Saudi woman completes Everest trek

Saudi woman Raha Moharrak reached the summit of Nepal's Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, in a first for the conservative Muslim kingdom where women's sports are severely restricted, tourism officials said on Sunday. The 25-year-old reached the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) summit early Saturday morning with a party of foreign mountaineers and Nepalese guides. She was part of a team which comprised of four individuals, including the first Qatari man and the first Palestinian man to climb to the top of the mountain. Raha said: "Although it was difficult to convince my family at first, I had their full support throughout all of this." Moharrak's feat is backdropped by her country's gradual warming to the idea of women participating in sports. In a historic first for the country, two female athletes participated in the 2012 London Olympic games. Early this month, the government allowed some girls in private schools to participate in athletics but requested the schools ensure girls wear "a covering and decent outfit" for sport activities in "suitable areas". According to international watchdog Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that still effectively bars girls from taking part in sports in government schools. Moharrak's Everest expedition, dubbed "Arabs with Altitude", undertook the quest to raise money for education charities in Nepal. Hundreds of climbers will attempt to reach the summit of the world's highest peak in the coming days as a fair weather window has opened. This year, which marks the 60th anniversary of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's maiden Everest summit, has been marred by a brawl that broke out between European climbers and Nepalese Sherpas high on the mountain in April.