KUWAIT: Mountaineer Yousef Al-Refai completed the seven volcanic summits challenge by summiting Mount Sidley in Antarctica, making him the 24th individual in the world, the first Middle Eastern Arab, and the youngest person to attain this accomplishment. Speaking to KUNA, Refai said he summited Sidley on Dec 22, 2021 after spending six days trying to arrive in Antarctica. Once at the South Pole, it took the team four hours and a half to reach the Union Glacier Camp, spending a night before heading to Marie Byrd Land region at the base of the dormant volcanic summit of Sidley, the Kuwaiti adventurer said.

Refai added that Sidley, which stands 4,285 meters high, is not considered by any measure as the highest volcanic summit in this challenge, but the main hardship was to withstand the merciless cold as well as carrying 15 kg of equipment, plus using 25-kg skis. Refai pointed out that the basecamp was at 2,225 m above sea level, followed by a second camp at 3,000 m, prior to summiting the over 4,000-m Mount Sidley.

The good part of summiting Sidley was that there was no real sunset at this time of the year, which meant mountaineers could continue ascending longer; however, this made it very hard to sleep, said Refai. It took the team seven hours, starting at 8:00 am at a temperature of minus 25 degrees Celsius, to summit Sidley, he affirmed, noting that at the very top, the temperature dropped to a staggering minus 35 degrees Celsius.

Refai felt proud to be part of the unique list of individuals that made it to the summit of Sidley, indicating that he was especially enthusiastic about being the only Arab and the youngest mountaineer in the world to achieve this dream. He thanked all those who supported him and praised cooperation with the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), which commissioned him to bring samples from the site.

Refai finished the seven summits challenge, which began with Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro on Dec 30, 2015, Russia’s Elbrus and Papua New Guinea’s Mount Giluwe on July 18 and 21 respectively, Mexico’s Pico de Orizaba and Iran’s Damavand on Jan 6 and 11 respectively, South America’s Ojos del Salado on Jan 15, 2020, and finally Sidley in December. – KUNA