27 Facts About Nazir Sabir

Nazir Sabir was invited to climb K2 in 1981 by his friends by the Waseda University Expedition attempting the West and South West ridges rather than the usual Abruzzi ridge.

Nazir Sabir felt that K2 could only be assailed from the South East Ridge, which was to be named Abruzzi Ridge.

Nazir Sabir, followed by Eiho Otani, reached the summit of K2 on 7 August 1981.

Nazir Sabir's 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.

Nazir 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.

In 1985 Nazir 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 Nazir Sabir free climbed to 7150m in a two-day push from Base Camp at 3600.

In July 1980, Nazir Sabir lost his elder brother Inayat Shah, who served in the Pakistan Army Special Services Group.

Nazir Sabir first attempted Everest leading the first Pakistan Everest Expedition of ten plus a film team led by Asad Qureshi who shot the film Everest Men Against Nature in 1997.

Nazir Sabir 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 Sabir went back to Everest from Nepal 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.

Nazir Sabir 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.

Nazir Sabir received hundreds of messages from across the country and the globe including that of Benazir Bhutto who was second to send in her congratulations from London where she lived at the time.

Nazir Sabir is the only Pakistani to have been awarded honorary membership of the Alpine Club in 1992, the Polish Mountaineering Federation in 2002 and the American Alpine Club in 2008.

Nazir Sabir is currently working as an environmentalist on the conservation of wildlife in his native Hunza Valley and across Northern Pakistan including the Baltoro Glacier region.

Nazir Sabir is involved on the conservation of the 5000 years old world heritage of Juniper forests in Ziarat Balochistan in collaboration with Hayatullah Khan Durrani of Chiltan Adventurers Association Balochistan.

Nazir Sabir has been raising voice on environmental matters in the Siachen Glacier region and across the Karakoram belt, opposing the Polo Tournaments at Shandur Pass and the Babusar Pass that is polluting the serene environment and is against the animal rights.

Nazir Sabir 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.

Nazir Sabir attended the International Congress on "Future of Mountain Sports" at Innsbruck in 2002, centennial celebrations of American Alpine Club in Salt Lake City in 2002, Sagarmatha Golden Jubilee celebrations in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2003.

Nazir Sabir was a delegate at an International workshop on Food Security and Cross Border Tourism jointly organised by GTZ and AKF in Dushanbe in 2004.

Nazir Sabir was invited to be a jury member at the Banff Mountain Film 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.

Nazir Sabir was honoured as the chief guest at the Kathmandu Film Festival in 2006.

Nazir Sabir 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.

Nazir Sabir 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.

Nazir Sabir spoke to the Canadian Pakistani community at the eve of Eid-e-Milad celebration organised by the Pakistan High commission.

Nazir 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.

Nazir Sabir 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 in Canada and the University of Oxford in England to name a few and many other universities and different platforms in Pakistan and around the globe.