IT is with a heavy heart and profound grief that this country bids farewell to one of its finest sons, Ali Sadpara, who along with his two companions was officially declared dead after hectic search operations failed to locate the men on the treacherous slopes of K2, the world’s second highest peak.

Perhaps there is some comfort in the fact that his final resting place will be on the very mountains he loved so much. Ali Sadpara may not have succeeded in his mission to summit K2 in winter without oxygen support, but he reached another summit few have managed to scale. He succeeded in bringing out the best in all of us who followed the epic rescue efforts mounted in the aftermath of his disappearance. For those few days, as we all held our collective breath in desperate anticipation of good news, he united us in our grief and gave us a legend to collectively own and honour.

Muhammad Ali Sadpara: Porter, family man and tough as nails mountaineer

The army mounted a heroic rescue attempt, going to unprecedented lengths to locate the three mountaineers, and people across the country prayed for his safety during those days. This man of steel, who brought joy wherever he went with his happy demeanour and endearing smile, will live forever in the hearts of all Pakistanis. Perhaps his loved ones can derive a little comfort from this fact. Sadpara scaled more than 10 of the highest peaks in the world during his mountaineering career, with multiple summits of Nanga Parbat as well as a successful one of K2 in 2018.

He came from a life of poverty, but did not let that stop him from reaching for the stars to build a career that has untold numbers of admirers in the global community of mountaineers. But the most impressive summit that he scaled with his undying spirit was the one within. Today with sadness and pride, we admit his memory into the pantheon of legends that this country has produced.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2021