Peekaboo from K2
IN a country that boasts five of the 14 mountains above 8,000 metres high, we play cricket and very few take up mountaineering. No surprise that we have to make do with molehills for role models rather than mountains.
The uniqueness of a feat or the difficulties faced in its achievement are easier to explain through analogies; so, here is a cricketing analogy for a man who climbs mountains. The record of hitting sixers on six consecutive deliveries in first-class cricket was created by Sir Garfield Sobers. It was later equalled by Ravi Shastri. Quite a feat, eh? Now imagine sixers on every delivery for two consecutive overs. It has not happened yet. How about sixers on every delivery for the entire innings or 10 wickets falling in 10 consecutive deliveries; ‘possible, but never likely to happen’, is how most people would react to such a proposition. This is how incredible summiting Nanga Parbat, the ‘killer mountain’, is in winter. Muhammad Ali Sadpara did it in 2016 for the first time in recorded history. He was accompanied by Alex Txikon, a Spaniard, and Simone Moro from Italy. He is set to achieve another first in the recorded history of mankind — ascending K2 in winter this year. The 44-year-old mountaineer will be accompanied by his son Sajid Ali, 22, and John Snorri, 47, from Iceland.
Let us meet the man from a small village named Sadpara, near Skardu in GB who is bringing these magnificent laurels to Pakistan. For lack of training schools for mountaineering, Ali Sadpara had no other option but to start as a porter. From 1995 to 2003, he worked first as a low- and then high-altitude porter. One can say ‘nothing better than on-the-job training’ but keep in mind, a porter can only go as high as the expedition allows, he can be within 50m of the summit, but cannot push for the peak unless permitted by the expedition leader. Imagine, to spend years of your peak physical condition carrying others’ stuff and waiting for that elusive nod from the employer to go for the summit.
Porters are not just an integral part of any expedition, but the lynchpin of high-altitude climbing such as in the Karakorums or the Himalayas in our region. Sherpa Tenzing is as famous as Sir Edmund Hillary for the first successful summit of the Mount Everest. How many Pakistani porters do we know of, other than a persistent few, who went on to become climbers? How many accomplished climbers do we know of? Nazir Sabir, Hassan, and Ali Sadpara and Samina Baig? That is only four. We should know at least five of them; one each for the 8,000m mountains we have. Mountaineering is the only field where Pakistan is solely represented by GB.
Imagine waiting for that elusive nod to go for the summit.
The only time that mountains and climbing hit the news is when a tragedy occurs — whether it is a terrorist attack as during a Nanga Parbat expedition in 2013, or an accident which is part and parcel of a high-risk activity like climbing. Accidents too get reported from a particular angle to portray the ‘heroic’ rescue operations, conveniently forgetting to mention that these are paid for in advance by expeditions as one of the conditions for securing permission to climb.
The moral and physical hazards involved in calling rescue services apart, ‘courage’ cannot supplant professional training. Tomaž Humar, a Slovenian climber, was plucked off the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat by a military helicopter in August 2016 while still anchored to the mountain. Had the steel screw not snapped, the helicopter could have smashed into the mountain.
Adventure tourism including activities like trekking and mountaineering can earn big revenues but promoting Pakistan as ‘the land of mountains, rivers, deserts and beaches’ is not enough. Infrastructure and trained human resources are imperative for both foreign and domestic visitors. The need for regulation of traffic cannot be stressed enough. Just like an unlimited number of expeditions cannot be allowed up on a mountain without risking disaster, unregulated access to tourist and adventure spots is also a sure recipe for ecological catastrophe. Imagine the chaos if everyone who wished to and could afford the airfare showed up at pilgrimage sites.
Most ministries and departments one would imagine responsible for running tourism related affairs have scant, if any information available on their sites. The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation website proudly says that visitors from Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago do not require visas for visiting Pakistan. Since it is too late to make V.S. Naipaul happy, one wonders who from Pakistan benefits from this as these things are usually reciprocal.
When you read this, weather conditions permitting, Ali Sadpara and his team may be making good progress in their ascent to K2’s peak. What could be a more positive beginning of 2021 than New Year greetings from 8,611m above sea level, -60 degrees Celsius hurricane-strength winds notwithstanding?
The writer is a poet and analyst.
Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2020