Nazir Sabir (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

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, an ...

. He was born in

Hunza Hunza may refer to: * Hunza, Iran * Hunza Valley, an area in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan ** Hunza (princely state), a former principality ** Hunza District, a recently established district ** Hunza River, a waterway ** Hunza Peak, a mou ...

. He has climbed

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

and four of the five 8000 m peaks in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, including the world's second highest mountain K2 in 1981,

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 a ...

8035m,

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, an ...

8050m in 1982, and

Gasherbrum I Gasherbrum I ( ur, ; ), surveyed as K5 and also known as Hidden Peak, is the 11th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is located in Shigar District in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan. Gasherbrum I is part of the Ga ...

(

Hidden Peak Gasherbrum I ( ur, ; ), surveyed as K5 and also known as Hidden Peak, is the 11th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is located in Shigar District in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan. Gasherbrum I is part of the Ga ...

) 8068m in 1992. He became the first from Pakistan to have climbed Everest on 17 May 2000 as a team member on the

Mountain Madness Mountain Madness is a Seattle-based mountaineering and trekking company. The company specializes in mountain adventure travel and has a training school for mountain and rock climbing. History Fischer and Krause In 1984, Scott Fischer, Wes Kraus ...

Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heigh ...

Expedition led by Christine Boskoff from the United States that also included famed Everest climber

Peter Habeler Peter Habeler (born 22 July 1942) is an Austrian mountaineer. He was born in Mayrhofen, Austria. He developed an interest in mountain climbing at age six.http://www.everesthistory.com/climbers/habeler Among his accomplishments as a mountaineer a ...

of Austria and eight Canadians.

Climbing career

Sabir began his Himalayan climbing career with a Japanese expedition to the 7284m

Passu Peak Passu Sar ( ur, ; or Passu Sar, Passu I) is a mountain peak in the Batura Muztagh, a sub-range of the Karakoram mountain range, in the Hunza District of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. It is the high point of the Passu massif, which also includes P ...

in Hunza in 1974. In 1975 he was part of a German Expedition as a trainee that attempted

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 ...

(8125m) and only went to 6700m up the south west ridge. On 17 July 1976 he made the first ascent of 6660m virgin Paiyu followed by Colonel Manzoor Hussain and Major Bashir with the first Pakistani expedition organised by the Alpine gelato in 1276 of Pakistan. In 1977 Sabir joined the largest Japan/Pakistan joint expedition to K2, attempting the traditional South East Abruzzi Ridge. It was a huge expedition, using bottled

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 wel ...

; this team had an army of 1500 porters and 52 members. However Sabir's first assault team including four Japanese had to turn back due to snow storms from 8280m. Another attempt with the same team had to be abandoned again from 8150m when they had to come down searching for two missing colleagues who were found alive below Camp 4 the next day. However they put seven members of the team on the summit making the second ascent of K3. Till then only two mountaineers of the 1954 successful Italian expedition had stepped on the K2 Summit. Sabir was invited to climb K2 in 1981 by his friends by the

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

Expedition attempting the West and South West ridges rather than the usual Abruzzi ridge. The Duke of Abruzzi had, in 1909, surveyed K2 from all its sides. He felt that K2 could only be assailed from the South East Ridge, which was to be named Abruzzi Ridge. In 1978 the famous British climber

Chris Bonington Sir Christian John Storey Bonington, CVO, CBE, DL (born 6 August 1934) is a British mountaineer. His career has included nineteen expeditions to the Himalayas, including four to Mount Everest. Early life and expeditions Bonington's father, w ...

made his first attempt on this new route up the West Ridge.

Nick Estcourt Nick Estcourt (1942 – 12 June 1978), educated at Eastbourne College, was a British climber killed on K2 by an avalanche on the West Ridge route. He took part in the 1970 British Annapurna South Face expedition. One of his notable achievements, ...

, a member of this team, was swept to his death by a slab avalanche on the way to Camp 2 while

Doug Scott Douglas Keith Scott (29 May 19417 December 2020) was an English mountaineer, noted for being on the team that made the first ascent of the south-west face of Mount Everest on 24 September 1975. In receiving one of mountaineering's highest hon ...

barely survived. It involves a difficult grade on a mixed ground of snow and rock at higher elevations. Scott, who was a member of the 1978 expedition, led another team strong teams of five top British climbers but they gave up at 7300m due to bad weather. Sabir, followed by Eiho Otani, reached the summit of K2 on 7 August 1981. Sabir and his team from the Waseda University created history by successfully climbing K2's West/South West Ridge for the first time. A documentary film of the climb, ''50 Day Struggle'' was shown all over Japan, made Sabir a household name there. In 1982, Sabir along with Sher Khan and the famous Italian mountaineer

Reinhold Messner Reinhold Andreas Messner (; born 17 September 1944) is an Italian mountaineer, explorer, and author from South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental ...

climbed

8035m and

8047m. Both Gasherbrum II and Broad Peak were done in

alpine style Alpine style is mountaineering in a self-sufficient manner, thereby carrying all of one's food, shelter and equipment as one climbs, as opposed to expedition style (or siege style) mountaineering which involves setting up a fixed line of stocked ...

in a period of just one week, the fastest ascent of two 8000m peaks at the time.

