Meherban Karim (21 January 1979 – 2 August 2008) was a Pakistani

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, a ...

. He lost his life, along with 10 other mountaineers, in the

2008 K2 disaster The 2008 K2 disaster occurred on 1 August 2008, when 11 mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second- highest mountain on Earth. Three others were seriously injured. The series of deaths, over the course of the Friday as ...

, following an avalanche in what was to be one of the deadliest accidents in the history of K2 mountaineering. He summited several

eight-thousander The International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) recognises eight-thousanders as the 14 mountains that are more than in height above sea level, and are considered to be sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no ...

s: K2,

Nanga Parbat Nanga Parbat ( ur, ) (; ), known locally as Diamer () which means “king of the mountains”, is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth, its summit at above sea level. Lying immediately southeast of the northernmost bend of the Indus River in ...

, and

Gasherbrum II Gasherbrum II ( ur, ; ); surveyed as K4, is the 13th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is the third-highest peak of the Gasherbrum massif, and is located in the Karakoram, on the border between Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan ...

(all without Oxygen). In the mountaineering community, he was known as "Karim The Dream" and "Karim Meherban".

Early life

Meherban Karim was born in the Shimshal Valley,

Hunza–Nagar District The Hunza–Nagar District is a former district of Gilgit–Baltistan in Pakistan. In July 2015, the district was divided into two separate districts, namely Hunza District and Nagar District. Education According to the ''Alif Ailaan Pakistan Di ...

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute bet ...

, Pakistan. He spent his childhood in the Shimshal valley, where he explored the mountains and became interested in mountaineering.

List of mountains climbed

Mountaineering career

Karim started his mountaineering career in 1997 by summiting Mingligh Sar at the age of 18. He then learned the techniques of mountain climbing in Shimshal Valley from Rajab Shah and Meherban Shah. He summited

in 2003,

in 2005, and K2 in 2008 without the use of supplemental

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...

. He was also a part of several challenging expeditions, including winter attempts of

with Italian Alpinist Simone La Terra in 2007–2008.

Gasherbrum II

In 2002, Karim made his first attempt at an 8000er by climbing

Broad Peak Broad Peak ( ur, ) is a mountain in the Karakoram on the border of Pakistan and China, the twelfth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It was first ascended in June 1957 by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, ...

, which was unsuccessful due to bad weather conditions. In 2003, he climbed

in an expedition led by Marin Gogglemann, becoming his first successful attempt at an 8000er mountain. He summited Gasherbrum II without using supplemental oxygen at the age of 23.

Nanga Parbat

In summer 2005, Karim and Hugues d'Aubarède reached Camp 4 accompanied by

Edurne Pasaban Edurne Pasaban Lizarribar (born August 1, 1973) is a Basque Spanish mountaineer. On May 17, 2010, she became the first woman to climb all of the fourteen eight-thousander peaks in the World –and the 21st person to do so.Simone La Terra for the winter ascent of Nanga Parbat, which was unsuccessful. They reached the standard base camp on 3 December and established Camp 1 on the Kinshofer Route at 6000m with temperatures of -35 degrees Celsius. Strong winter winds during the night of the 21st blew away their base camp kitchen tent with everything in it. After that, the expedition was called off.

K2

Hugues D’Aubarede hired Karim to climb K2 in 2006 and 2007, but both expeditions were called off because of harsh weather conditions. In summer 2008, the pair made their third successful attempt to climb K2, but both died in an avalanche while descending. Karim had summited K2 without using supplemental oxygen.

Death

Karim summited K2 on 1 August 2008 and died on descent near the Bottleneck on 2 August 2008, at the age of 29 years, in a climbing accident while taking part in an international expedition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karim, Meherban Pakistani mountain climbers 1979 births 2008 deaths People from Gilgit-Baltistan People from Hunza-Nagar District People from Hunza Deaths in avalanches Mountaineering deaths on K2 Mountaineering deaths Natural disaster deaths in Pakistan Pakistani summiters of K2 Summiters of K2 Pakistani Ismailis Nanga Parbat K2 People from Gilgit