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Ranking in 7summits list, either CP or K | : | 119 |
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Ranking in Carstensz Pyramid list | : | 79 |
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Ranking in Kosciuszko list | : | 102 |
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First name | : | Zed |
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Family name | : | Al-Refai |
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Gender | : | male |
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Country of origin | : | Kuwait |
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Date of Birth | : | 1966-10-28 |
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Name of first summit | : | Denali |
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Date of climbing the first summit | : | 1999-06-24 |
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Name of final summit in Carstensz list | : | Aconcagua |
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Date of final summit in Carstensz list | : | 2004-02-05 |
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Name of final summit in Kosciuszko list | : | Kosciuszko |
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Date of final summit in Kosciuszko list | : | 2005-01-05 |
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Date of climbing Kilimanjaro | : | 2001-03-24 |
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Date of climbing Elbrus | : | 0000-00-00 |
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Date of climbing Aconcagua | : | 2004-02-05 |
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Date of climbing Denali | : | 1999-06-24 |
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Date of climbing Vinson | : | 2004-01-13 |
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Date of climbing Everest | : | 2003-05-25 |
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Date of climbing Carstensz Pyramid | : | 2000-02-22 |
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Date of climbing Kosciuszko | : | 2005-01-05 |
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Climbed Carstensz Pyramid? | : | Yes |
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Climbed Kosciuszko? | : | Yes |
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Total time including Carstensz Pyramid | : | 04y,226d |
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Total time including Kosciuszko | : | 05y,195d |
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Age when finished with CP | : | 37y,099d |
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Age when finished with K | : | 38y,069d |
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Website | : | http://www.foreverest.com |
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Additional Info | : | From his website:
Born to Summit
Zed "Zeddy" Al-Refai is a name synonymous with mountains and the "Mighty Everest" in particular.
This Kuwaiti National was born on 28 October 1966.
Zeddy had a quiet childhood all the way through to high school. Some time was spent in Finland prior heading to the USA to enrol for university, he says "that is when the passion was ignited in me". Recalls the time he spent in Scandinavia.
His higher education took him to Florida,New Jersey & Pennsylvania. His holidays were always seized as an opportunity to go trekking in places such as New England, the Rockies, North Pacific of the United States.
When he moved to Switzerland in 1992, his climbing career started in earnest. "It felt like heaven, I'm truly at home", as he describes the Alps region.
In the mid 90's Zeddy travelled to Nepal, during this visit he was captured by the Himalayas and the Magnificent EVEREST. It was a long shot, but he was determined to give it his best.
Then came the build up for the new adventure, with serious hiking and ice climbing in the Scottish highlands, the Chamonix Valley and treks in Latin America. His break came when he had the chance to climb & summit Mt. McKinley in Alaska (highest in N America) and attained the honour of being the First Arab to do so. He realised the sport of climbing was not yet exploited by fellow Arabs, that was the start of a long list of GROUND BREAKING RECORDS including the highest mountains in the following continents; Denali (N.America); Elbrus (Europe); Carstenz Pyramid (Oceania); EVEREST (Asia). Zeddy is not sure if he was the first Arab on Kilimanjaro (Africa) or Mont Blanc (Alps), however he is still very satisfied and proud of his achievements.
He was once asked if he was only after records, he replied "well I couldn't stop any one from climbing if they wanted to. Moreover, I
don't issue permits to Everest". Failure came (in the form of acute mountain sickness) with his first attempt on Everest, it was sponsored by the Kuwaiti telecom giant MTC, Zeddy commented "It hit me so hard, I was very disappointed, never got the chance to pass the awareness about our POWs & MIAs during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. It was a close shave, near death experience, it made me think hard about climbing, but I wouldn't give in easily."It seems it was a case of second time lucky . As he says," my dream was accomplished, I never planned to be the FIRST ARAB to summit Everest, but I guess I was destined to be, I was hungry for it, I exceeded my own limit, surpassed my own expectations and stretched my body beyond belief. Great deeds come at a great cost." Zeddy is a successful coffee merchant, who resides between Geneva (Switzerland) and Dubai (UAE), with frequent visits to his home country of Kuwait.
favorite cuisine Thai,Japanese
favorite sport to watch football
favorite sport to do climbing of course
favorite country ( planet earth ) Cuba,Argentina to visit and Switzerland to live
favorite hobby traveling
favorite cigar Partagas(Cuban) Serie du Connaisseur no 2
favorite book Hermann buhl's "white spider" & the count of monte cristo
favorite old film Lawarnce of Arabia
favorite new film Gangs of New York
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