Written by: Haroon Shuaib
Posted on: August 04, 2023 | 
| 中文
Asad Ali Memon
In May 2023, Asad Ali Memon was in the news for being the tenth Pakistani and first from Sindh to scale the majestic 8,848-meter-high Mount Everest. This incredible Himalayan Mountain, highest on earth, located between Nepal and Tibet, is named after George Everest, a former Surveyor General of India. There are only 14 mountains in the world that are 8000-meters above sea level, all located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges across Nepal, China and Pakistan.
25-year-old Asad hails from Larkana, a small town in Sindh. He recently moved to Karachi to pursue his degree in Business. Raised by his mother, a single parent working in Department of Health, Asad has lived all his life in the flattest province of Pakistan. It all started around 2017 when he had just started college. Naturally interested in adventure sports, one day he came across a social media post about a 3-day training on mountaineering being held in Islamabad. Always having dreamt of doing something that no one in his area had dared to do, Asad decided to attend. Never having traveled outside Larkana before this, the biggest hurdle for him was to find the confidence and the money to travel to Islamabad. With a commitment from the trainer to let him sit in the training for free if he could make his way to Islamabad, Asad told his mother that he was going to attend a workshop related to his studies. With some money that he got from her and some of his own savings, he decided to travel. Nervous yet excited, Asad bonded well with the trainer, and soon got an opportunity to accompany a group of doctors for free, whom the trainer was taking on an excursion trip to Donga Gali. This was the first time Asad got to see snow. His next adventure was a hiking trip in the Shimshal region of Pakistan’s northern areas. This trip resulted in a newspaper article that his mother saw. She gave him an earful but since Asad is the only child, he managed to get his way with her. His mother eventually reconciled with her son’s passion and today trusts his pragmatic approach and his craving to test his limits.
Asad at Mount Everest camp
With a few mountaineering adventures already under his belt, Asad set his eyes on one of the most ambitious challenges any climber can wish for, known as ‘the Seven-Summit Challenge’. The challenge entails summiting the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. There are a few varying versions of this challenge, depending on the definition used for a continent, in particular the border of each continent. Asad chose the challenge keeping in mind his limitations of resources and affordability. In 2019, he needed $2000 to climb the highest peak of Europe, the 5,642-meter-high Mount Elbrus, situated on the border of Russia and Georgia. His friends pooled in the money, and he again relied on his own savings to fund this adventure. Asad did not want to wait once he had collected the money and on August 14, 2019, he summited Elbrus. It was here at Elbrus that he experienced the scariest moment of his whole climbing career. Because of his lack of experience, he did not carry a phone camera with proper settings and once he was at the summit, he had to take off his glove to unlock his phone with his fingerprint. Within a split-second hair on his hand started to freeze and the possibility of snow bite, a mountaineer’s worst fear, became real. Summits are a very emotional point for mountaineers and through this experience, he learnt a lesson.
Asad at the top of South America
He was literally on top of the world after achieving this first big feat. Without wasting time, he started planning his next target, the 6,961-meter high ‘Mount Aconcagua’ in Argentina, the highest mountain in South America and the highest outside Asia. It was also the second easiest of the seven to summit, and Asad scaled it in 2020. In 2021 Asad scaled the highest peak of the African continent. ‘Mount Kilimanjaro’ in Tanzania is 5,895 meters above sea level, and the highest single free-standing mountain above sea level in the world. Asad stands out from all who have done it before as the first Asian to summit Kilimanjaro in less than a day. In 2022, he earned another feather in his cap by scaling Mount Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, with an elevation of 6,190-meter above sea level. Asad was told that Denali was much more difficult and riskier to climb than the Everest, but now having done both, he thinks that those people have no idea about what a challenge Mount Everest poses.
Asad at the summit of Kilimanjaro
Weatherwise, Asad found Everest beautiful and accommodating. He started his journey to Everest from Karachi on April 9 this year. He was back at the base camp after the summit by May 25. For Asad, the most extreme test while summiting Everest was of the capacity to endure. The initial incline is very steep. Then there is a flat stretch and then again, a very steep incline. According to Asad, one must stay hundred percent focused and there is no room for error. There are four camp stages on Everest, excluding the base camp. The difficulty continually increases, especially after the second camp. The distance between camp 2 and 3 is somewhat like a kilometre, but it takes 8 hours to cover, because it is an 80-degree elevation. Each step feels like a lifetime. From camp 4 to summit, is the longest and the hardest. Asad reached the Everest summit at 7:03 am on May 19. It was a very emotional moment for him. It was a very windy day at the summit, but Asad stayed there for a few minutes while carrying the Pakistan flag and taking some photos.
Asad during the summit of Everest
Mountaineering for Asad is a game of patience. One loses appetite and is always sleepy and tired. Asad believes that in such unforgiving situations one must have a perfect mix of physical, emotional, and psychological strength. A body builder may be physically very fit but that alone will not make him fit to climb a mountain. One must be personally driven, as this sport is not given as much attention or support as more mainstream sports such as cricket. With the honour of having summited the highest peak in Asia, and of course the world’s highest peak of Mount Everest, Asad is now looking to conquer the remaining two peaks for the summit challenge: Puncak Jaya on the island of New Guinea, with an elevation of 4,884-meter, and Vinson Massif in Antarctica, which is 4,892-meter high. Both look like hill climbs for Asad after surmounting Mount Everest. It is just a matter of time and finding funds, a constant challenge Asad has been grappling with. According to him, a sound training, positive mind, and financial resources is all what is needed to achieve any challenge. His biggest challenge, almost as surmountable as the peaks, is the availability of finance, so he can focus on his mountaineering challenges without any additional worry. Training for him is also a challenge, since Asad lives in Sindh, farthest away from the mountainous North. Harsh summer weather and flat topography of Sindh is not suitable for the training of a mountaineer, or acclimatization for high-altitude conditions. Asad is lucky that his body does not take long to acclimatize to sudden changes in altitude.
Asad with Sajid Ali Sadpara at Everest Base Camp
Asad already knows what he wants to do after ‘the Seven Summit Challenge’. He wants to cross the Artic region all the way from North to South pole or vice versa. Those who can achieve this are called ‘Explorers’, and this challenge that involves walking 770 miles, is classified as ‘Explorers’ Goal’. It takes an average of 60 days of trekking to accomplish, and no one from Asia has been able to successfully undertake both the challenges to date. Asad wants that within the next three years he becomes the first from Asia to accomplish both The Seven Summits Challenge and the Explorers’ Goal. This boy from the plains has ambitions matching the highest peaks of the world.
Asad with Suhajda Szilárd (in red jacket), a Hungarian climber who lost his life while climbing Everest, and another climber
You may also like:
