Gilgit Baltistan govt to establish mountaineering school to honour Ali Sadpara

The Gilgit-Baltistan government will set up the Ali Sadpara Mountaineering School to honour one of the country’s greatest climbers.

Gilgit Baltistan government spokesperson Ali Taj said Ali Sadpara’s son Sajid will be employed in the school that will be set up in his memory.

The cabinet also decided to recommend the name of Muhammad Ali Sadpara to the Government of Pakistan for the country’s highest civil award.

They have also agreed to provide Rs3 million to the deceased climber’s widow.

Last week, the family of Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara declared him and two other missing foreign climbers dead.

Ali Sadpara’s son, Sajid Sadpara made the announcement, in Skardu. “I will keep my father’s mission alive and fulfill his dream,” he said.

He also thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan, Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and the courageous pilots. He thanked the aviation for conducting a thorough search and rescue operation amid the harsh weather for his father.

Sadpara, Iceland’s John Snorri, and Chile’s Juan Pablo Mohr had departed for their journey on February 3 after Sadpara’s birthday. They asked fans and admirers to “keep us in your prayers”.

They had started their attempt for the final summit in the early hours of February 5.

According to updates posted on Snorri’s Facebook account, the GPS stopped working and had not updated in six hours.

A few days later, Ali Sadpara’s management revealed that the government and other stakeholders were employing their best efforts to find Sadpara and the other climbers who went missing, despite him being missing for almost 10 days.