RIYADH, 23 May 2008 — Family members and sponsors of Everest climber Farouk Saad Hamad Al-Zuman lost contact with the climber again yesterday, which caused mild concern for them. “But, we hope that he is coming down consistently and gradually from the top of the mountain peak and Insha Allah, he will come back to us safely,” said Farouk’s mother Asma Al-Yahya, who is eagerly waiting for her son.
Al-Zuman became the first Saudi to conquer the world highest peak on Wednesday. “While clouds and snow enshrouded the base camp, the climbing teams enjoyed fairly clear skies and little wind,” said a statement released by Al-Zuman’s sponsors here yesterday.
The climb was not easy however. “Al-Zuman and his teammates encountered many other climbers on the route, leading to bottlenecks and hold-ups in many places,” said the statement. But they persevered and overcame the difficulties. It took the team about several hours to climb from the south to reach the summit.
Asked how concerned Al-Zuman’s well-wishers are about losing satellite phone contact, Bader Sultan Al-Bazie, a senior executive at Attariq Communications, who has been monitoring the expedition’s progress since day one, said: “There is nothing to worry now.”
“We were trying to establish contact with Al-Zuman, but could not succeed. But we will speak to him any time now onward,” he said. “Once Al-Zuman and his team members come down a little more, we may be able to speak to them.”
Mount Everest, which is also called a mountain without mercy, defeats 70 percent of those trying to conquer it. In 1996, 15 people died trying to reach the summit. That year, a storm stranded several climbers between the summit and the Safety Camp IV. Since the first historic climb of New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Tenzig Norgay in 1953, a large number of people have died, while attempting to reach to the top.
