Sumaira JajjaPublished 18 Feb, 2021 05:51pm
This article was originally published on February 8.
“Mountains demand passion.
Aap ki dillagi hone chahiyee paharoon kay saath [your heart needs to be in love with the mountains],” a beaming Muhammad Ali Sadpara had said in 2016 when I asked what it takes to become a mountaineer.
A “jolly, good fellow”, Sadpara is often described by his peers as a tough as nails climber with a good-humoured nature. The only Pakistani to have climbed eight of the 14 8,000 metre peaks, Sadpara came to prominence in local media when he, along with Spain’s Alex Txikon and Italy’s Simone Moro, made a world record with the first winter summit of Nanga Parbat in 2016. The Spaniard and the Italian said their summit would not have been possible without Sadpara, a rousing endorsement for a man largely hidden from the public eye in Pakistan.
As of 3:30 am, Monday, February 8, 2021,(Pakistan Standard Time), John Snorri, Muhammad Ali Sadpara, and Juan Pablo (JP) Mohr Prieto remain missing, with no trace of them found after multiple helicopter searches.
We are learning more about what happened at the Bottleneck directly from Ali’s son, Sajid. Of note, he said he and his father were climbing without supplemental oxygen but had a bottle in their pack for emergencies. Also, when he left the three missing climbers, they had no radio or satellite phone. He believes they summited and had an accident on the descent in the Bottleneck, but he cannot be sure.