distance to the South Pole from 89° South, ” she said on Instagram.
Sheikha Asma also attributed the success of her adventure to the people who accompanied her in this journey.
She said: “I was fortunate enough to do it with my brothers and witness their historic achievement of raising the Nepali flag in the South Pole for the first time.”
“Through the bitter cold, freezing winds, I would always be comforted knowing that together we could push through anything,” she added.
“Our adventures in Antarctica didn’t stop at Vinson. We then skied the Last Degree to the South Pole. The Last Degree is the process of making the journey over the last latitude of distance to the South Pole from 89° South, ” she said on Instagram.
Throughout the entire trip, the Sheikha was accompanied by Nirmal Purja also known as Nimsdai, the man behind the hit Netflix documentary, “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible”. The fearless Nepali mountaineer was among the team that was the guiding force behind Sheikha Asma journey to the Antarctica.
In a post on Instagram, he mentioned her latest feat and said: “Congratulations to @atalthani became the first #Qatari woman to ski to the South Pole and climb Mt. Vinson and also the first Arab female and Qatari to ski both to the South and North Pole.”
To date, this marks Sheikha Asma’s latest achievement following a successful ascent on Mount Ama Dablam in November last year. Sheikha Asma also summitted Mount Dhaulagiri, the seventh highest mountain in the world, and Mount Manaslu, in which she became the first Arab to summit a mountain higher than 8000 feet without oxygen in 2021.
To mark the beginning of another chapter, Sheikha Asma said: ” And that’s how my 2022 started, raising the flag of my beloved country on the South Pole.”
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