Renowned mountaineer Ali Raza Sadpara succumbs to injuries

Eminent mountaineer Ali Raza Sadpara passed away in Skardu on Friday at the age of 56, weeks after a fall left him critically injured.

On May 17, Sadpara experienced severe injuries when he slipped from a cliff and fell into a ditch during a routine climbing drill.

According to Sadpara’s family, the doctors at the Skardu hospital, where he was taken for treatment, said the mountianeer had fractured his spinal cord and several ribs.

Ali Raza Sadpara’s funeral prayers took place today at the Olding village’s graveyard at 10am.

Sadpara was to attempt scaling the K2, the world’s second-highest peak, this summer.

The mountaineer’s career began in 1986 and he had climbed Pakistan’s 8,000-metre peaks 17 times, including the Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum-II, and Gasherbrum-I – all higher than 8,000 metres.

Sadpara was also said to be the coach for prominent mountaineer Ali Sadpara, who passed away last year attempting to climb the K2, Hasan Sadpara and numerous other climbers.

Fellow climbers, politicians, journalists and civil society members expressed condolences to his family and described Sadpara's death as a "huge loss" for mountaineering in Paksitan.

They further recognised the climber for his contributions to the promotion of adventure tourism.

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Saad Munawar, Sadpara's expedition manager, was also bereaved by the news.

"Heartbroken at the demise of Ali Raza. Death is indeed the biggest reality of life," he wrote on his Instagram account.

"Pakistan will miss a legend. Pakistani mountaineers will miss their mentor and the mountains will miss their best friend."

American climber Luke Smithwick shared a picture of Sadpara on his Twitter which he said was taken last summer while climbing Gasherbrum-II.

"He was with another team yet we all worked together on 8000 metre mountains, that’s how summits happen."

Mountaineer Sirbaz Khan stated that the deceased mountaineer had trained an entire generation of climbers, and that Sadpara was called “ustaadon ka ustaad” (teacher of teachers).

Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa expresses grief on the sad demise of renowned Pakistani mountaineer. “May Allah Almighty bless the departed soul in eternal peace, Ameen” he was quoted in a tweet as saying by the DG ISPR.