Jakarta. Qatari mountaineer Asma Al Thani recently completed the Explorer’s Grand Slam, with Indonesia’s highest mountain being the final summit that wrapped up her decade-long adventure. 

The Explorer’s Grand Slam challenges climbers across the globe to reach the North Pole, South Pole, and the Seven Summits, the seven highest mountains on each of the seven continents. They are Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Vinson, Elbrus, and Carstensz Pyramid, also known as Puncak Jaya, although there are several versions of the Seven Summits. Al Thani started her Grand Slam journey by climbing the Kilimanjaro back in 2014 and went up the six other summits in the following years. 

Al Thani conquered the Carstensz -- which lies in Central Papua -- just last week, making the 4,884-meter-high mountain the final stop in her Explorer’s Grand Slam journey. To Al Thani, every summit is different and has its own challenges, but the Qatari royal family member admitted that climbing up the Carstensz Pyramid was a joy. 

“In every mountain or expedition, there are always the positives and the negatives. For me, Carstensz was one of the ones that I enjoyed the most,” Al Thani told reporters in Jakarta on Monday.

Al Thani said that in her experience, climbing the other seven summits -- aside from the Carstensz -- was tough because she kept on asking herself “why am I doing this to myself?”. 

“You only realize [why you decide to climb up the Seven Summits] a couple of days after reaching the mountaintop. But the Carstensz was different for me. I was excited up there [at the Carstensz]. .. I was very happy to do it. … I felt very blessed to have the opportunity,” Al Thani said.

The trip made Al Thani the first Arab woman to complete the Explorer’s Grand Slam. Indonesia’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) chairman Raja Sapta Oktohari had tagged along with Al Thani during the climb. Oktohari revealed that the rising global temperatures would cause the snow in Carstensz to melt. And this harrowing fact had pushed Oktohari to reach the mountaintop despite not being a professional climber.

“The snow in Carstensz will entirely disappear no later than one or two years from now. This is extremely sad to hear. So apart from being motivated by Sheikha Asma’s presence, I also told myself that this could be our last last chance to see snow in Carstensz,” Oktahari told the same presser.

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