Babar Ali faces snowstorm while descending Everest

Babar Ali, who recently summited Mount Everest, encountered a snowstorm while descending from the world’s highest mountain. He, however, managed to return safely to camp-4, along with others. 

While talking to Prothom Alo around 6:30 pm on Wednesday, he described the snowstorm as the most challenging part of his expedition. He returned to the base camp around two and a half hours before the WhatsApp conversations and was doing fine. 

“I am in a good, sound state. I came down to the base camp two or two and a half hours ago. I took some rest and talked with family members, including my parents. I have to stay here for two more days,” he said. 

He recounted the most challenging moments, “I faced a snowstorm while descending from the Everest summit. We were delayed by two hours due to this storm, which made us late in reaching camp-4.”

Babar Ali disclosed that he remained without oxygen support during his stay at camp-4, and most of his time at the Everest peak. Asked why he embraced the risk of being without oxygen support at such a high altitude, he explained, “Many climbers go on Everest expeditions without oxygen. I wanted to see how difficult it is.” 

Earlier, he descended camp-2 from camp-4 on Tuesday, said Bodha Raj Bhandari, owner of Snowy Horizon, a trekking and mountaineering company that guided him to Everest.

Babar Ali summited Everest at 8:30 am (local time) on 19 May. Two days later, he ascended Mount Lhotse and achieved the feat of being the first Bangladeshi to summit two eight-thousand-meter peaks at a time. 

Babar left Bangladesh on 1 April to embark on the Everest expedition in Nepal. Sherpa Bir Bahadur Tamang accompanied him, providing critical support throughout the journey.

In Nepal, Babar flew from Kathmandu to Lukla on 4 April and reached the Everest base camp on 10 April. To cope up with the high altitude, he made several trips between the basecamp and different highs, before embarking on the expedition for the highest peak.