Emirati Teen Aims for Explorer's Grand Slam Before 20th Birthday, Inspiring Youth

Emirati teen mountaineer Fatima Al Awadhi, 19, is sending a powerful message to young people: seize your dreams early. This energetic and spirited individual has already achieved several records by conquering some of the world's highest peaks. In the upcoming seven months, the Abu Dhabi resident is set to embark on a series of demanding challenges, aiming to complete the Explorer's Grand Slam before her 20th birthday. This ambitious goal includes climbing the highest mountain on each of the seven continents and reaching both the North and South Poles. She has already successfully scaled four of the seven summits.

“Whenever I look at a summit, I can't help but smile and think: You did it, you set a goal, and you executed it,” Al Awadhi shared with The National. “One of the proudest moments is being able to hold my flag and be like, this is where I came from, look what I'm capable of doing. I want to tell young people, no matter what your age is, it's never too early to start dreaming and achieving and to make the most of the resources around us, especially in the UAE. We have so many opportunities. We just need to seize them and make things better.”

Al Awadhi's next steps involve a trip to Iceland for ski training, followed by a challenging 111km ski expedition to the South Pole. “I will be the youngest in the world to complete the Explorer’s Grand Slam if successful,” she stated, noting that the current record holder is a Japanese climber who was 20 when she achieved the feat.

The remaining peaks on her Seven Summits list are Aconcagua in South America, Mount Everest, and Denali in North America. She aspires to “inspire others to do things different, put themselves in different environments, push themselves and discover what they're truly capable of”. Her aim is for people to see her not as extraordinary, but to recognize their own potential to achieve more.

An economics student at the American University of Sharjah, Al Awadhi finds fulfillment in speaking to schoolchildren. “I started falling in love with the challenge, but it transitioned into something bigger,” she explained. “I presented to schoolchildren and saw their curiosity and how inspired they were. That's when I realized that I'm not just climbing for myself. I'm climbing to represent what Emiratis are capable of, what the youth is capable of.”

Fatima Al Awadhi's rigorous training includes pulling a weighted sledge in Dubai, preparing her for ski expeditions. Her most recent accomplishment was summiting Lenin Peak in Kyrgyzstan in July, making her the youngest Arab to climb a peak over 7,000 metres. While not part of the Seven Summits, Lenin Peak served as crucial preparation for 8,000m ascents.

Al Awadhi's mountaineering journey began during a difficult period in high school, while her father was in a coma. Searching for a “sense of purpose in life,” she discovered the Seven Summits challenge during her first trek in the Nepal mountains as part of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. “I was going through a lot in my life – my father was in a coma for just over four years and he passed away a year after,” she recounted. “When you're going through something like that, you sometimes try to see life in a more positive light because you want to get out of that negative mindset. When I did my trek in Nepal, I saw new possibilities for my future, and I decided that I didn't want it to end there. I wanted to look forward to something. That's when I heard of the Seven Summits.”

Her climbing career started with Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. A year later, at 17, she became the youngest Emirati to summit Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe. At 18, she was the youngest Arab to conquer Mount Vinson in Antarctica and subsequently climbed Carstensz Pyramid in Oceania. Her training regimen includes endurance sessions with weighted backpacks and sledge-pulling on UAE beaches, all while managing her studies.

Al Awadhi expressed deep gratitude for the support from UAE President Sheikh Mohamed. When she raised the UAE flag atop Lenin Peak, she carried a message from Sheikh Mohamed for young people, emphasizing ambition, hope, resilience, and perseverance. “Just a few weeks before I left for Lenin Peak, I met the President, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, who showed me his support, which I’m truly grateful for,” she said. “I felt more motivated because I knew I was representing Emiratis. He actually told me, ‘You represent the spirit of the UAE,’ and that really stuck. That's what I kept in mind on my way to the summit.”

She believes this mindset will help her overcome altitude sickness and exhaustion on her upcoming climbs. “I keep on reminding myself that I’m climbing for something much bigger than myself,” Al Awadhi stated. Reflecting on her mother’s support, she added, “My mum always says that she can't sleep at night whenever I'm away. However, I know that she knows what it's like to dream big; I know how proud she is. I was a very shy child and now I'm able to climb these big mountains. I guess she's happy that I'm able to live a life where I'm able to dream and I'm able to achieve.”