GILGIT: Mountaineer Sajid Ali Sadpara has reached Nepal with a mission to summit the world’s three highest mountains in Alpine style — without supplemental oxygen.

Before his departure, Mr Sadpara told Dawn that he was going to climb Kangchenjunga (8,586 m), Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) and Makalu (8,481m) peaks.

They are the world’s third-, seventh- and fifth-highest mountains, respectively. The climber said his mission will be completed in three months.

Mr Sadpara has already summited K2 (8,611m), Gasherbrum-I (8,080m) and Gasherbrum-II (8,035m), in Pakistan and Manaslu (8,163m) in Nepal without supplemental oxygen.

Alpine style is a ‘self-sufficient’ summit in which climbers are not supported by high-altitude porters from base camp to the summit. They manage everything, from carrying food, tent, ropes and to setting routes themselves.

Mr Sadpara, son of famed mountaineer Ali Sadpara, aims to climb all of the world’s 14 eight-thousanders without supplemental oxygen.

He has made a name for himself in the Alpine community with his summits of the most daunting peaks at a young age. He climbed K2 — the world’s second-highest mountain — twice, one time without supplemental oxygen. In 2022, he summited the Manaslu peak without supplemental oxygen, becoming the first Pakistani to achieve the feat.

Earlier, he also set records by when he summited both Gasherbrum-I and Gasherbrum-II peaks in three days and 18 hours without supplementary oxygen.

In February 2021, he survived when his father Muhammad Ali Sadpara, Iceland’s John Snorri and Chile’s Juan Pablo Mohr went missing while attempting to summit the K2 during the winter season.

Their bodies were found in May, over five months after they went missing.

Mr Sadpara described the search for the bodies of his father and other missing climbers as “the most challenging and extraordinary mission” of his life.

“First, the summit of K2 itself was a dangerous adventure and the burial of my father above eight thousand metres was heartbreaking,” he said.

“It was impossible to take the bodies back to base camp so we decided to bury them on the mountain.”

Now, Sajid Sadpara said his mission to summit all 14 peaks above eight-thousand metres altitude without supplementary oxygen would be the fulfilment of “his father’s dream”.

For him, climbing was something he was born to take up.

“When you get an environment where you listen and practise only to become a mountaineer, you definitely become one,” he explained while talking about his father’s training.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2023