AAM’s diverse and motivated team members are constantly involved in boundless activities in and out of the workplace. Most recently, Ashraaf, AAM’s 23 year old LiDAR editor from Kuala Lumpur, was selected for a sponsored attempt to summit Mt Everest with The 7 Continents Exploration Club (KE7B). This was part of the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) Youth Council 2013 Expedition.
The selection process involved many months of mountaineering and fitness training. During this time the candidates were regularly tested. Attrition rates were high, so to be finally selected for the Expedition is a remarkable achievement in itself.
Two of Ashraaf’s teammates broke records for the youngest Malaysian female (21) and Malaysian male (25) to scale the highest peak in the world. Ashraaf remained at base camp on this attempt, however he hopes an opportunity to conquer the mountain will come his way again soon.
Ashraaf provided the below comment regarding his expedition:
As we reached Kathmandu airport the weather was bright, chilly and windy. After reaching Lukla town, we rested for one night and started our expedition the next morning at 7am. As we reached the Himalayas, it got much colder and the mountains were fully covered with ice. It wasn’t long before we saw the humongous Mt Everest, visible even from miles away. I started to feel nervous thinking about how tough it was going to be.
In preparing ourselves to adjust to the climate in high altitude, we included climbing Island Peak – 6189mtr in our expedition. After spending a few days climbing and descending Island Peak, we rested in Highland Peak base camp for one night. Then we began our trail to Everest early the next morning at 6am. Since this was our 1st trek to Mt. Everest we were tracking at a very slow phase; maximum of 10km/day. We intentionally tracked slowly to avoid mountain sickness in high altitude also. It took us 5 days to reach the base camp of Everest – 5350mtr. After reaching the basecamp and resting for a day, there were a few in the team who continued their climb to the summit with “good luck wishes” from all of the mountaineers in the base camp. We were in the base camp until their return after 4 days. We rested a night in the basecamp before descending.
After listening to the friends who touched the summit of Everest, I’ve started to set my new goal to reach the summit of Everest which I hope will be accomplished in couple of years to come. Overall the group expedition was successful and we thank each of you who prayed for our safe return back home.
AAM is proud to have such diverse, skillful and driven team members. We hope to one day share Ashraaf’s achievement of conquering Mt Everest.
