Other Everest conqueror Nishat reaches Kathmandu
It was early in the morning, and the air was calm on the top of the world. Her clock struck 6:26am when Wasfia Nazreen topped the Everest braving hostile weather.
The sun was rising from the left and the sunlight was reflecting on the snow-covered tops of all the mountains around the Everest when she reached the peak after being rock-hit thrice on her shoulder on the way, Wasfia said.
“I just imagined how small the human beings are compared to all these,” Wasfia Nazreen, the second Bangladeshi woman to mount the Everest, told The Daily Star over the phone after reaching the base camp yesterday morning.
She might start for Lukla airport today and reach Dhaka in the first week of next month. The 29-year-old started her expedition on March 26, the day of Bangladesh’s Independence, as part of her “Bangladesh on Seven Summits” campaign.
Meanwhile, Nishat, the first Bangladeshi woman to conquer the world’s highest peak, reached Lukla on Sunday.
Along with fellow mountaineer MA Mohit, she mounted the Everest on May 19.
Enam Ul Haque, president of Bangla Mountaineering and Trekking Club that organised the event, said there was no flight from Lukla yesterday due to bad weather.
“I talked with them and they are well,” said Enam.
On her feeling, Wasfia said it was a tremendous achievement to be the second Bangladeshi women to top the Everest.
This year is one of the toughest expedition years. Due to rough weather condition, many climbers were hurt while several others went missing.
“The Everest was very alive this year, otherwise I could reach the summit on May 18 or on May 25,” she said.
She climbed the mountain with two sherpas — Nima Girman Dorje and Kusang Sherpa — but on her way down only Kusang accompanied her.
A social activist, Wasfia said she wanted to contribute to the country’s cause to fight climate change.
Of the four Bangladeshis who scaled the Everest so far, Wasfia is the youngest.
Earlier, she became the first Bangladeshi woman to reach the highest peak of Africa, the Uhuru peak of Mt Kilimanjaro at 5,895 metres altitude in Tanzania.
She reached the summit of Mount Aconcagua in Argentina on December 16 last year. She came back from 300 metres off the peak of Mount Elbrus in Russia on July 12 the same year.
Mohit is the only Bangladeshi to scale the mountain twice. He first topped the peak on May 21 last year.
Bangladesh entered the list of Everest conquerors with Musa Ibrahim raising high the red-green flag on the mountaintop on May 23, 2010.
-With The Daily Star input
