Another Bangladeshi on Mt Everest

On Sunday morning, Liakat Ali and Lutfun Nahar’s home in Burischar of Chattogram’s Hathazari upazila was filled with utter elation as their son Babar Ali, a doctor and already a source of immense pride for the family, became the newest Bangladeshi to summit the Mount Everest.

Yesterday, at 8:30am local time (8:45am Bangladesh time), Babar summited the 8,849 metre peak, the highest in the world. He is the first Bangladeshi to do so in the last 11 years.

Sitting in the middle of a living room with showcases stacked top to bottom with crests and trophies as proof of their son’s many achievements in life, Liakat Ali and Lutfun Nahar were the perfect image of two proud parents.

“Babar was a bit restless and adventurous as a child, but he was always very talented. He couldn’t sit down and study for long, he’d get up and walk around a bit and then come back to the table,” said the beaming father, recalling his son’s early days.

“He was a brilliant student but had no aim in his early academic life. So, he became a doctor as per our wishes,” said Lutfun Nahar.

Babar completed his MBBS degree from Chattogram Medical College, going on to achieve an MPh degree from Chittagong Medical University, followed by Postgraduate Training from Dhaka’s Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

Throughout his time as a student, he never missed an opportunity to explore the country.

“He was especially fond of visiting the Chattogram Hill Tracts, or places with a waterbody that he could visit on a boat,” said Liakat Ali. “This is how his passion for climbing grew.”

In fact, Babar is a prolific climber, having summited 11 peaks in the Himalayas in Nepal and India since 2014. In 2022, he climbed Ama Dablam, a mountain that is considered especially difficult as it involves technical challenges like ice climbing, rock climbing, and high-altitude mountaineering.

He started his Mount Everest adventure on April 1, and reached the base camp on April 10, according to a press release issued by his organisation, Vertical Dreamers.

To acclimatise to the extreme conditions, Babar went up to Everest Camp II on April 26 and then returned to the base, and sat tight for the right weather to begin the real journey.

The time finally came on May 14 and he began his journey, reaching Camp II later the same day, Camp III on May 17, and Camp IV the day after.

Babar started the final stretch of his journey in the early hours of May 19. He climbed the rest of the way to the peak, known as the Death Zone, between midnight and dawn, and thus became the latest Bangladeshi to summit the Everest.

His father mirrored the reaction of the rest of the country to this news.

“Our happiness knows no bounds. We are worried as well, but the happiness far outweighs that. What Babar has done is a matter of great pride for the nation.”

Turning his focus, Babar Ali now looks to create history, setting his course towards Mount Lhotse, the fourth-highest peak in the world. He will begin his summit attempt once he has made his way back to Camp IV. If successful, he would become the first Bangladeshi to summit this peak.

As of 7:30pm yesterday, he had reached Camp IV.

Before him, Musa Ibrahim (2010), MA Muhit (2011), Nishat Majumder (2012), and Wasfia Nazreen (2012) successfully summited Mount Everest. Mohammed Khaled Hossain had also summited Mount Everest in 2013 but passed away during his descent.