Omar Samra
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Omar Samra is the first Egyptian to climb Mount Everest. He reached the summit at precisely 9:49am Nepal time (roughly 7.19am Egyptian time) on 17 May 2007.
| Omar Samra | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 11, 1978 |
| Origin | Cairo, Egypt |
| Occupation(s) | Wanderer, Writer, Private Equity |
| Website | http://www.omarsamra.com/ |
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Born in London on 11/08/78, Omar moved to Cairo when he was only weeks old. He finished his schooling at El Alsson School and graduated from the American University in Cairo (AUC) in 2000 with a BA in Economics and minor in Business Administration. He was also awarded an MBA degree at the London Business School in 2007 with a concentration in Entrepreneurship. Between his bachelors and masters level education, Omar worked with HSBC in London and Hong Kong for two and a half years before embarking on a 370-day journey across Asia and Latin America (14 countries).
Upon his return from his yearlong trip, Omar resumed working in London in the banking field and began his 2-year MBA programme 1.5 years after that. His expedition to Mount Everest began upon the completion of his MBA in March 2007.
Omar now lives in Cairo and works for Actis, the Emerging Markets Private Equity firm.
[edit] Climbing & Trekking
Omar climbed his first snowy mountain in the Swiss Alps at the age of 16. Since then he has climbed and trekked extensively in the UK, Himalayas, Alps, Andean, Patagonian and Central American mountain ranges. Other adventures include traversing the Costa Rican jungle in 3 weeks, cycling across the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, around Andalusia in Spain and from London to Paris. As a keen traveler, Omar has been to over 38 different countries and published writing about his traveling experiences in both English and Arabic. He is currently working on publishing his first book around the same topic.
[edit] Success on Mount Everest
In 2007, Omar joined Ben Stephens (England), Victoria James (Wales) and Greg Maud (South Africa) in putting together an expedition to climb Mount Everest from its South side. They were led by 5-time Everest summiteer Kenton Cool (England).
Omar and Ben met first at London Business School while reading for their two-year MBA. Omar had just completed his second climbing trip to the Peruvian Andes to "get climbing out of my system" before beginning his MBA. Little did he know that he would receive a university-wide email from Ben just 1.5 months later seeking interested parties wanting to attempt Everest.
In the beginning there were roughly 30 to 40 interested parties but after one month of training, planning and a climbing trip in the Scottish winter, that number quickly dwindled to 4. Those four (mentioned above) became the core Everest team and trained together for the 18-months preceding the Everest expedition. More information on the team is available at www.everest2007.net.
During the preparation months, Omar climbed extensively in the Alps. He also attempted Cho-Oyu (6th highest mountain in the world) but failed to reach the 8,201m summit (Camp 2, 7200m) due to being unable to fully recover after falling sick for 2.5 months just 3 months before to the expedition.
The Everest expedition began on the 25th of March 2007 and lasted for just over 9 weeks. On the 17th of May at precisely 9:49AM Nepal time, Omar became the first and youngest Egyptian to climb 8,850m Mount Everest. He also became the first Egyptian to climb Everest from its South face, the same route taken by Sir Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tenzing in 1953.
[edit] The spark of the journey
When asked about what sparked the idea of climbing Everest, Omar said:
"Everest is regarded as one of, if not the most challenging of human conquests. I was passionate about climbing and a great believer that one should always challenge their own perception of where their boundaries lie. Everest seemed like an irrational challenge for an Egyptian, so I embraced it wholeheartedly. This feeling grew stronger when I realized that no Egyptian had attempted, let alone stood, on the roof of the world. The desire and pride of raising the Egyptian flag on the highest points on earth has been with me ever since." Omar Samra
[edit] Mount Kilimanjaro
In April 2008, he climbed the highest mountain in Africa Mount Kilimanjaro by the Machame route.
[edit] References to Omar
Article in Community Times magazine
Article in AUC's Caravan newspaper
Article in Egypt Today
Article in the Daily Star newspaper
Article on Explorer's Web
Article on the Egypt Information Service Webpage
Article in the Italian media
Article in El-Ahram Hebdou about the Everest Expedition
Article in El-Ahram Hebdou about Omar's 370-day journey
Article in China's People Daily Newspaper
Article on the Goliath business database
Omar at the Great Alexandria Library
Article on El-Ahram Weekly Online
London Business School Everest news item
