While international teams are unlikely to visit Pakistan this summer, an all-Pakistani combo led by Sa’ad Mohamed is on its way to climb 7,070m Rakhiot Peak, within the Nanga Parbat massif.
They will enjoy the scenic Nanga Parbat area in complete solitude and also cop all the attention, since as far as we can determine, they are the only expedition climbing in the country.
The team’s position in the Rupal Valley as of today.
Together with Aheed Naveed, Asif Bhatti, Tashfeen and two high altitude porters, Mohamed left Tarashing by the Astor River and reached the Rupal Valley yesterday. “It’s mostly cloudy, with fields of purple, yellow and white flowers in a steady breeze,” Mohamed reported.
Although they have no internet connection, they will post messages and videos on Twitter and YouTube over Mohamed’s tracking device. Today, the team reached 3,485m for acclimatization. “Very windy here on the ridge,” Mohamed reported, before heading back down.
Sa’ad, who describes himself as a mountaineer and “biryani [curry] addict”, attempted Everest back in 2017, reaching as far as Camp 3. He represents a new generation of local alpinists, making inroads into the mountains of their homeland.
Sa’ad Mohamed
Rakhiot is a subsidiary peak northeast of Nanga Parbat’s main summit. It was first climbed on July 16, 1932 by Peter Aschenbrenner of Austria and Herbert Kunigk of Germany, one of the several parties that tried and failed to summit Nanga Parbat itself from the 1930s to the 1950s. The tragic end of some of those expeditions left Nanga Parbat with its reputation as the “Killer Mountain”.
