K2 2008: Sunny Mountain Guides interviews Little Hussein

Tag : Italian Socks
In my ten years on Everest I [George Dijmarescu] never met a singleclimber from Pakistan and sometimes wondered why. After my 2000Oxygen-less ascent, I had the privilege of meeting Lakpa, mywife-to-be, at a party in Kathmandu. The party was organized bythe first and, thus far, the only, Pakistani Everest summiter.Nazir Sabir went on to fame in Pakistan in the field ofmountaineering, eventually becoming president of Pakistan AlpineClub. As I made the long six-day trek to K2 BC, our Pakistani staffwould most often bring into discussion the name of "LittleHussein". Naturally I was curious to meet him to see how"Little" this man was. According to the stories, hehas summited K2 as well as Pakistan's other "EightThousanders" (mountains over eight thousand meters inaltitude). Every time I asked why Pakistani climbers don't climboutside Pakistan I would get the same answer: "We don't have achance, sir". "And what about Nazir Sabir?" I asked. Their faces fell, answering in unison, "He don't care,sir". I found this hard to believe because, having met thisman, I thought he seemed to be a decent, honorable man, let alonehaving a track record for climbs on the death zone. Slowly ourdiscussions drifted toward politics and the politics of climbing inPakistan. "Every time Nazir Sabir tried to make changes suchas the almost ridiculous one--having a liaison officer for eachexpedition, somewhat unique in the army world, telling him not togo there, but in a way he's there because the army approves."As I sat down with the cook from the Serbian K2 expedition, we gotinto a discussion about why the Pakistani high-altitude climberswere sent down by another expedition without giving a reason(besides the high cost to these climbers). Then, a man of smallstature with a distinctive, clean-cut mustache sat down beside me.At first he looked like Apa Sherpa (Apa and I summited Everest in1999; it was his only ascent on the Tibetan side and my firstsummit of Everest). What impresses people first about Apa is hissmile and, like him, this little man had a great, heart-warmingsmile. Next to him sat another man who looked like a westerner,wearing a white cap with a sponsor logo. Likewise he sat insilence, listening to us opine about what can and should be done toprevent the sudden dismissal of high-altitude Pakistani climbers.So, as long as their system is based on daily wages, unlike NepaliSherpa, there is always a chance that when the weather is bad andwith nothing to do, some team leaders send down the Pakistaniclimbers. I assured the cook that there will always be politics,and Pakistan will not jeopardize their relationship with theclimbers for a bunch of "Pakistani porters" as they arecalled here. I have a personal problem with this: summiting K2doesn't make you a porter, especially when there are fewer than 300people in the world who have summited K2! "He is LittleHussein," said a young Jasmine staff member as he introducedthe little man. I was taken aback, he was sitting next to me forhalf an hour and I had no idea. "This is Muhammed,"continued the young man and, using very good English, said,"He also summited K2 and other eight thousanders in Pakistan.As I mentioned, Muhammed didn't look anything like a Pakistani, hiseyes being light green and having a brown beard and a pleasantsmile. He shook my hand as I introduced myself. "I heard alot about you, Little Hussein". People talk about you all thetime, you are indeed a small man." A few days back inConcordia, I was told a story by a Pakistani man, about how aKorean woman was helped by a 'Pakistani porter' to reach the summitof Gashebrum 2 AKA GII. Upon her return to BC she refused to creditthe Pakistani man with helping her and, moreover, that he didn'teven summit. To this end, I was left with disappointment anddisbelief. The story goes on to say that the Korean woman went onto climb another eight thousander and died during her attempt. Iwas listening passionately to their story and at its conclusion Isaid, "InshAlah" (God Willing)" to which everyPakistani exploded with laughter. As I was telling the Serbian cookabout this freshly heard story, the little man with the distinctivemustache touched my left arm and said, "That was me,sir." Again, small world! Little Hussein added more detailsto the story but basically matched what I heard. Hussein shiftedthe discussion on how much he wanted to climb Mt. Everest and othergiants outside Pakistan, and that he "has no chance" togo outside Pakistan because of the expense. Muhammed, the otherman next to him, nodded in agreement that he, too, was ready forEverest. They both spoke with ardent patience and yearning toclimb the tallest mountain in the world. "Only if we are givena chance," they repeated. "But we are poor, sir."While the South side of Everest is off limits for me for the samereason, finances, I suggested the Tibetan side where I've climbedso many times. Besides, logically, I thought, China and Pakistanare good neighbors and closely related countries; they may considergranting a fee waiver, making a symbolic