In this episode of Meet The Locals, we meet Dolores Al Shelleh, a Jordanian adventurer and an impact influencer living in Dubai. Dolores became the first Jordanian woman to summit Mount Everest, and the first Arab woman to accomplish this feat from the northeast ridge.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 In 2015, I was living in Dubai.
00:17 I wanted to take on a new challenge,
00:18 an adventure in my life.
00:19 And I've always wanted to connect with nature
00:22 and go to different areas, explore more of the world.
00:25 I decided to climb mountains, but I've never
00:28 done any extreme sports as mountaineering.
00:31 And I worked hard for it for two and a half, three years.
00:34 I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Manapik.
00:36 And then when I climbed those two mountains, I was like, OK,
00:40 maybe I should climb Mount Everest from the Tibetan side
00:43 and be the first Arab woman and achieve some history.
00:46 It took us almost 50 days.
00:47 Because of the acclimatization process,
00:50 the body cannot take climbing up on higher altitudes
00:53 without getting used to it.
00:55 So we would climb from the base camp to a higher camp,
00:58 stay one night or two nights, depending on the height.
01:01 And then we go back to the base camp.
01:03 So it takes us two to three trips,
01:05 I would say, before the summit push.
01:06 [COUGHING]
01:07 [INAUDIBLE]
01:10 For two days, approximately.
01:11 I had bad days where I felt really sad.
01:14 And I felt I cannot make it, because all of us
01:17 get sick at some point on the mountain from the altitude.
01:19 So there was a lot of empathy.
01:22 So it was nice to see you connect as humans,
01:25 rather than as a certain country or a religion.
01:30 You're just humans on the same place
01:31 where you need to support each other.
01:34 The year that I climbed in 2019, the weather was really bad.
01:38 And we had a lot of moments where the guides told us
01:41 that we might not be able to reach this year because
01:44 of the weather circumstances.
01:46 So we were watching the weather forecast every day.
01:50 The guides decided that there are two to three days where
01:53 it's OK to climb Mount Everest.
01:57 Reaching the top is a feeling that I will never forget.
02:00 I felt most alive.
02:02 I felt most human.
02:03 And I felt how important it is to connect to each other,
02:08 to build up the teamwork together,
02:12 to care about the others on the summit.
02:14 And that's how I started searching more about what
02:17 can I take on next to be more of a useful, giving
02:22 person in this world.
02:25 So when I came back, I did find out about coaching,
02:28 life coaching.
02:29 So that was something I wanted to take on and learn.
02:32 And I recently finished that, becoming a mindset coach.
02:37 I also focused on the sustainability
02:39 and sustainable living because I believe
02:41 it affects not only the environment,
02:43 but also the mental health of people.
02:46 I hope to achieve my new chapters in Dubai
02:50 and hopefully to take this and move forward with it globally.
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