Recently two Pakistani brothers Niamat Karim and Mansoor Karim from Shimshal, Gojal , Hunza made a new record in the Alpine Skiing history of Pakistan . Niamat karim who is 27 years old alongwith his brother Mansoor Karim aged 15 years did the first ever Pakistani Alpine Skiing expedition (6000m). They set a record by summit 4 peaks and by attempting Alpine skiing from these peaks and that too successfully. Mansoor Karim, the younger one also set a new record by becoming the youngest Pakistani to attempt Alpine Skiing.
Imagine yourself standing clipped on a pair of skis on a glaciated peak of the Northern Himalayas. Large flakes swirling down fast, limiting visibility and muffling the sound of distant avalanches. Its a snow world . The surroundings are so quite that you start hearing the silence itself . You look around and get ready to break the silence . Flying in the air at 140km/h down a steep ice slope you flip around 180 degrees and the steep downhill, descent begins. Any single mistake will prove to be your last too. There is a very famous saying about skiing that , “There are really only three things to learn in skiing: how to put on your skis, how to slide downhill, and how to walk along the hospital corridor.” How to tackle danger is one of the basics of Alpine Skiing. Weather goes through drastic swings , with visibility often reduced to a few yards in a matter of seconds. An unstable layer of snow the consistency of tiny ball bearings, known as grapple, increases the chances that the new snow above it will be extremely slippery. But still you keep on pushing because if you aren’t crashing , you aren’t skiing. For people like us it might be too dangerous a sport but for a skier its like flying in the air. The First Pakistan 6000m Ski Expedition , 2013 started on 10th July . The first challenge for the brothers was to attempt Quz Sar (5,950 m). Summit was done in a time period of three hours despite having worst weather conditions. The hefty descent from the top to the advance base camp, skiing was done in mere 15 minutes. On the very same day both the brothers attempted Qol Sar peak (6,000 m) too. It is important to mention here that in the initial plan of expedition only three peaks were to be summit which included; Quz Sar, one un-named peak and Manglik Sar . But while summiting Quz Sar, they found that the advance base camps of Qol Sar and Quz Sar were almost adjacent to each other . Hence it was decided on the spot that Qol Sar will be attempted too. Dawn of 12th July began with them aiming to attempt Manglik Sar (6,050 m). Summit push for Manglik Sar was done in 6 hours and once it was conquered , the descend was done by skiing in only 17 minutes!
After bagging three peaks successfully they took a two day rest and on 15th July challenge was set to summit an unclimbed and un-named peak ( 6,000 m). It was summit in 3 hours and descend was done by skiing downhill to advance base camp in mere 10 minutes! It was a commendable record set by Niamat and Mansoor Karim . Not everyone can face such tough challenges of an Alpine region . Weather is constantly changing, protection is almost nil , finding a route is quite bewildering , chances of rockfall too frequent and ultimately the descent is way more tiring . You have to do it with agility and precision. Niamat Karim and Mansoor Karim , both the brothers have set their eyes on making many such records in future . Niamat is also a professional mountaineer and has been associated with this profession for last 13 years. Mansoor, who is just 15 started his career as professional skier in 2008. Niamat is very keen to promote Alpine Skiing among the youth of Pakistan and really hopes Government of Pakistan will pave way for such future endeavors. He really hopes that by promoting tourism and mountain adventure sports along with providing reliable tourist infrastructure, we can make a tourist haven here in Pakistan!
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