Invisible Footsteps in the Sky!

 

When we look up at the dark sky, we see so many shining stars, yet the dilemma is many of them have been long gone and only now after traversing the huge expanse their light has made us realize of their presence. This is exactly the dilemma the Pakistani climbers face, we are unaware of the presence of these superstars. By the time their light reaches us, they have dwindled away only to live on as memories or tales of extraordinary feats. We come to know of these great beings by their legacies, we grieve their loss but what of their life? We never own them while they are amongst us. We are oblivious to their presence, their strife, their achievements!

 

As Messner said, "Without the possibility of death, adventure is not possible." That is mountaineering, that is adventure, looking the inevitable in the eye and living every moment to the fullest.

What you achieve out of it is not fame, fame is the byproduct the real achievement is self-realization. Mountaineering is not a sport practiced in front of packed galleries or televised to audiences; eyeballs glued to the screen. It is done in the most desolate of places, places humans were not designed to survive as a species. It is done knowing the value of each breath, knowing the price of each step. Done alone or in the company of few who share your will to take on extremes. There is no crowd to cheer you through the tough times, just your self-belief. There is no huge congratulatory party at the finish line waiting for you with garlands, rather the sense that the job is only half done and true success will only come when you reach the safety of the camp. There are no breaks in play due to turbulent weather, just the deep calm spirit inside you to take you through storms. These people are walking at altitudes where commercial airliners fly. It is very easy to understand then, that it takes a select breed of individuals to accept this challenge. It is not a sport for everyone and fewer still will ever truly understand it. To make it easier to understand, this was the best answer that I could find “Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.” — Greg Child.

 

In the small villages in the heart of Karakorum, dotted across Gilgit Baltistan people live close to nature but in tough conditions. The means of livelihood are limited, their proximity to nature and mountains makes them better acclimatized for higher altitudes. Their ancestors traversed the many mountain passes and routes to travel, trade, herd cattle in high pastures and hunt. The mountains are in their blood. To earn an ample livelihood these people are used to hardships.

With the influx of foreign climbers came a new means of earning a livelihood, the locals were hired as porters to carry loads to assist these expeditions. Some would be confined to lower altitudes while others worked as high-altitude porters usually referred to as Sherpas in Nepal and Khurpas in Baltistan. Right from the very first ascent of K2 in 1954 these people have been instrumental to making these expeditions a success. Often treated unfairly, snubbed during summit days to avoid sharing the glory. Amir Mehdi wanted to be the first Pakistani to scale the country's highest peak, K2, and as one of the strongest climbers in the first team to conquer the summit in 1954, he nearly did. Instead, he was betrayed by his Italian companions, left to spend a night on the ice without shelter, and was lucky to survive. Lacking the means to fund their own expeditions and a lack of interest by the government to assist or train them, Pakistani climbers remained dependent on foreign expeditions to claim the summits of their own mountains. After a couple of generations passed few made the break through by sheer determination and skill to be made frontline part of some expeditions.

The risks they take, what they put on the line to achieve success is to achieve an honorable livelihood for their families and to make a name for their country and communities. In my many travels to this region and interaction with local communities I realized that they truly want to make the country proud. They have meager resources, often the gear they use is old or simply inadequate but they overcome it with their skill and determination, equal in size to the mountains they take on. They always carry a Pakistan flag in their backpacks when going for summits even when the country is unaware of these genuine heroes. Compared to other climbers their challenge is twofold, they not only take on the mighty mountains but the indifference and lack of interest from their fellow countrymen as well.

 

With so many challenges some question, why do they do this? Putting their lives on the line to conquer these mountains. But then why do people become fighter pilots? Why did man set out to explore space? Why do people become racing car drivers? It is the most primitive of pursuits engrained in our DNAs to conquer what seems to be impossible. The indomitable spirit of man versus the most amazing forces of nature. Some call it madness, yes to the masses it may seem as madness.  The pioneers of manned flight would have appeared mad to the "normal" people. But we forget that all the advancement of the world is owed to these few mad, stubborn and strong-willed people who ploughed on when all others decided to back down.

