From Karakoram to Everest
There are many ways to celebrate a jubilee year and one of them is to go climb Everest. A group of Pakistani mountaineers are on the mountain at this very moment, seeking to celebrate 50 years of their nation´s statehood by climbing the Mother Goddess of the Earth. It is fitting that these fine climbers from the Karakoram, many of them Balti who have earned a reputation as worthy climbers (see Mar/Apr Himal, page 68), should go climbing in a region that has been the preserve of that other famous climbing race, the Sherpas. For, while the Sherpas have climbed extensively in the Karakoram as support for Western and other expeditions, their counterparts from Baltistan and Hunza have never made it to the Central Himalaya.
It is unfortunate that there will be no Sherpa climbing with the Pakistan team, but there will be Tibetans accompanying them as they tackle the mountain from its standard North Face route.
This is not only the first Pakistani expedition to Everest, but also the first ever outside Pakistan. The ten-member team is led by Nazir Sabir, the well-known Pakistani climber (and politician). Mr Sabir, 43, himself has climbed all the four 8000-metre peaks in the Karakoram: K2, Gasherbrum I and II and Broad Peak. Another member of the team, Rajab Shah, 45, has climbed K2, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak and Nanga Parbat, the one Pakistani eight-thousander that lies in the Himalayan chain. (It is just one of those ironies that no Pakistani has yet summitted all five 8000ers in the country till now.)
At a press conference in Kathmandu before the team headed off to Lhasa, Mr Sabir said, "Many of our climbers live at the same height as the Sherpas themselves. The living conditions are the same."He hoped to attain the summit some time in the end of May, and was confident of getting everyone off the mountain safely. "Climbing is a dangerous sport and we all know the dangers, but I have a good team of able climbers," he said.