It’s now official

China Tibet Mountaineering Assoc hands Musa certificate for conquering Everest
Musa Ibrahim is now officially listed as the first ever Everest conqueror from Bangladesh.
“This is to certify that on 23 May, 6:50 am, Md Musa Ibrahim climbed the peak of Everest, Chomolungma of Mount Everest” is written on Musa’s certificate.
China Tibet Mountaineering Association yesterday handed over the certificate to Musa at the base camp in Tibet. The liaison officer of the CTMA around 1:00pm gave the certificates to all 12 mountaineers in Musa’s group who successfully reached the top of the world last Sunday.
Asked what the certificate says, Musa read it out over telephone to The Daily Star correspondent.
“It is the fulfilment of a dream. It is not possible to express in words the emotions. I was overwhelmed when I reached the top of the peak,” Musa said.
A tired Musa, who has been scaling up and down for 36 days, came down to the base camp at 5,200 metres from the advanced base camp (at 6,450 metres) Tuesday afternoon.
Between May 10 and before the final attempt to reach Everest, Musa had to climb up and down between the two base camps to get accustomed to the thin air.
He was coughing over the telephone yesterday evening. “It is now snowing here at the base camp. Apart from the mild cold I caught, I am okay,” he said.
“We tried to go up last Wednesday [May 19]. We had to climb a vertical ice wall at North Cole at 7,100 metres [from sea level]. But could not proceed due to snowstorm. So we came back to advanced base camp and waited for good weather,” Musa said.
On 21 May, it seemed it would be impossible to climb up. Some groups came down due to the bad weather that day, he said.
“But we decided to wait a bit more. And finally the weather started to improve and we started for Everest on Saturday [May 22] evening,” Musa said.
Several groups followed with helmet-mounted torches on. And it looked like a procession of light, Musa said.
Around 8,300 metres, the pipe of Musa’s oxygen tank developed a leak and he was having breathing difficulties. Fortunately, the sherpas were able to fix the pipe.
He said when he was at the top and the sun came up he got scared. He said he might not have had the courage to climb to the top if he had seen the sheer drop before.
Musa said during descent he became very weak and two Australian climbers helped him with pills.
“Did you see Muhit around?” asked the correspondent about the other Bangladeshi mountaineer who also ventured to the Everest.
He said, “Yes, I saw him from far away on May 19.
“But we have not talked as we did not meet face to face.”
The Daily Star correspondent asked his colleague, “Musa, what is the exclusive for The Daily Star?”
“Along with the flag of Bangladesh, I have taken a photo with a big logo of The Daily Star on the peak of Mount Everest,” Musa, a sub editor of The Daily Star, said.
He will start his descent from the base camp towards the Tibet-Nepal border on Friday or Saturday.
“The time is not confirmed yet, as our whole team will move together,” he said.
Musa, the first Bangladeshi to climb the highest mountain, is expected to return to Dhaka on June 2.
Members of North Alpine Club and friends of Musa are gathering in Kathmandu to greet him.
Nasrin Zahan Lipi, second secretary of Embassy of Bangladesh in Nepal, yesterday said she is also keeping in touch with Musa.
“I called him on Tuesday when he came back to the base camp,” she said.

Courtesy of The Daily Star