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Friday, May 27, 2005

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International

Iranian women's Everest team

Billi Bierling

KATHMANDU: I need not have bothered asking Farkhondeh Sadegh and Leila Bahrami how I was going to find them and their team. No other Iranian women have tackled Everest, and reactions in the lobby of the Royal Singhi hotel in Kathmandu are audibly condescending. I overhear two male climbers talking about them. ``What are they doing here?'' one asks. The other shakes his head: ``They're going to climb Everest.'' As his companion's jaw hits the floor, I ask whether they think it strange that these seven women are setting out to conquer the top of the world. ``No,'' they say apologetically, ``women can be very strong and I am sure they will be just fine.''

Even though the climbing world has become more open to women in recent years, strong female climbers are still considered the exception rather than the rule. Only 100 or so women have reached the peak of Everest to date, compared with 1,485 men. Annabelle Bond has just helped boost morale among female climbers after becoming the fastest woman to climb the highest mountains in seven continents. But if the team from Iran succeed, they will be the first Muslim women to scale the 8,848metre peak.

Both Sadegh (36), and Bahrami (32), have been to Nepal before. They climbed Mount Pumori, a steep mountain (7,161metre) 8km away from Everest, in 2001. ``When I climbed Mount Pumori I knew wanted to come back to Nepal to climb Everest,'' says Sadegh, a graphic designer. ``And I am happy that I can do it with six other women.''

But for the others, all aged between 25 and 36, this is their first time in the Nepalese Himalaya. When last year the Iranian Mountaineering Federation threw down the Everest gauntlet, 69 women responded. Applicants had to undergo a number of demanding tests, including climbing an icefall in the Rudbar-e-Qasran area near Tehran. Seven were picked to join the 20-strong team, and private sponsors coughed up the $400,000 needed for the expedition.

For Bahrami, who works for the oil ministry in Iran, scaling Everest is more than just a physical challenge. ``As a mountaineer, I would like to do it as well as I can; on the other hand, I would like to do it for Muslim women,'' she says. ``People often seem to think Muslim women are limited. It would be a good chance to show the world that something like this is possible for us.''

Everest was first conquered by a British-led expedition, with Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay from Nepal reaching the top on May 29 1953. But it took another 22 years for a woman to climb it. In 1975, Junko Tabei of Japan conquered Mount Everest via its southeast ridge - the same route taken by Hillary and Tenzing.

``Everest is not that technical of a mountain. However, there is the altitude, and I have never been that high before. But I am 95% sure that I will get to the top,'' says Sadegh.

The expedition is not without its dangers. Nearly 190 climbers lost their lives on Everest between 1922, when the first deaths were recorded, and 2001. ``Many were very surprised when I told them I was going. They asked me whether a woman was really able to climb that mountain. My friends and family pray for me,'' says Sadegh. ``But I am going to climb that mountain and I am going to come down alive.''

The team also have no intention of swapping their headscarves for the traditional hats and balaclavas. This is how they climb in the Alborz mountains north of Tehran, and Bahrami sees no need to change the habit of a lifetime. ``We wear our headscarves all the time as we don't want to show our hair, so it should not be a problem to wear them to Everest - they will keep us warm.'' —

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