Nawal Sfendla — Everest, Lhotse, and now the Royal Palace. One expedition. One wissam. One historic moment for Moroccan sport. King Mohammed VI received Moroccan mountaineer Nawal Sfendla at the Royal Palace in Rabat on Monday and awarded her the Wissam of Al Moukafaa Al Watania — recognising her extraordinary feat of summiting both Everest and Lhotse in a single expedition.
Nawal Sfendla walked into the Royal Palace in Rabat on Monday carrying the weight of two summits. King Mohammed VI received the Moroccan mountaineer — who recently climbed both Mount Everest and Lhotse in a single expedition — and awarded her the Wissam of Al Moukafaa Al Watania of the Order of Officer, one of Morocco’s highest distinctions for merit and national service.
The royal audience follows a message of congratulations that King Mohammed VI had already sent to Sfendla upon her achievement — a gesture that reflects, according to the official statement, the King’s sustained attention to sport as “a driver of human development, inclusion, and social cohesion”, and his consistent care for Moroccan women as pillars of society.
A feat of endurance and national pride
Summiting Everest alone places a mountaineer among the most elite climbers in the world. Summiting Lhotse — the world’s fourth highest peak at 8,516 metres — in the same expedition, without descending to base camp between the two ascents, is a challenge that few have attempted and fewer have completed. Sfendla’s achievement places her in exceptional company, and marks a landmark moment for Moroccan mountaineering and for Moroccan women in sport.
- Source: MAP