Asad Ali Memon becomes first Pakistani to speed ascend Kilimanjaro

Pakistani mountaineer also first from Asia to summit Africa’s highest peak in less than 24 hours

KARACHI:

It is hard not to feel joy, sadness, pride and ultimately respect for Asad Ali Memon. "Ali Sadpara you are alive everywhere," reads the banner as Pakistan's 23-year-old mountaineer Asad Ali Memon made the record of becoming the first Asian and Pakistani to climb Kilimanjaro in less than 24 hours on Tuesday.

Memon was attempting a speed ascend record, and he fulfilled his promise to his family and his country by doing so to become the first Pakistani to climb Africa's highest peak in less than a day.

Memon, who is a unique athlete for mountaineering in many ways as he hails from Larkana, where there are no mountains, believes that he can make a change for the aspiring youngsters from the country to follow the trail in the future.

Memon went for the record at the back of the missing search for Pakistan's renowned mountaineer Muhammad Ali Sadpara, who was attempting to climb K2 in winter, guiding John Snorri and JP Mohr, but the trio have been lost at the bottleneck.

Memon had been following the expedition closely, before leaving for his own record climb at Kilimanjaro.

Memon have been received well by the Pakistan Commission in Tanzania on his arrival as well, and he was fully supported by the staff on this record and have issued press statements as well to show complete support to the youngster.

Memon expressed his gratitude and added that the trail was unexpected as he was not expecting the snow that was knee-high. "I started on Monday early morning around 3:00 am, I returned at 1:00 am the next day. I had to face the snow, I had no idea there would be this much snow, which slowed down my climb by three hours. My target was to climb it in 12-13 hours, but there were several different stages."

He further explained that he started from the main point and the Kilimanjaro has four different stages: first there is a rainforest, then a rocky terrain, then there is an arid part, and later there is snow.

"I had researched before going for this record, but it was unexpected to have knee-high snow that affected the speed,” said Memon while explaining his adventure.

“It was deep and fresh and it was little difficult to find a way. There was one way below and if I went there, I would have gotten stuck and I would have to refocus on another way. This ordeal took away three hour to get through.

“The first two stages of the climb I covered in five hours. It was the last two stages, the desert part and then the snowy peak that took away a lot of time so I summited Kilimanjaro in 14 hours and then it took me six hours to get back. I summited the peak at 5am and then rushed back to the gate, the starting point.”

Before Kilimanjaro, Memon climbed Mount Elbrus in Russia (Europe’s highest peak) and Mount Aconcagua in Argentina (highest South American peak), claiming to be the youngest Pakistani to achieve the feat. He had also attempted to climb Mount Everest before. For his next climb, Memon is looking for the North American peak Denali in the summer.

"Three down, four summits to go. The seven summits are my target. I'll hopefully be aiming for Denali in the summer," said Memon, adding that he will return to the country on February 23.