Bangladeshi mountaineers Babar Ali and Tanvir Ahmed have successfully scaled Mount Manaslu, the world’s eighth-highest peak.
They reached the summit early on Friday morning, accompanied by guides Bire Tamang and Phurba Ongdi Sherpa. The “Mountain of the Spirit” is part of Nepal’s Mansiri Himal range, reports bdnews24.com.
Babar, who previously summited Mount Everest, climbed Manaslu without supplemental oxygen -- his fourth successful ascent of an “eight-thousander”. For Tanvir, this was his first expedition to a peak above 8,000 metres.
The expedition, titled “Manaslu Ascent: Vertical Duo”, was organised by the mountaineering club Vertical Dreamers.
Farhan Zaman, president of the club, confirmed the successful climb, citing Bodha Raj Bhandari, chairman of Snowy Horizon Treks and Expedition, which outfitted the expedition.
“Our red-and-green flag flew twice on the same day atop the world’s eighth-highest mountain,” Farhan said.
“It was Babar’s long-cherished dream to summit an eight-thousander without supplemental oxygen. After acclimatising, we agreed Manaslu would be the mountain for that attempt. Today, Babar became the first Bangladeshi to achieve this feat.”
Farhan noted that while previous Bangladeshi climbers who summited 8,000-metre peaks had formal mountaineering training abroad, Tanvir had no such institutional background.
“His only tools were limited training facilities in Bangladesh and his determination. With him, we wanted to break the taboo that a foreign mountaineering course is essential to climb an eight-thousander. Their hard work paid off. One summited without oxygen, and the other succeeded relying only on local training.”
The duo left Bangladesh for Nepal on Sept 5. After preparations in Kathmandu, they trekked five days to reach base camp, where they acclimatised before making the final push. At dawn on Sept 26, both climbers stood on the 8,163-metre summit.
Farhan added that the climbers were now focused on descending safely.
“Tanvir hopes to climb more peaks, while Babar aims to summit all 14 eight-thousanders. He has completed four, so 10 remain. With sufficient sponsorship, the red-and-green flag will continue to fly from mountain to mountain.”
Babar, general secretary of Vertical Dreamers, has previously summited Everest, Lhotse, and Annapurna. Tanvir, the club’s mountaineering secretary, scaled Ama Dablam last year.
Tanvir works as an assistant manager at VF Asia Bangladesh. He is the eldest son of lawyer Tareq Uddin Ahmed and Shirin Ahmed of Kishoreganj, and a graduate of Dhaka University’s Institute of Leather Engineering and Technology.
Babar, the second son of Layakat Ali and Lutfunnahar Begum of Nozumiah Hat in Chattogram’s Hathazari, earned his medical degree from Chattogram Medical College.