Expeditions to Nanga Parbat

He made three attempts on

. His first was in October 1981, two months after his big success on K2 when he joined his friends from the Sangaku Doshikai Club Tokyo led by M. Omiya. They followed the first serious attempt route of

Albert Frederick Mummery Albert Frederick Mummery (10 September 1855, Dover, Kent, England – 24 August 1895, Nanga Parbat), was an English mountaineer and author. Although most notable for his many and varied first ascents put up in the Alps, Mummery, along with ...

. Nanga Parbat claimed its first of many victims when Mummery and his

Gurkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are recruit ...

colleagues mysteriously disappeared in the Diamir Glacier never to be found again. Nazir and the Japanese abandoned their climb due to the heavy crevasses on the Diamir Glacier and avalanches after heavy snow fall that autumn. He then challenged the S/S West Face also known as Schell Route of Nanga Parbat on the Rupal Flank in 1983 with Tohokeiryo Kai Club friends. As he was leading a pitch up a chest deep snow face at around 7200m with Arai he fell 400 meters on top an avalanche along with seven Japanese colleagues nearly to the bottom of the face but barely survived as he stopped only 20m from the edge. One of the team members, Shimura, was swept down some 2000m to the bottom of the

Rupal Face 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 ...

never to be found again. Sabir ended up with bruises all over his body and a sprained ankle while the team doctor Arai and Wakutsu had one broken arm each and the expedition leader Osamu Kunii survived with four broken ribs. Kunii also had a deep cut across his belly caused by the friction of the rope to such an extent that his intestines were exposed. The mountain took its toll and the expedition had to be abandoned. In 1985 Sabir lured his old time friend and one of the most accomplished Himalayan climbers Doug Scott and his team to go on the same route of Nanga Parbat. Scott, his son Michael, Alastair Reid and Sabir free climbed to 7150m in a two-day push from Base Camp at 3600. Doug Scott got ill at the second bivouac around the same spot where they were swept with an avalanche in 1983 and had to abandon the climb.

Death of brother

In July 1980, Sabir lost his elder brother

Inayat Shah Inayat ( bn, এনায়েত, ur, عنایت) is a unisex first name in Middle East and South Asia. It may refer to: ;''People'' * Enayat Khan, sitar and surbahar player. * Fazal Inayat-Khan, grandson of Inayat Khan. * Hidayat Inayat Khan, s ...

, who served in the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

Special Services Group , colors = Maroon, sky blue , colors_label = Colours , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment = , ...

(SSG). This was Shah's second attempt on

Diran Diran ( ur, دیرن) is a mountain in the Karakoram range in Nagar Valley and Bagrot Valley Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. This pyramid shaped mountain lies to the east of Rakaposhi (7,788m). Diran is the most dangerous mountain in Pakistan ...

on the SSG expedition. On their first trip in 1979 they had to return from merely 150 m from the summit due to Khalid Bashir who had developed

pulmonary oedema Pulmonary edema, also known as pulmonary congestion, is excessive liquid accumulation in the tissue and air spaces (usually alveoli) of the lungs. It leads to impaired gas exchange and may cause hypoxemia and respiratory failure. It is due to ...

and on the descent Bashir fell to his death. A year after they returned to look for the body of Khalid Bashir and also to take on Diran itself. He, along with the climbing leader Shaukat Nazir Hamdani and Rasheed, were buried under an ice avalanche while attempting Diran 7527m on this second Army SSG Expedition while waiting out a bad weather spell in Camp 3 thus ending the hopes of Sabir and his brother to climb Broad Peak the following year and many mountains together.

