Saray Khumalo | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1972 Zambia |
| Occupation | mountaineer |
| Children | 2 |
Saray Khumalo (born 1972) is a Zambia-born, South African explorer and mountaineer. In May 2019, she became the first black African woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
With a Rwandan bloodline but now resident in South Africa, Khumalo was born in Zambia. [6] She works as an e-commerce business executive. [1] [3] She is a mother of two children. [7]
Prior to her 2019 success, she had attempted several times to climb Mount Everest. Her first attempt was in 2014, when she was halted after an avalanche that killed 16 guides on the slope. She tried again in 2015, but was halted by an earthquake in Nepal. Her final try, before her success, was in 2017, where she was forced to turn back because of the terrible weather. [6] [8] [4] [7] [5]
She is also known to have summited six mountains, including Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Aconcagua in Argentina and Mount Elbrus in Russia. [9] [8]
Khumalo is a Nelson Mandela Libraries ambassador who raises funds through her mountain climbing to support several projects including iSchoolAfrica, the Lunch Box Fund and the Mandela Library project in Thembisa, Johannesburg. [9] [10]
The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven traditional continents. On 30 April 1985, Richard Bass became the first climber to reach the summit of all seven.
Davorin "Davo" Karničar was a Slovene alpinist and ski mountaineer.
Zed "Zeddy" Al Refai is a Kuwaiti climber. He was the first Arab to climb Mount Everest and the 46th person to climb all seven highest summits in the seven continents of the world.
Sergey Anatolyevich Kofanov is a Russian mountaineer.
Kalpana Dash was an Indian lawyer and mountaineer. She was the first Odia mountaineer to scale Mount Everest. She scaled Mount Everest on 21 May 2008, along with a team of five members from the United States, Canada and Nepal.
The Indonesian Seven Summits Expedition Mahitala Unpar (ISSEMU) was a team of four mountaineers from Indonesia that successfully climbed the Seven Summits (the Messner version) between 2009 and 2011. The last peak of their expedition was Denali in Alaska, which they reached on July 7, 2011. This marked the first time a team from Indonesia had completed the challenge.
Jane Lee Zhen Zhen is a mountaineer and speaker from Singapore. Co-founder and co-team leader of the Singapore Women's Everest Team, Lee is also the first female from Southeast Asia and the 37th woman in history to have scaled the Seven Summits, the highest peaks of the seven continents including Kilimanjaro, Denali, Elbrus, Aconcagua, Vinson and Everest (Chomolungma).
Rhys Jones is an English mountaineer and was the youngest person to climb the Seven Summits, and reached the summit of Mount Everest.
Chris Jensen Burke is a New Zealander-Australian mountain climber who was the first New Zealand or Australian woman to reach the summit of K2. Since climbing Mount Everest on 20 May 2011, Burke has climbed nine other eight-thousanders, including K2 on 26 July 2014 and Kanchenjunga on 17 May 2018. She is also the first New Zealand or Australian woman to complete the Seven Summits.
Samina Khayal Baig is a Pakistani mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest in 2013, all Seven Summits by 2014, and K2 in 2022. She is the first Pakistani woman to climb Everest, K2 and the Seven Summits. She climbed Mt. Everest at the age of 21.
Arunima Sinha is an Indian mountaineer and sportswoman. She is the world's first female amputee to scale Mount Everest (Asia), Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mount Elbrus (Europe), Mount Kosciuszko (Australia), Aconcagua, Denali and Vinson Massif (Antarctica). She is also a seven time Indian volleyball player.
Danielle Fisher is an American mountain climber who in 2005 became the youngest person to complete the Seven Summits and the youngest American to climb Mount Everest.
Nimdoma Sherpa from Gauri Sankar, Dolakha District is a Nepalese mountain climber. In 2008 she became the youngest woman to climb Mount Everest and in 2009 she joined the Seven Summits Women Team, a team of Nepalese women whose goal is to climb the Seven Summits.
Malavath Poorna is an Indian mountaineer. On 25 May 2014, Poorna climbed Mount Everest, aged 13 years and 11 months, the youngest female to have reached the summit. Purna climbed Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe on 27 July 2017. After reaching the summit of Elbrus, Poorna unfurled a 50 ft long Indian Tricolor and sang the Indian National Anthem. She completed the Seven Summits on 5 June 2022 climbing Denali, along with father-daughter duo Ajeet Bajaj and Deeya Bajaj.
Pema Diki Sherpa is from Simigau, Gauri Sankar, Dolakha District, Nepalese mountain climber. In 2008 she became the youngest woman to climb Mount Everest and in 2009 she joined the Seven Summits Women Team, a team of Nepalese women whose goal is to climb the Seven Summits.
The Indonesia Women Seven Summits Expedition was a team of Indonesian women with a stated objective to scale all Seven Summits within two years, starting on August 17, 2014. The team's mission was to promote sexual equality, following the eponymic Indonesia Seven Summits Expedition, which would not admit female mountaineers. On May 17, 2018, the two most senior female members scaled Mount Everest, the final summit of the expedition.
Edita Horrell, previously known as Edita Nichols, is a Lithuanian-born mountaineer and humanitarian aid worker. She became the first Lithuanian woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on 22 May 2013.
Charlotte Conant Fox was an American mountaineer and the first American woman to reach the summit of three eight thousander peaks. She survived the 1996 Mount Everest disaster as a member of Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness expedition. She died of head injuries on May 24, 2018, after falling over a stairway railing at her house.
Mrika Nikçi is an Albanian mountaineer from the Republic of Kosovo.
Carina Dayondon is a Filipina mountaineer, adventurer, and Philippine Coast Guard officer who was the first Filipina to reach the Seven Summits, the seven tallest mountains in every continent in the world, and the second Filipina to reach the summit of Mount Everest.