Atop the world: Safrina becomes first Kerala woman to climb Mount Everest
KOZHIKODE: When Safrina Latheef stood on top of the world, her vision was blurred – but her purpose had never been clearer.
A home baker with sugared hands and a mother’s heart, Safrina had never imagined that one day she’d trade her cake tools for crampons, or swap the soft textures of fondant for the sharp bite of the Himalayan winds. Yet, last week, on May 18, this quiet, determined woman from Vengad, near Mattanur, in Kannur district, who is settled in Qatar, became the first woman from Kerala to summit Mount Everest.
What makes her story extraordinary isn’t just the fact that she conquered the world’s highest peak. It’s how she got there: Through sacrifice, snowstorms, and self-belief. From crafting delicate cakes to battling snow blindness in the Death Zone, Safrina has become an inspiration for women all around.
Like many around the world, the Covid pandemic brought Safrina and her husband, Dr Shameel Musthafa – a surgeon at Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha, Qatar–to a standstill. “While the world turned to baking and binge-watching, we turned to fitness,” she recalls. “We had zero stamina, but we joined a gym. And somewhere in that stillness, I heard the whisper of an old dream: Mountains.”
In just four years, Safrina scaled Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 m) in Tanzania, Aconcagua (6,961 m) in Argentina, and Mount Elbrus (5,642 m) in Russia. She even trained on the icy glaciers in Kazakhstan.
A pricey commitment
Climbing Everest isn’t just about fitness or altitude tolerance. It’s also about commitment – financial and emotional. For Safrina and her husband, that meant selling their apartment in Bengaluru to fund the expedition, which cost over 80,000 US dollars. “The decision wasn’t easy. But once we made the first payment of $68,000, I told myself: ‘There’s no turning back. It’s just the mountain and me now.’” By January 2025, the preparations became rigorous. With her husband injured and unable to join, Safrina began solo training under a specialised coach in Doha. “I used to tell my trainer, ‘I don’t want muscles!’ Now I know: Those muscles saved my life.”
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