Rawan Dakik becomes first Tanzanian woman to climb Mt Everest

By Lilian Ndilwa

Rawan Dakik, on Wednesday became the first Tanzanian woman to climb Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak on day when the first fatalities were recorded on the mountain. 

Two climbers from the United States and Switzerland have died on Mount Everest, the first fatalities of this year's season, expedition organisers in Nepal said Thursday.

But in recent seasons, Everest has seen a surge in the number of climbers, leading to overcrowding that has been blamed for multiple deaths.

"Two climbers passed away on Wednesday," Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks told AFP.

Swiss climber Abdul Waraich, 40, died near the summit after reaching the top and suffering exhaustion, said Chhang Dawa Sherpa from the same organisation.

Planning

Speaking of her journey to the world’s highest peak on an Instagram story, Rawan said that climbing Mountain Everest is probably one of the hardest things she has done before.

According to her she is waiting for the weather window alongside her team to push for the summit.

“Base camp was hit by a snow storm for a few days which caused damage in the icefall and a short delay to our schedule. We are waiting for the icefall doctors to head up and fix the route before pushing to our first rotation,” she writes.

On March 20, 2021 she announced that she would be climbing Mountain Everest to support children living with Cancer.

“A few years ago if you’d ask me about climbing Everest, I would’ve probably told you that you're mad and I wouldn’t plan on going that extreme. Here I am today, packing and getting ready for my departure tomorrow,” said Rawan in an Instagram post.

She added: There was a lot of planning, training, organizing, a feel of mixed emotions, trip getting cancelled last year and a bunch of thoughts that can’t be put into words.

Fatalities

Eleven people died climbing the world's highest peak in 2019, with four deaths blamed on overcrowding.

On one day, 354 people were lined up to reach the top from Nepal's southern side and Tibet's northern approach.

To ease the crowding Nepal's tourism ministry announced rules capping the number of people who can summit the mountain per window of suitable weather.

Expedition organisers have been told to send teams up the peak strictly in accordance with permit numbers or limit the number of climbers going up at one time.

This article was originally published by The Citizen. [Photo: Courtesy]