ISLAMABAD: Retired Lt Col Dr Abdul Gabbar Bhatti has been running three hours every alternate day. On the days in between, the former Special Services Group (SSG) commando hikes up one of the trails in the Margalla Hills with a 25 kilogramme pack on his back. The mission he has been preparing for is to conquer the world’s highest peak - Mount Everest in Nepal.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Bhatti, who is a doctor by profession, announced that he plans to climb the 8,848 metre-high peak solo with one high-altitude porter to carry some of his gear.

He said he was leaving for Nepal on Thursday and would reach the Mount Everest base camp by April 18. The journey includes an eight-day trekking to the base camp. He will then attempt to capture the peak in three weeks given good weather conditions.

Unlike most adventure athletes, who attempt 5,000 metres or 7,000 metres high mountains before taking on one of the fourteen 8,000 metres high peaks, the 60-year-old’s first ever summit was in 1985 when he conquered the 8,051 metres Broad Peak. The following year, Mr Bhatti summated Gasherbrum II.

He told the press conference about the number of other national and international expeditions to his credit as a climbing leader, medical officer, researcher and liaison officer. He is also credited with climbing one of the world’s most difficult and dangerous routes on Mashabrum.

In 2012, he led a successful Pak-China friendship expedition to Mount Spantik and explored a new route on Mount Khusargang in 2015.

Mr Bhatti has also been part of search missions, including the one last year in Kashmir when three Pakistani climbers went missing while attempting to summit a roughly 5,000 metre-high peak.

Trained at the National School of Mountaineering, France, Mr Bhatti said: “Age is just a number. I am able-bodied and in a good condition to make this trip. I have been training hard and know the challenges that lie ahead.”

He said conquering Mount Everest was every climber’s dream. “It has a special attraction for being the highest peak on the earth.

There are several other peaks, even those less than 8,000 metres, more difficult and challenging to climb but Mount Everest is the ultimate challenge,” said Mr Bhatti, who will be ascending with bottled oxygen.

If succeeded, Mr Bhatti, who is the recipient of President’s Award for Pride of Performance and Tamgha-i-Basalat, will not just be the fourth Pakistani to summit Mount Everest but could also become the most senior Pakistani to have conquered the peak.

In 2000, Nazir Sabir became the first Pakistani to summit Mount Everest followed by Hassan Sadpara in 2011. In 2013, Samina Baig became the first Muslim woman and the third Pakistani to climb Mount Everest.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2017