Saudi Gazette He is determined and devoted. He had a goal and he successfully achieved it. He believes in himself and above all in the Lord of the Universe. He is Farouq Al-Zouman, the first Saudi to climb the Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, which is 29,000 ft above the ground. If compared it is 30 times as tall as the Kingdom Tower in Riyadh and up till now only 2600 people in the world have reached the top. Al-Zouman hails from a prominent family in Riyadh. His interest since childhood lies in physical activities like soccer, bowling, swimming, and horse riding, ice-skating, skiing, snow-boarding, and of course mountain climbing. An economics graduate from the University of Oregon, he is now a motivational speaker. He travels around the globe to give inspirational speeches to the youth, and his recent trip was to Holland. Climbing the Mount Everest is not an easy task. It can only be done by those who are truly passionate about it. And, Al-Zouman's passion of mountain climbing holds no bounds.” I always had a passion for mountain climbing. I firmly decided to climb the Mount Everest when I was climbing a mountain in Hawaii with my friends. We had reached the top of this mountain just before sunrise and I was awed by the view. Sun rays peaked from the clouds below us and the ocean was all around us. At that unforgettable moment, I was determined to climb the highest peak to see the greatness of Allah's creation in the world. My goal was to call out Allah's name from the highest point on Earth and to pray where no other human had prayed before,” he said. For achieving success, one is faced with many challenges along its way. Al-Zouman was no different and he had to face them as well. He said,” Life is full of obstacles for anyone with a dream, but we can overcome any obstacle. Was my goal easy? No. Was it difficult? Yes. Was it impossible? No. Always ask yourself those three questions when your goal seems elusive and hard to reach. It took us over two months to reach our destination at the top of the summit.” He further added, “There are always discouraging people who will present you with psychological and emotional obstacles. While gearing up for the climb, I met an elderly man, a native of Nepal. He scoffed at me, a Saudi who wanted to climb Mount Everest! He said to me that I was a man raised in the desert, amid sand and sun, and would be unable to survive in ice and snow. He said I came from a place of temperatures 50 degrees above zero and that my body could not withstand temperatures 50 degrees below zero. Of course the physical obstacles for our entire exploration team were many; bitter cold, avalanches, the possibility of slipping, the physical exertion of carrying a heavy backpack while climbing, running into a wall of solid ice at a 90 degree angle, deep crevices, and the health risks associated with extremely low oxygen levels and low atmospheric pressure at such high altitudes.” Truly excruciating, but then success doesn't come easy or does it?! Al-Zouman suffered snow blindness toward the end. His team had to cover his eyes for two days in order to restore his eye sight. When the goings get tough, the tough gets going. And, the tough Al-Zouman did not deter, he went for it. “The first and foremost secret to my success was that I continuously repeated this message to myself every day: Nothing is impossible as long as Allah's power is here. Four things which I learned from this trip are discover your talent. Look deeply within yourself to find your gift. Avoid copying someone else because everyone is different. Even the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had unique and distinguished qualities. Khalid Bin Waleed's gift was military tactics, Abu Huraira's gift was memorization, and Bilal's gift was his voice,” he told the Saudi Gazette. He explains further, “write your goal and preferably set a deadline for yourself. Be proactive and remain positive. When we stumbled upon a 40 meters high wall of ice, two members of our team quit. But, I smiled and thought of how much sweeter getting to the top will be after overcoming this obstacle. And, most importantly be patient. “Do not surrender midway because reaching your goal will take time and effort. After sleeping for a few hours in our tents, we had to wake up before dawn and spend an hour and a half dressing up in our snow suits, dismantling the tents, and packing our equipment before inching up again. Patience is what kept us going.” Al-Zouman was so confident about his dream that he never thought about quitting. He also said that strong faith in Allah and constant supplication helps one revive. On reaching the top he looked around to absorb the miraculous beauty. He then raised the Saudi flag and made his country proud. He called out the name of Allah, then the Adhan and knelt down in prostration for obviously this wouldn't have been possible without His mercy and blessings. __
