Topping the fearsome and glorious Mount Everest is one of the most challenging feats one could attempt since the dawn of humanity. Countless people have lost their lives during the physically and mentally strenuous journey. In the land of Nepal, the deaths on the Earth’s highest summit are worryingly increasing according to the Himalayan Database.
Via Gavin Hellier/Stocksy
This didn’t stop Sherief Elabd, who comes from an engineering background, from successfully undertaking this enormous mission. He has now become the second Egyptian to climb the lofty rock. Elabd holds the position of Director of Industry Strategy and Innovation at Oracle. We got in contact with him shortly after his return to gain insights into his recent accomplishment and understand how he balances a tough position at a multinational while being fit enough to climb Everest.
“I’ve never thought of myself as a mountain boy and I’ve never been the athletic type either. That is until 2016 was nearing its end and I decided to blow off the ritual of spending Eid holidays back in Cairo with my family!”
The beginning of the journey started with a decision. Elabd had graduated from college with a BSc of engineering in 2005, but his interest in mountain climbing began forming in 2016! “I’ve never thought of myself as a mountain boy and I’ve never been the athletic type either. That is until 2016 was nearing its end and I decided to blow off the ritual of spending Eid holidays back in Cairo with my family!” he recalled enthusiastically. “Contemplating going hiking in Nepal back then sparked my madness for these adventures and it only grew gradually over time.”
“During April of 2018, on a quiet spring night, I had dinner with my climbing partner and we were discussing heading off to Everest instead of coughing up our savings on two other expeditions to Carstenz Pyramids and Antarctica,” he explained. “Both plans had the same cost but the challenge of climbing Everest was the utmost!” But besides mountain climbing, Elabd has a testing full-time job that he doesn’t intend to ditch for an adventure-based one.
“I have a demanding full-time job and that makes it really difficult to train, whether for Everest or mountain (trail) running, which I do all year,” clarified Elabd. “But to me, mountain climbing and mountain (trail) running are addictive hobbies, and I like the intensity of balancing between both.”
Via Sherief Elabd
It may seem unfathomable how one can balance a successful career in big corporations while having the very demanding side-hustle of climbing Everest. “To me, balance means being diligent and attaining a great level of time management,” he elaborated. “For the last two years, my life has religiously consisted of a substantial amount of working and training throughout every week of each year.”
From climbing expeditions that include taking on the Himalayas in the heart of winter to ardent and grueling training on mountain trips to Alaska, Kyrzygstan, Elabd “consumed everyday of his annual leave and all the religious and public holidays to just do one thing: climbing.”
What would you fearlessly and tenaciously chase on your annual leaves and holidays?
