Pakistani climbers head for Nepal to attempt Annapurna
News Desk
A Pakistani climbers team are in Nepal to make mountaineering history by attempting Annapurna to pay tribute to the late Muhammad Ali Sadpara, who died on K2 on February 5, 2021, along with two Western mountaineers.
The four-climber team will attempt the 10th highest mountain peak of the world as a tribute to the high-altitude porters of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Climbers from Pakistan have never hesitated on 8,000m peaks, given the chance. The first Pakistani summiteers of K2, Ashraf Aman and Nazir Sabir, paved the way for others, writes Angela Benavides in the ExplorersWeb magazine.
High-altitude porters sometimes evolved into competent climbers: Hassan Sadpara summited six 8,000’ers, including Everest. Little Karim summited Gasherbrum-II without supplementary oxygen.
Qudrat Ali summited four of Pakistan’s 8,000ers. The late Ali Sadpara climbed eight of the 8,000ers, including a first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat.
Long-haul cyclist and artist Kamran, also known as Kamran on Bike, came up with the idea during a year-long bicycle journey. He used to think that all mountaineering happened without external support, “but then I heard the term, High Altitude Porter, for the first time.”
Kamran hopes that his climb will shine a light on these porters, so often left out of summit glory. His small team includes climbers Sirbaz Khan and Abdul Joshi, expedition manager Saad Munawar, who will film it all.
Further details will follow on Kamran’s social media. So far, this is the only team with confirmed plans for Annapurna, although Seven Summit Treks told ExplorersWeb some weeks ago that they will also run climbs there.
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