Sadpara to trace father’s footsteps

Sajid Ali Sadpara, the son of renowned Pakistani mountaineer Muhammad Ali Sadpara who had gone missing earlier this year in an attempt to ascend K2 in winter, has announced that he would be embarking on the summer expedition from today (Friday) to comb the mountain for his father's body.

He said this while addressing a press conference at the National Press Club in the federal capital on Thursday.

Missing climbers Ali Sadpara, Iceland's John Snorri Sigurjónsson and Chile's Juan Pablo Mohr Prieto were officially declared dead in February. The three climbers were last seen on February 5 near the bottleneck on K2 as they attempted to reach the summit of the savage mountain.

Sajid, who was accompanying the three, had to abandon his summit bid after his oxygen regulator malfunctioned and he returned to camp three. Bad weather thwarted multiple attempts to search for the missing climbers, though the efforts continued.

Read Explainer: What could have happened to Ali Sadpara?

"As you remember, my father, Ali Sadpara, myself, and John Snorri set out to become the first team to summit K2 in winter early in January. We were later joined by Elia Saikaly, a Canadian filmmaker who is here now along with Pasang Sherpa," he stated, adding, "Fazal Ali, one of the high-altitude porters from Shimshal was also with us who had summited K2 three times".

He said that his father was the only person to summit K2 in winter at an 8,000-metre peak. John Snorri had even tried K2 in winter in the previous seasons. "John, myself, and my father had all summit K2 in the summer so we knew this mountain and John and my father knew winter conditions," he added.

"Chilean JP Mohr joined us for the summit at Camp four. I was climbing without oxygen and when we reached the bottleneck, my father saw my condition and asked me to use oxygen but my regulator was not working properly so I could not go ahead with them," he recalled.

He added that that is the last time he ever spoke to him. Everyone left to go down the mountain but I waited. I don't know what happened to them. It has been four and a half months," he shared.

Sajid said that he was grateful to all those who helped with the search operation, adding, "it is my turn to go back and see for myself”.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2021.