Legendary Pakistan climber Ali Raza Sadpara has suffered serious injuries after falling down a mountain during routine training.
“He was on a routine adventure at dawn today near his village Sadpara [in Skardu] as part of his preparations to summit K2 this summer when he slipped off a cliff and fell into a ditch,” Karrar Haidri, secretary Alpine Club of Pakistan told APP.
“He was rushed to a regional hospital where doctors said he had broken his spinal cord,” Haidri added.
According to Haidri, the 55-year-old Raza had 17 successful summits to his credit including all the above 8000m peaks in Pakistan barring K2.
“It was his dream to conquer K2. He attempted the peak [K2] twice in the past but returned both times due to bad weather when he was just a few hundred metres away. This summer, he was once again set to embark on a K2 expedition that this unfortunate incident took place,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ali Raza’s son, Bashir Hussain, who is also a climber, has appealed to the nation to pray for his father’s speedy recovery.
Ali Raza has also remained the mentor of the late Ali Sadpara and Hassan Sadpara, who belonged to his village. He started his climbing career in 1986 as a high-altitude porter at K2. He ascended Broad Peak (8047m), four times in 1993, 2005, 2011 and 2017, Gasherbrum-II (8035m) five times in 1998, 2004, 2017, 2018 and 2021, Gasherbrum-I( 8068m) four times in 1990, 2000 and 2017. He scaled Nanga Parbat (8125m) in 2005, SiaKangri in 1996, BaltoroKangri in 2000. He also summitted Spantik (7027m) four times.