Everest expeditions

Nazir Sabir first attempted Everest leading the first Pakistan Everest Expedition of ten plus a film team led by

Asad Qureshi Asad Qureshi is a British filmmaker who was kidnapped on 26 March 2010 by a militant group called the " Asian Tigers" in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghanistan border, where he was making a film in North Wazirista ...

who shot the film Everest Men Against Nature in 1997. Nazir had to abandon first summit attempt with his five colleagues due to strong blizzards blowing across the summit ridge from 8630m and again had to return from around 8500m on their two other summit attempts due to strong winds. Nazir went back to Everest from

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

side and on 17 May 2000, climbing in the company of his Nepalese Sherpa colleagues and a Canadian on a full moon night to avoid high winds he stepped on the highest summit at 0730 hours becoming the first from Pakistan to get to the roof of the world. After hoisting Pakistan flag atop Everest he paid tributes to his many dead friends on the higher ground of Everest including Scott Fischer, Rob Hall, Ube Akira, Kobayashi, Yasuo Kato, Futagami and many more who gave their lives in love of these eternal higher heavens. While waiting for Ben Webster of Canada and two other Sherpas he went on enjoying the most splendid moments of his life with his two Sherpa colleagues taking video shots of Ben and others climbing the last part of the summit ridge and the magical surroundings against the backdrop of the much blessed early morning sun approaching from behind 8462m

Makalu Makalu ( ne, मकालु हिमाल, Makālu himāl; zh, t=馬卡魯峰, p=Mǎkǎlǔ fēng) is the fifth highest mountain in the world at . It is located in the Mahalangur Himalayas southeast of Mount Everest, in Nepal. One of th ...

, 5th highest mountain in the world. He spoke to the base camp and sent the message of humbleness and happiness back home and to his closest friends who were watching his progress and counting steps up the last part of the mountain as he climbed through the clear night winds. He received hundreds of messages from across the country and the globe including that of

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...

who was second to send in her congratulations from London where she lived at the time.

Political career

As a reward for years of services rendered to the people of Hunza, Sabir was elected as their representative to the

Gilgit Baltistan Gilgit (; Shina language, Shina: ; ur, ) is the capital city of Gilgit-Baltistan, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit River and the Hunza River. It is a major Tourism in Paki ...

Legislative Assembly in the October 1994 elections and was appointed Advisor on Education and Tourism to the then government for a five-year term. Campaigning for the Hunza seat in the 1994 elections he defeated his opponent from the traditional Mir of Hunza family with a huge margin taking away the public mandate as a commoner for the first time.

Honors

For his outstanding achievements he earned the prestigious Award for Pride-of-Performance in 1982. and was honoured with The

Sitara-i-Imtiaz The Sitara-e-Imtiaz () also spelled as Sitara-i-Imtiaz, is the third-highest (in the order of "Imtiaz") honour and civilian award in the State of Pakistan. It recognizes individuals who have made an "especially meritorious contribution to the ...

(Star of Excellence) in 2001 for his outstanding performance in mountaineering sports. He is the only Pakistani to have been awarded honorary membership of the Alpine Club (UK) in 1992, the Polish Mountaineering Federation in 2002 and the American Alpine Club in 2008. His home ground latest honour is when he was unanimously elected to the seat of the Alpine Club of Pakistan as its fifth but first civilian and mountaineer president after four army generals on 10 October 2004 and again elected for another term in 2007.EverestNews
"NAZIR SABIR RE-ELECTED AS PRESIDENT ALPINE CLUB OF PAKISTAN"
/ref> Presently he heads the Alpine Club of Pakistan, which trains and prepares men and women from all around Pakistan for the outdoors activities and in particular mountain climbing.

Environmentalist

Sabir is currently working as an environmentalist on the conservation of wildlife in his native

Hunza Valley The Hunza Valley ( bsk, , Wakhi: '; ur, ) is a mountainous valley in the northern part of the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, formed by the Hunza River, bordering Ishkoman to the northwest, Shigar to the southeast, Afghanistan's Wa ...

and across Northern Pakistan including the

Baltoro Glacier __NOTOC__ The Baltoro Glacier ( zh, 巴爾托洛冰川, ), at in length, is one of the longest glaciers outside the polar regions.The Fedchenko Glacier in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan is 77 km long, the Siachen Glacier which lies so ...

region. He is involved on the conservation of the 5000 years old world heritage of Juniper forests in

Ziarat Ziarat (Urdu and ps, ) is a city in the Ziarat District situated in the Balochistan. It is from the capital city of Eastern Balochistan Quetta. It was established as a district on 1st July 1986, before then it was part of Sibi district. The ...

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

in collaboration with

Hayatullah Khan Durrani Hayatullah Khan Durrani, PP (Pashto: ; born 22 April 1962) is a Pakistani caver, mountaineer, environmentalist, organizer, and a rescuer. He is also a part-time sports anchor actor on Pakistani television. He played a significant role in the ...

