‘Mission Everest — UAE Military Team’ premieres

Documentary chronicles the UAE team’s scaling of the world's highest peak

 

Abu Dhabi: The premiering of ‘Mission Everest — The UAE Military Team’ documentary was held on Monday in the presence of the team in Abu Dhabi. The documentary chronicles the first Emirati team’s scaling of Mount Everest, the highest mountain peak in the world at 8,848 metres above sea level.

The team of 16, comprising 12 military mountaineers, three professional trainers and mountain climbers and a specialist in sports medicine and high altitude physiology. is considered one of the largest military teams in the region to complete such an expedition after the devastating earthquake which hit the area in 2015.

The UAE Military team undertook five years of intensive training to prepare for the mission.

John Doyle, trainer of Mission Everest — The UAE Military Team, explained how the team was selected, trained and prepared.

“When the UAE Military announced in 2012 that it was forming a team to scale Mt Everest, many applicants registered.” The initial batch of 60 trainees, he explained, underwent gruelling training in the Swiss Alps, and eventually, 25 made the cut for further training trips to Norway, Alaska and Morocco.

“The candidates were chosen based on their stamina, steadfastness, physical and mental abilities, technical skills, attitude, mindset and personality traits,” Doyle said. “Most importantly, we were looking for team players with great skills of cooperation, coordination, perseverance and determination. It took us about five years of strenuous and intensive training to prepare the team, who had undergone vigorous exercises on endurance training, mountain climbing, rope systems in harsh climate conditions.”

The expedition team arrived in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, in May 2016. The team stayed for a few days in Kathmandu, 1,400 metres above sea level, to acclimatise to the altitudes and then flew via helicopter to Lokla, the starting point for the climb, 140 kilometres east of Kathmandu and 2,840 metres above sea level. The team hiked for nine days through the mountains, staying overnight in different villages, and meeting up with local Sherpas, the Mount Everest guides, to get adapted to low temperatures and heights, until it reached the main base camp at 5,364 metres above sea level.

The 65-day trip of Mission Everest had the team endure pain, hardships, sacrifice, fatigue, challenge, even as they battled harsh weather conditions and temperatures as low as -60 degree Celsius. Altitude sickness, sunburn, snow blindness, heat strokes, nausea and frost bite were part of the challenge. One team member lost some of his fingers and toes to frost bite and was sent for medical treatment to the UK.

During the expedition, there were moments when they yearned for their routine lives and missed home-cooked food as they subsisted on candies, protein bars and dried food for almost two months. They missed their loved ones back home, even missed drinking water that did not freeze instantly. Some missed the sound of the azaan.

Some team members had even prepared their will before starting out on the mission.

Despite their comfort zones having been altered, it was however all for a cause that was worth it, the team said.

At times of fatigue and anxiety, the team received the support and encouragement they were looking for. On May 18, just before the push for the final ascent, the team received a message from His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, who said: “You should also know that I will be climbing with you in spirit, every step of the way.”

The message made the team members remain focused on the goal — to make history and return home victorious to make their country proud.

Once the team scaled the summit and pitched the UAE flag atop Mount Everest, a heady mix of joy, pride and adrenalin coursed through their blood as they acknowledged the triumph that had just become theirs. But the euphoria lasted only for 10 minutes or so as the next priority was to reach base camp safely, said a team member.

Looking back, the team takes pride in having successfully conquered Mount Everest. The triumph has reinforced their collective belief that hard work and dedication do pay off.

Making of the film

Executive producer of the project Alex El Chami, one of the production team members on-board the expedition, explained how the task was a challenging one.

“The pre-production of the documentary began in November 2015, with scripting ideas and storylines and then looking for professional cameramen for that kind of altitude. It wasn’t an easy task, but we eventually found two high-altitude cameramen for the mission,” El Chami said, adding. “we also had to keep changing the script, because we didn’t know what was coming or what to anticipate. By April 2016, we started filming the mission and ended up with 36 hours of footage. In the post-production phase that started in June 2016 and ended on December 5, it was edited to one hour of documentary.”

The production team on-board the excursion included two cameramen, four production team members, one camera assistant and two Sherpas and guides.

Telecast on Wednesday

The 60-minute documentary will be broadcast on National Geographic Abu Dhabi at 10pm on December 7.

The documentary is in Arabic, with English subtitles, and celebrates the 40th anniversary of the unification of the UAE’s Armed Forces.

‘Mission Everest — The UAE Military Team’ is a production by the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces in partnership with National Geographic Abu Dhabi.