Explorer, peacebuilder, sustainability expert, and artist Abeer Al-Saud is taking Flag #32 to the “Third Pole” in the Himalayan mountains with renowned National Geographic explorer Dr. Katie Conlon. Inspired by the surroundings of the “Cosmic Desert” adventures in the Arabian Peninsula and snow deserts/mountains of the polar regions (Arctic and Antarctic), Abeer has an extensive background in alpine, polar, and ocean adventure. As a Saudi woman, Abeer was raised with a keen sense of identity and has dedicated herself to merging research, art, and exploration to pursue self-discovery and sustainable modeling for the future. As part of Abeer’s more comprehensive portfolio of impact-driven endeavors under her enterprise “Dinar,” she is also the founder of the subsidiary brand Réhal, which means “the explorer” in Arabic, where she focuses on encouraging more explorers from the MENA region through awareness, talks, and research about the Arabian Peninsula with a focus on the least explored Arabia Petraea (northwestern Arabian Peninsula).

Known as the “water tower” of the world, rapid environmental changes in the world’s ‘Third Pole’ are laying the ground for irreversible change. The Hindu Kush Himalayan range is warming at .3C per decade, which is much faster than the global average, and has a dire effect on the cryosphere (snow cover, glaciers, ice caps, and permafrost). As an extension of her work in extreme environments, Abeer, Dr. Katie Conlon, and their team will travel over 1,000 miles on foot and cycle to understand the frontlines of climate change in the Himalayas. The expedition, “The Third Pole, Because it Might Not Be There,” will cover the length of the Indian Himalayas – approximately 1177 miles/1894 km – to understand the dire impacts of climate change on this critical region. Along this 3-month journey, the expedition team will seek out and meet with local communities doc, use their firsthand experiences with a rapidly changing climate, and highlight the importance of this frontline region through an ongoing expedition media campaign.