Chiltan Adventurers Association Balochistan Chiltan Adventurers Association Balochistan (CAAB; ur, ) is a non-profit government adventure sports association in Balochistan, Pakistan. It consists of young boys and girls dedicated to the promotion of mountain adventure, sports climbing an ...

. He has also been raising voice on environmental matters in the

Siachen Glacier The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about , just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Kar ...

region and across the

Karakoram The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...

belt, opposing the Polo Tournaments at

Shandur Pass Shandur Pass( ur, ) is a pass located in Ghizer, District of Gilgit Baltistan . It is often called 'Roof of the World. During the annual ' Shandur Polo Festival,' there are polo matches played in Shandur Polo Ground on Shandur Top, between the ...

and the Babusar Pass that is polluting the serene environment and is against the animal rights.

Business career

Sabir currently operates an adventure travel outfit under the name of Nazir Sabir Expeditions. He has been actively involved in promoting Pakistan as a unique tourism destination "The Best Kept Secret" in South Asia and has travelled extensively around the world lecturing on the country's cultural, historical and adventure potential.

International events

On the invitation of UIAA/IUCN he participated in the Indo-Pakistani and UK Peace Climb in the

Swiss Alps The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps (german: Schweizer Alpen, french: Alpes suisses, it, Alpi svizzere, rm, Alps svizras), represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss ...

in 2002, organised to focus attention on environmental degradation in the

area due to the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan. He also attended the International Congress on "Future of Mountain Sports" at

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

(

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) in 2002, centennial celebrations of

American Alpine Club The American Alpine Club (AAC) is a non-profit member organization with more than 24,000 members. Its vision is to create "a united community of competent climbers and healthy climbing landscapes." The Club is housed in the American Mountaineerin ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

in 2002, Sagarmatha Golden Jubilee celebrations in

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

in 2003. He was a delegate at an International workshop on Food Security and Cross Border Tourism jointly organised by GTZ and AKF in

Dushanbe Dushanbe ( tg, Душанбе, ; ; russian: Душанбе) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (r ...

in 2004. For over two decades he has been representing Pakistan and delivered lectures on the tourism potential of Pakistan at international forums and Alpine Clubs in Japan, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Canada, Nepal, South Korea, Hong Kong, Tajikistan, Poland, Slovakia, Malaysia, France and Italy. He was invited to be a jury member at the

Banff Mountain Film Festival The Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival is an international film competition and annual presentation of films and documentaries about mountain culture, sports, environment and adventure & exploration. It was launched in 1976 as ''The Banff Festival ...

in 1996, Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival in 2002, Bratislava Mountain Film Festival in 2002, and was invited as chief guest at the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival in 2006 and the Trento Mountain Film Festival in 2003. He was honoured as the chief guest at the Kathmandu Film Festival in 2006. He represented the Alpine Club of Pakistan at the International Mountain Summit in Tyrol in November 2009 and attended the Graz Mountain Film Festival in 2009. He collaborated with Pakistan Consulate and VIMFF in organising an event "Zoom on Pakistan" and did a slide talk on his spiritual experiences on his climbs featured as "Pilgrimage to the Higher Heavens" to a keen audiences on 1 December 2009. He also spoke to the Canadian Pakistani community at the eve of Eid-e-Milad celebration organised by the Pakistan High commission. Sabir took part at a mountain environment related conference at Golden Colorado from 31 July 2010 that addressed the huge challenges of the exit strategies in the mountain wilderness around the globe.

Inspirational speaker

As a photojournalist and naturalis, Sabir has in his archives a collection of over 5000 slides of mountains and the culture surrounding them. He has been doing promotional slide shows at various Pakistani universities such as Air University ISB, Quaid Azam University, Aga Khan University, and internationally at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in Canada and the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in England to name a few and many other universities and different platforms in Pakistan and around the globe. More recently Sabir has been delivering inspirational lectures at various universities and forums in Pakistan on his spiritual experiences, encounters with death situations that are filled with unique experiences from his over three decades of climbing in Pakistan Nepal,

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

European Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

and

Japanese Alps The is a series of mountain ranges in Japan which bisect the main island of Honshu. The peaks that tower over central Honshu have long been the object of veneration and pilgrimage. These mountains had long been exploited by local people for raw m ...

and the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

References

External links

Official Website
*http://www.nazirsabir.com/nse/president.php

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabir, Nazir Pakistani mountain climbers Pakistani summiters of Mount Everest Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Recipients of the Pride of Performance People from Hunza Pakistani Ismailis Summiters of K2 Pakistani summiters of K2