Saudi Gazette report

MANAMA — Bahrain’s Royal Guard team has recently successfully scaled Mount Manaslu (8,163 meters), the eighth highest mountain in the world, and it is all set able to climb Mount Everest early next year.

In a statement carried by Bahrain News Agency on Monday, Maj. Gen. Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, representative of the Bahrain king for humanitarian works and youth affairs, has expressed confidence in the team to accomplish the feat.

Sheikh Nasser said that reaching the Manaslu summit has boosted the team's aptitudes to scale Mount Everest in 2021 and raise the Bahraini flag at the summit.

"We are keen on providing full support to the men of the Royal Guard who possess high capabilities that empowered them to overcome several challenges to reach the Manaslu summit, but they now have the bigger challenge of reaching the summit of Everest," he said.

The Royal Guard team completed special training in the Himalayas with the ultimate goal of reaching the summit of Mount Everest in 2021. The 18-member Royal Guard was assigned by Sheikh Nasser to raise the flags of Bahrain and of the Royal Guard on the summit of Mount Manaslu, one of only 14 mountains in the world to exceed 8,000 meters, and known as the deadly mountain in the world of climbing.

The Royal Guard spent eight days acclimatizing and climbing to the summit of Mount Manaslu. They were able to reach the summit after 10 hours.

The team however needed to descend 4,000 meters to a safe altitude that did not require additional oxygen. They spent 24 hours climbing and descending. The team burned about 15,000 calories trying to climb to the summit.