Govt patronage sought to set up mountaineering institute

Karachi

Renowned Pakistani mountaineer and environmentalist Nazir Sabir, the first Pakistani to stand at the summit of Mount Everest, lamented that his country, despite hosting some of the world’s highest peaks, lacks national patronage that could establish a mountaineering institute.

Celebrated mountaineer Sabir took a captive audience to a virtual 90-minute-tour of the world’s killing mountains while narrating his achievements and moments of sorrow and joy at the packed Aga Khan University auditorium.

The Aga Khan University hosted the latest lecture of the academic year 2008-09 under its special lecture series, titled ‘Reaching for the Skies’ on Thursday. The speaker exploited every bit of his valuable photographs to take Pakistan’s south to his side of the north.

Sabir, who has become the first civilian president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, accentuated the need of connecting the youth to nature in any humble way. He said one of the national problems was that the people were losing contact with nature.

Sabir said he had been waiting for a Nehru to take up mountaineering in Pakistan to new heights. He recognised the valuable contributions Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, established at Uttarkashi, had made in India. “We need to emulate the Indian example in this respect.”

Referring to the deteriorating law and order situation in the capital, the award-winning climber regretted postponing some of major trainings for the women climbers from the US. He hoped that the future would bring in new hope and energy to boost tourism.

Hailing from Hunza, Sabir’s early days of fascination with the mountains befriended him with Japanese climbers and then he never looked back. He has climbed four of the five 8,000-meter peaks in Pakistan, including the inhospitable 8,616-meter K2.

Sabir described his brush with death in very light tones. He recalled the moment when his soul virtually flew out when an avalanche sucked him and his teammates from the Nanga Parbat, better known as the killer mountain, which remained insurmountable for him.

Supplementing on spot pictures with the ones he took from Air Safari, Sabir shared another unpleasant event, which claimed the lives of two Japanese climbers including the world renowned Hasegawa. “I was in the middle of them but survived the killer avalanche from Ultar Peak.”

Sabir never forgot mentioning his love for nature while reminding the audience to always remain in the company of mighty Indus all the way up to Skardu whether driven by car or airlifted. He praised the efforts of World Wide Fund (WWF) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for saving Ibex in the Khunjarab National Park.

Sabir described his lifetime achievement of reaching the summit of the world’s second highest peak called K2, via a new route called the West Ridge/SSW Ridge, in his second attempt in 1981. Showing excellent pictures of the peak, he referred to a nearby Angel Peak as the girlfriend of the K2.

Sabir recalled the 45-minute-long argument with Major Qayyum back to the base camp when he along with two Japanese climbers were near the summit but asked to return to the base camp for safety reasons. “If you die I will kill you,” was the finest sentence Sabir ever heard in his life, he said.

Recalling his second attempt to reach the roof of the world, on May 17, 2000, he stood on the summit of Everest becoming the first Pakistani to have touched the roof of the world. He said he enjoyed the company of a full moon while covering the south summit of the Mount Everest.

As Sabir took the last steps towards the summit he was fearful of something untoward but walked through thinking about the whole Pakistani nation.

He proudly recalled fluttering a green-star flag at the summit. He was given a round of applause when he showed his picture of the moment.