There are 14 mountains above 8,000 meters in the world, usually referred to as eight-thousanders, and Pakistan alone hosts 5 of them: K2(8611m), Nanga Parbat(8126m), Gasherbrum 1(8080m), Broad Peak(8051m), Gasherbrum 2(8035m).
Such is the irony that there is no Pakistani climber who ever made it to the category of ‘First Ascents of the Main 8000ers’. Even Pakistan’s own 8000ers were first summited by foreign climbers: K2 in 1954 by an Italian expedition, Nanga Parbat in 1953 by an Austro-German expedition, Gasherbrum 1 in 1958 by an American expedition, Broad Peak in 1957 by an Austrian expedition and Gasherbrum 2 in 1956 by an Austrian expedition.
All that Pakistani climbers would do is help the international climbers in their expeditions as porters, guides, cooks or High Altitude Porters (HAPs) along with sherpas.
However, that was that.
On February 26, 4 athletes turned the page in the history of mountain-climbing. The much-hyped Nanga Parbat Winter Expedition 2016 turned out to be a successful summit.
At 3:37pm (local time), THEY DID IT. THE SUMMIT.
This is the first time ever that an expedition successfully summited the 8126m “Killer Mountain” in winter. Muhammad Ali ‘Sadpara’ (Pakistan), Alex Txikon (Spain) and the legendary winter specialist Simone Moro (Italy) reached the top and Tamara Lunger (Italy) only stopped some meters below.
This was tremendous news in the mountaineering circles. Social media went abuzz with the news and expectedly so. Here is what Simone’s team had to say on Facebook:
History was made and records were broken. Given the monstrosity of the feat, this is a remarkable achievement on part of all the climbers. Reportedly, since 1989 there have been 35 winter expeditions set out to summit Nanga but none returned successful. Well that has to be changed now.
Updates tell that all four climbers also had a successful descent and have reached the Base Camp safe and sound.
“Tamara, Simone, Alex and Ali came to base camp. So tired but so happy!
Ready for sleep and recover the forces.”- says Tamara’s Facebook page.
What is so heartening is that this time a Pakistani climber was not a hired HAP or a cook. Sadpara led from the front. Alex Txikon at this year's expedition speaks of Ali as the leader of the expedition.
For perspective, we may recall here the Nanga Parbat Base Camp massacre of June 2013 which took 11 lives (10 climbers and a guide). Even such an incident could not keep the climbers away from Pakistan, which is said to be climbers’ heaven. In this context, Sadpara’s latest record-breaking accolade becomes more valuable.
In my conversation with the one of the HAPs from Skardu, I learnt that the local mountaineering organizations and tourist companies are all set to welcome the expedition team. Undoubtedly, Sadpara’s achievement deserves our generous applause and he should be hailed as a national hero.
In this context, it is pertinent to note here that there is no or very less support given to our own climbers by the government, who are then restricted within their limits as porters, guides or cooks in international expeditions. And to the chagrin of our romance with mountaineering, porters who do essential jobs in any difficult ascent are also under-fed, poorly paid and have no job security or health insurance whatsoever.
And Sadpara’s transformation from a mason to a porter and now to the most powerful Pakistani climber to have climbed all Pakistani eight-thousanders is just an exception.
Meanwhile I echo these sentiments expressed by LUMS Adventure Society:
It is advisable that the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) and post eighteenth amendment, the government of Gilgit-Baltistan should play an effective role in this regard. Difficulties in getting visa and permit for climbing are immense. Even after fulfilling requisite requirements, ‘disrespectful’ behavior is meted out to international mountaineers. All-weather flights to Skardu should be ensured in order to promote local tourists as well. Development of roads especially that of Skardu-Gilgit and the ones leading towards Ashkoli and Hushe is also very important. And the trekking routes which have been closed for mysterious reasons should be reopened.
Finally we hope that the passion of mountaineers gets going and Pakistani mountaineers keep making us proud.
Heartiest congratulations to Ali Sadpara.
P.S. Now only Pakistan’s K2 remains the one eight-thousander left to be conquered in winter.