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Published : 24 May 2024, 11:43 AM
Babar Ali scaled Everest - the highest mountain peak in the world – and Lhotse - the fourth highest – only two days apart. But his mission is not yet ever. Instead, the Bangladeshi mountaineer is eager to climb more peaks which are over 8000-metre-high.
Babar previously became the first Bangladeshi national to climb the Ama Dablam peak in the Himalayas in 2022.
He is the first mountaineer from Chattogram to conquer the world’s tallest mountain and the sixth Bangladeshi to do so.
Babar reached the base camp on Wednesday after conquering Lhotse and is currently staying there. He spoke to bdnews24.com from the base camp about his dreams, the challenges in translating them into reality and his future endeavours.
The 8000-metre-high peaks are known as ‘Aat Hazari’ among mountaineers.
“We mountaineers dream of seeing the world from the highest peak. I have fulfilled that dream of mine. I am very happy,” Babar said over the phone.
“I was happier to scale Lhotse as it was technically more challenging. And I love to face challenges. Hence, I must say that I enjoyed conquering Lhotse more,” Babar said with confidence.
Lhotse peak is situated in the Himalayas between Tibet and Nepal.
Before Babar, five other Bangladeshis conquered Everest. But Babar is the first Bangladeshi to scale Everest and Lhotse in a single expedition. He planned ahead to achieve the mammoth task.
After he scaled Ama Dablam, his friends kept on asking when he would climb Everest. “I was preparing to summit Everest but was also thinking of facing a new challenge,” he said.
He planned to summit Everest in 2023 but had to devote his attention to his studies. “Then I thought of scaling two peaks together. No one from Bangladesh scaled Everest and Lhotse in a single expedition. I thought I would be the first.”
Babar Ali, a native of Hathazari, began mountaineering in 2010. Fourteen years later, he has conquered the world’s tallest mountain, drawing plaudits from all and being labelled the ‘pride of the nation.’
Asked if his parents had supported his mountaineering dreams, Babar said he had spoken to them on Wednesday after reaching the base camp.
He felt they were happy, but also worried about his well-being, Babar said.
“Mountaineering includes the risk of death. So, despite all this joy and merriment, my mother is still eagerly awaiting the moment she can embrace a son who is safe and sound.”
Babar said that, like other Bangladeshi mountaineers, he started out scaling mountains in Bandarban. He trekked a lot from 2012 to 2014. “As this sport is a bit risky, my family initially prevented me from doing it. Later, when they saw my success, they began to support me.”
Those early days must have seemed far away as he was scaling the Himalayas. At one point during his expedition, he was caught in a blizzard for two and a half hours.
“I faced the blizzard while climbing down Everest. But I was prepared. It was very cold but that was expected there.”
While most people have praised him, there has also been some criticism of the cost of the expedition and the possible pollution of the mountains.
Babar, however, put that out of his mind. He was more focused on his likely descent from the base camp on Thursday.
“It’s very hard to use Facebook or other social media sites here. I have heard of these things [the criticism] but haven’t had a chance to see the posts myself.”
Regardless of the negative feedback, Babar wants more young people to try mountaineering.
“Aside from team sports like football and cricket, we’re doing well in individual sports. But in a country of 180 million people, only 40-50 people are doing mountaineering seriously. You have to call it an extremely small number,” he said.
“Young people must start mountaineering. They can prove their individual skills. They can also achieve great things for the nation.”
Babar is likely to reach home in seven to eight days. Though he dreams of scaling more 8,000m giants, he is also interested in resuming his medical work.
“I used to have work. I worked for some NGOs and UN agencies. But now I’ll start a private medical practice.”
The confident mountaineer said there were 14 8,000-metre-peaks across the world.
“Maybe I can’t conquer them all, but I want to scale another next year.”
Which, exactly, he would not say.
