Name of the expedition: “Elbrus Project”. Place: Caucasia. Objective: fundraising to help orphanages in Lebanon. On August 4, two Lebanese mountain climbers, Kheiry Sammakieh and Nicholas Ankle, join this expedition to climb the Mount Elbrouz, one of the seven most “considered” mountains in the world.
The two sportsmen will try to take the challenge to get to the peak of “twin Elbrouz mountain” in the West part.

The “Elbrus” project is supported by Barclays Bank, which has collected till now 160 000 dollars for the cause as well as by voluntary donators. The help is coordinated by the Child of Lebanon Association. The related orphanages are located in Beirut, Nabatiyeh, and Zahle and respond to the needs of more than one thousand children.

Once on the peak, the two Lebanese will make a symbolic transaction on the stock exchange of Beirut to show their constant confidence in the economy of the Cedar Land.

According to Nicholas Ankle, “it is important to help unprivileged children in Lebanon to prevent them from being neglected while the whole country seems particularly concerned about the political situation. It is also important for us to show our support to all the Lebanese communities, without taking into consideration any political or confessionnal division, to show that we are and we will always be a united Lebanon ». As for Kheiry Sammakieh, this is not his first social vocation project. Last year, he was the spearhead of many projects in partnership with Unicef, which collected around 300 000 dollars, a thing that allowed the renovation of at least 30 Lebanese schools!

At the sports level, the two climbers are not facing a first experience: they have already climbed many mountains in 2007 in the United Kingdom as well as in the mythical Kilimanjaro in Africa. In February 2008, they followed an intensive training with famous mountain climbers of “Jagged Globe”, purveyors in the Scottish Highlands in order to optimize their chances for success. Therefore, they were able to considerably improve the essential techniques that they would need in Russia, because the Mount Elbrouz is not a simple mountain at all. It is the culminating point of Caucasia. It includes two peaks which craters are filled with snow and ice. The East peak is 5 621 meters high and the West peak is 5 642 meters high, which means 800 meters less than Mont Blanc, which is considered as the culminating point of the European continent.

For any information related to the progression of the expedition:

www.climb4lebanon.com.