Omar Samra - Success On Mount Everest

Success On Mount Everest

In 2007, Omar joined Ben Stephens (England), Victoria James (Wales) and Greg Maud (South Africa) in putting together an expedition to climb Mount Everest from its South side. They were led by 10-time Everest summiteer Kenton Cool (England).

Omar and Ben met first at London Business School while reading for their two-year MBA. Omar had just completed his second climbing trip to the Peruvian Andes to "get climbing out of my system" according to him, before beginning his MBA. Little did he know that he would receive a university-wide email from Ben just 1.5 months later seeking interested parties wanting to attempt Everest. Omar immediately changed his plans and set Everest as a goal for 2007.

In the beginning there were roughly 30 to 40 interested parties but after one month of training, planning and a climbing trip in the Scottish winter, that number quickly dwindled to 4. Those four (mentioned above) became the core Everest team and trained together for the 18-months preceding the Everest expedition. During the preparation months, Omar climbed extensively in the Alps. He also attempted Cho-Oyu (6th highest mountain in the world) but failed to reach the 8,201m summit (Camp 2, 7200m) due to being unable to fully recover after falling sick for 2.5 months and losing over 10 kg just 3 months before the expedition.

The Everest expedition began on 25 March 2007 and lasted for just over 9 weeks. On 17 May at precisely 9:49 am Nepal time, Omar became the first Egyptian and youngest Arab to climb the 8,848m Mount Everest. He was also the first Arab to climb the mountain from its Nepali South face, the same route taken by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing in 1953.