Real-life hero: Famed mountaineer Hassan Sadpara dies at 54

Was the first Pakistani to climb five 8,000-metre high peaks

GILGIT/ RAWALPINDI: Celebrated Pakistani mountaineer Hassan Sadpara lost his battle with blood cancer at Rawalpindi’s Combined Military Hospital (CMH) on Monday.

The 54-year-old mountaineer, who was the first Pakistani to climb six eight-thousand-metre high peaks, is survived by three sons and a daughter.

Sadpara was credited with conquering six of the eight highest peaks, including the Everest (8,848m) and K-2 (8,611m), without using supplemental oxygen. He was also awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtaiz for these feats.

The mountaineer, whose real name was Hassan Asad, was shifted to Rawalpindi last month from his far-flung Sadpara village – located some 7 kilometres from Skardu in Gilgit-Baltistan – for treatment of his persistent ailment, which was later diagnosed as blood cancer.

“He had been running a high fever for the last few months,” Arif Hussain, a son of Sadpara told The Express Tribune. “We had decided to transport him to Rawalpindi in view of better treatment facilities in the city. However, the fever never settled.”

According to relatives, Arif has appealed to chief ministers of G-B and Punjab to provide them with the facility of a chopper so that the body of the national hero could be shifted to his mountainous hometown, which is over 700kms away from Rawalpindi.

“The G-B CM has asked Diamer’s commissioner to assist the bereaved family in shifting his body to his village,” a public relations officer at the CM secretariat told media on Monday. However it is feared the cloudy weather could affect the flight schedule in the region.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2016.