 

In the last few days many of us suddenly came to know about Muhammad Ali Sadpara thanks to social media and started to show interest in his exploits but in days to come all this will fade away like any other social media fad. We will once again be impervious to the presence of these heroes. Many are just commenting on social platforms because it makes them "cool" but I ask how many of you knew about Muhammad Ali Sadapara before this tragedy? For that matter do names like Lhotse, Mansalu and Makalu seem recognizable to you? Do you know where Shimshal and Sadapara villages are?  These places have given us so many great mountaineers. Do you recognize names like Ashraf Aman, Nazir Sabir, Meharban Baig, Rajab Shah, Hassan Sadpara and Nasir Hussain Sadpara? Do you know who will be future flagbearers of Pakistani climbing? Have you ever heard of Sirbaz Khan, Sajid Sadpara and Fazal Ali? True nations support their heroes when this support can make a difference in helping achieve goals. Sadly, we only realize the importance of heroes when they are gone!

 

Faced with adversity and lack of resources why Ali Sadpara and the many other Pakistani climbers make this great effort? Simply because It is the only means for them to attract tourism and income for their communities. While talking with Alex Tixkon at the Mendi Fild Festival, Ali clearly mentioned that even at the summits of 8000m peaks he is thinking about education opportunities for the children especially girls in his village. He mentions with glee how the love for education in those children makes him proud. All he ever wanted was that by his efforts his country would be proud of him and foreigners would consider Pakistan a peaceful country open for tourism. This would create opportunities for local people and enable them to better support their communities.

If he wanted fame, there were so many means available, people who have not even achieved 1% of what he has are more well known in Pakistan. He was a nice and approachable person who was kind enough to respond to you when you reached out to him. My interaction, though brief but warm was by means of Facebook. On social platforms many created fake profiles with his name to gain followers but even that did not bother the great man. He was so focused in achieving his goals that he did not have time to care for those imposters.  This jovial and down to earth person transformed into a man possessed on the mountains countering the challenges and cutting the mountain down to size. This skill enabled him to be one of the three climbers to summit Nanga Parbat in winters for the first time and to climb three 8000m peaks Lhotse, Manasalu and Makalu in 2019. He is the only Pakistani to have climbed 8x8000m peaks. His friendly nature and toughness on the mountain endeared him to many renowned climbers, with the like of Simone Moroe and Alex Tixkon calling him a friend. He was a man on a date with destiny trying to become the first Pakistani to summit all 14 of the world’s 8000m peaks. He had climbed K2 before but wanted to conquer the savage in winters without supplemental oxygen. So he teamed up with Iceland’s John Snorri to undertake this herculean task.

 

When he had to abort his first summit bid and the Nepalese succeeded in what would be the best weather window for summit push this winter, I felt he took it upon himself to carry our hopes and the green flag to the summit of K2. As soon as the next weather window arrived, albeit a short one he along with his son and Snorri set off for the summit push. Climbing at unbelievable speed they reached camp 3 and then onwards to summit the "Savage Mountain". This is where he was last seen by his son Sajid climbing the section of K2 known as "bottleneck" at 10 AM on 5th Feb 2021. The search started late because everyone expected that sooner or later Ali and his colleagues would reach camp 3 to announce a successful summit. From previous expeditions of K2 once someone passes the bottleneck, the summit is pretty much a surety. Add to this the infamous repute of K2 to get you on the descent even if you managed to summit it.  I can only speculate that Ali might have reached the summit and whatever went wrong was on the way down to camp 3. Weather, logistics and time are against the lost climbers. No one has survived in the death zone this long but survival is a subjective thing, whether he is found alive or not Ali Sadpara is a survivor, he has always been a survivor. We as a nation are the ones at a loss, we lost a legend, a true ambassador of Pakistan. A man if enabled with proper support could have achieved much more and would have given us a whole generation of trained mountaineers. Our inability to acknowledge our heroes will result in loss of such talent over and over again unless we mend our ways as a nation.

Ali Sadpara was very clear about his life goals and mountaineering 'In climbing, there are two outcomes—life or death—and you must find the courage to accept either possibility.' And in either possibility he is a hero to be celebrated, remembered and his legacy to be nurtured so our upcoming generation of talented climbers don’t have to suffer the inevitable to gain prominence. His is a story of courage, perseverance and little bit of luck. His is a story that should be an example to all of us no matter which field we belong to. His is the story of the few who dare and leave their footmarks in the sky invisible to the “normal” people! Sometimes failure is not final and death is not fatal, this tragedy I hope awakens us to the presence of these great men and these amazing communities. May be this shock and grief will motivate some of us to help these amazing people and uplift the areas they belong to. These daredevils who take on the mighty mountains to show to us that nothing is impossible!

“In my state of spiritual abstraction, I no longer belong to myself and to my eyesight. I am nothing more than a single narrow gasping lung, floating over the mists and summits.