Leila goes down after touching the sky

Leila Esfandyari was the first Iranian woman to scale the Nanga Parbat in the Himalaya - one of the tallest and deadliest mountains in the world.


ISLAMABAD: They say there is a force in nature with a plan for everyone. For the famous mountaineer, Leila Esfandyari, the plan was glory.

She was the first Iranian woman to scale the Nanga Parbat in the Himalaya – one of the tallest and deadliest mountains in the world. Madly in love with the mountains, last year Leila lost her job as microbiologist in a hospital to climb the savage mountain, K-2, that has killed one out of four climbers who have attempted to reach the summit.

Not content, the 41-year old returned to Pakistan two months ago to ascend Gasherbrum II in the Karakorum Range – “ the 13th highest peak in the world at 8, 035 metres.

Sitting in the Alpine Club office in the Sports Complex during a debriefing, one of her expedition members, who was only 20 minutes away from the summit of Gasherbrum II, described how he greeted Leila Esfandyari who was climbing back down after conquering the mountain. A little farther down, he also saw her slip.

On July 22, the force in nature had also planned to end her life.

“There have been two confirmed deaths this year and one of them is Leila Esfandyari. She lost her life after she touched the sky,” said Saad Tariq Siddiqui, briefing officer of the Alpine Club. He added that the other mountaineer losing his life was a Chinese from Taiwan who died on Broad Peak, 8, 047 metres.

A third death of a Japanese climber was not yet confirmed who was attempting to climb the Ultar Mountain in Hunza Valley. According to the Alpine Club, a porter had also been killed during ascent on one of the mountains.

As many as 37 teams of mountaineers have come to Pakistan this year. Many have returned home successful after taking on Gasherbrum I and II and more than 7,027 metres Spantik Peak. Another 14 teams are waiting for clearance to enter Pakistan to climb.

But world renowned Spanish mountaineer Alberto Zerain and his teammate Txingu Arrieta were not so lucky this year as they tried to scale the Nanga Parbat, known to climbers as the “Man Eater” or the “Killer Mountain”.

At 8,125 metres, the 9th highest in the world, nothing came close to the Nanga Parbat in terms of the intimidating factor. Alberto Zerain and his team member felt that intimidation a little over 6,200 meters (base camp two) and decided to give it up and return.

“Winds were too strong. Snow was too soft for a proper grip. Rocks would often give away. And the weather was at its worst at all times and very, very dangerous,” said the veteran climber, who had conquered K-2 in 2008 after he failed to summit it in 1997.

With plenty of experience on his side, the Spaniard, who spent a whole one month with his six-member team on Nanga Parbat this year, described his attempt as “impossible”.

“Every mountain is a completely different experience. Success depends on the toughness of the mountaineer. On Nanga Parbat all signs pointed to pack up and return,” Alberto Zarien explained as he also debriefed the Alpine Club official. This year, so far, no team has been successful in summiting the K-2 or the Nanga Parbat.