Yousef Al Refaie sets the record for reaching the top of the highest volcanoes on each of the seven continents.
A Kuwaiti mountaineer has become the youngest person to climb the world’s Seven Volcanic Summits.
Yousef Al Refaie has set a Guinness World Record for reaching the top of the highest volcanoes on each of the seven continents at 24 years and 119 days.
“[If] you came from the desert, I wouldn’t think you [would] be able to climb the highest mountains,” he said of his feat.
Mr Al Refaie, the 24th person to climb the peaks, began his journey as a tourist on December 30 2015 when he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
He then climbed Russia’s Mount Elbrus on July 18 2017, Mount Giluwe Mountain in Papua New Guinea on July 21 2018, Pico de Orizaba in Mexico on January 6 2019, Iran’s Mount Damavand on August 11 2019, Ojos Del Salado in the Andes on January 15 2020 and Mount Sidley in the Antarctic on December 22 2021.
He said the toughest was the 4,285m dormant Mount Sidley in Antarctica’s Marie Byrd Land, one of the largest uninhabited areas in the world. It took the team seven hours to push from their camp at 3,000m to the crest of the caldera.
He said he had previously attempted to break the record for the fastest climb of the Arabian Peninsula’s highest peaks, but, as with other challengers, he was not allowed to enter Yemen.
Mr Al Refaie now wants to cross the largest deserts in the world, starting with the Empty Quarter in November.
“When I first asked my mum for the Guinness World Records Book as a kid, she told me she would only buy it if I had something amazing to make my way into it,” he said.
“I really don’t know if she meant it that time, but here we are living the dream.
source/content: thenationalnews.com (edited)
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