Nelly Attar

Nelly Attar is a record-breaking Lebanese-Saudi mountaineer, professional athlete, high-performance coach, and sports entrepreneur whose extraordinary achievements have made her a trailblazer for women in extreme sports. In 2022, she became the first Arab woman to summit K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, and has gone on to climb more than 40 major peaks around the world. Her mountaineering accomplishments include Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, and Kanchenjunga, making her the first Lebanese woman to summit the world’s five highest mountains.

Born and raised in Saudi Arabia, Attar began her professional career as a psychologist and life coach, earning a master’s-level research degree in psychology and working in mental health settings before making a dramatic career shift into sports in 2017. She founded MOVE, Saudi Arabia’s first dance studio, and built a movement community that encouraged women to embrace fitness and an active lifestyle.

Attar’s athletic journey encompasses far more than mountaineering. She has competed in marathons, ultramarathons, endurance challenges, calisthenics, and other extreme sports, while also earning Guinness World Records. Through her work as a coach and speaker, she draws on these experiences to explore resilience, discipline, confidence, overcoming adversity, and the untapped potential within each person. Her mission is to use sport and adventure to inspire people—particularly women in the Middle East—to challenge perceived limitations and pursue their own “Everests.”