gesture on behalf of thosebrave Pakistani K2 summiters. "We can't even afford the airfare, sir." I suggested they repeatedly petition the powerfulPakistani bodies, the Alpine Club and the Ministry of Tourism. ThenI remembered a similar situation for some of the Nepalese sherpawho, after their summit of Everest, don't even make it down toKathmandu but stay home farming potatoes. Likewise, these Pakistaniclimbers who live at altitudes of 3500m will not even make it toSkardu, remaining at home, not for potato farming but for wheatfarming and raising livestock. After all, Hussein has fivechildren that need to be fed. He proudly named them all and statedtheir ages: daughters Sadika, 13 years old; Zahira (pronouncedZahra), 11; an only son, Ikrar Hussein, 9; daughters, Saira, 6,and Madiha, 4. They all live in Machulo village in Kaphlu District. Hussein began as a porter when he was just 14 years old and,through various expeditions he graduated to climbing and in 1998climbed with the Korean GII expedition. His summit on 22 Julyopened a big door for employment for the little man and a betterchance to feed his family. The next year saw Hussein on the killermountain of Nanga Parbat on the notorious Rupal Face with aJapanese expedition, reaching 7600m along with some of the Japaneseclimbers, but due to deteriorating weather, the expedition wascalled off by the leader. In 2000 Hussein climbed once again witha Japanese expedition on Broad Peak where he summited on July 31.After the summit the whole expedition moved to K2 but again, due tobad weather he reached only C2, and no other team members wenthigher. The next year kept the little man busy on MustanghAta on a Japanese women's expedition, where Hussein reached the summit at7646 m on August12 along with three Japanese women and three men..After his descent, Little Hussein was sent to retrieve the body ofa Japanese climber on Pasu Peak in Hunza. In 2002 he was seenonce again on K2 with another Japanese expedition on Abruzzi Ridge,but because of bad weather the expedition was called off at C4.After coming down he was sent to the rescue of a Japanese man onG1; the man survived but was evacuated by helicopter. The Japaneseseem to like Hussein and once again employed him in 2003 forKhuniankish in Hunza Hispar; he only reached 7800 m, with no membersummiting because the team chose a new route and didn't find theright way to the summit. In 2004 Hussein climbed with a jointChina-Pakistan K2 expedition where Little Hussein reached thesummit without Oxygen on July 27. In 2005 Hussein returned toKhuninkish with yet again a Japanese expedition but on a new route. Their expedition didn't reach the summit. In 2006 he climbed againwith Japanese on GII but only reached C3. In 2007 Hussein was sentto retrieve an Austrian man who died on Broad Peak just below thesummit. The four Pakistanis and two Austrians made an epic descentwith the body where they had to abandon it twice due to badweather, once losing him in a total white-out. It took them severaldays to bring the body to BC where a helicopter took the fatedclimber down and home to Austria. When I asked Little Hussein whathe wanted to say to the climbing community, I was surprised tohear: "Please come and visit Pakistan and its mountains,"he said, smiling. For me, what I saw so far impressed me greatly,and I know, InshaAlah, I'll be back. The people are great, as kindas K2 is remote. With their giant mountains we cannot ask formore. "But what about you," I insisted, "saying youwant to climb other big mountains outside Pakistan." Onceagain, Little Hussein mentioned that one day he hopes someone froma wealthy country will take a chance and invite him to be aclimbing partner on Everest, Makalu, Annapurna or any othermountain. He went on to say he'd like to meet and climb withwestern climbers; since he dedicated so much to the Japanese, heisn't much further from where he started. InshaAlah, yes, my newLittle friend, you will climb outside Pakistan. Rumor has it thatOsama Bin Laden will come to K2 BC and, as the Serbian cookanswered questions from a Frenchman intending to climb K2. TheFrenchman seemed more worried about Bin Laden than the greatmountain itself. The cook replied that, yes, Bin Laden is in C4 andthat he's been there so long that his beard has grown long enoughto reach BC. Consequently, all climbers will be able to jumar(ascend) up his beard and, in exchange, Bin Laden will have hispicture taken with all the climbers who reach C4; then he willclimb to the summit and once again have pictures taken withsummiters for a rewarding PR. I thought although it was reported bythe media that Bin Laden was in Baltoro, I found this E-mail replyto the Frenchman quite funny. Without such fun here we will all betoo cold. It was a great pleasure meeting these Pakistani climbersand if anyone has a message to send, please do so here. Husseinwill be more than happy to chat with you. Reporting from BC of K2for Sunny Mountain Guides Chogori 2008 exclusively forEverestnews.com . This content is intended only to the mentioned website and noreproduction of its content or part of its content is allowed.