Kuwaiti Climber Zed Al Refai Leads Kuwaiti Group up Kilimanjaro

Kuwaiti climber Zed Al Refai, nicknamed Zeddy, is currently leading an international team of friends to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa, in honor of Kuwait's National and Liberation days on February 25 and 26.

Al Refai, who has already climbed Kilimanjaro four times, told the Arab Times: "I am going with friends because I try to introduce these kinds of trips to them as much as possible....We are going to be 12 people on the trip, seven Kuwaitis including one Kuwaiti woman...Riad Malallah, who is one of my closest childhood friends and has travelled with me many times, will be with us including other members of Kuwait Extreme Team and friends from the UAE, Syria, America and Canada. Not all of us have had experience in climbing mountains before but most of us have had hiking experience so we are going to help each other out. I believe it is going to be a good experience for all of us." One member of the party is Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani, an Arab adventurer and co-founder of Musafir. He's climbing to raise cash for the Malaria Consortium, to help defeat malaria in Tanzania.

Among active Arab mountaineers, 46-year-old Zed Al Refai is the most prolific. He began hiking and climbing as a college student in New Jersey, making trips to New England, Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest. After a trekking trip to Nepal in the 1990s, Al Refai began thinking about climbing Mount Everest. In 1999 he ascended Denali, the highest peak in North America, and embarked on becoming the first Arab to climb not only Everest but also the Seven Summits. He climbed Mount Everest in 2003 on his third attempt and completed his Seven Summits quest in 2004 by climbing Aconcagua, becoming the 119th climber to complete the list and the 79th to complete the list with Carstensz Pyramid as the Oceania high point.

Al Refai organized this Kilimanjaro trip to raise awareness of ecological issues that he, as a mountaineer, has seen first-hand. He says, "...one of the reasons we are going to Kilimanjaro is to spread awareness about the glaciers that are melting so fast that it is said they will disappear in less than ten years." In Kuwait he lectures at schools "to motivate kids to be adventurous and discover the world. My lectures also spread awarenss about the protection of the environment, climate change and reducing our waste." He also notes that Kuwait has a scarcity of water yet its consumers are one of the largest wasters of water in the world. Al Refai's hope is that the 12 people climbing Kilimanjaro, with its disappearing glaciers and ecosystems, with him will in turn affect more people.

Today the Kilimanjaro party climbed to the top of Lava Tower for acclimatization before descending down to 12,960-foot (3,950-meter) Barranco camp below the Breach Wall. Most of the party felt light-headed atop Lava Tower and two members had headaches and nausea. Tomorrow the group will try for the summit.

Photograph above: Zed Al Refai on the cover of Arabian Man magazine after his successful ascent of Mount Everest.