Malika parbat (The Queen of the Mountains)
South Peak Main Peak, Main Summit first accent in 2020
Naran , Saiful Maluk and Malika Parbat
In 2012 with a friend, I trekked for one and half hour, from Naran to the Lake Saif-ul-Malook. When I first glanced at the peak, it was so appealing and fascinating. I recalled my class three text book some three decades back, the travelogue about Lake Saiful Maluk and Malika Parbat. The interesting part was the fairy story, how at full moon nights the fairies come to the lake for shower. This was a completely unreal for me, looking at the lake and mountains all around. It was end of August ,there were not many tourists. We walked across the spill ways and pitched our camp at a nice grassy slops. The nomads had already gone to lower settlements, only a few remained above our camp. I was gazing at the lake and mountain in owe inspiration. By the evening, the nomads brought us Yogurt and milk. Sipping the yogurt and falling for the mountain, I marked the route in my head. This was a plan and I always wanted to do.
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| Mirza , Ahmed and Arshad at the Notch (shoulder ) 4996meters |
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| ACamping at Saiful Maluk lake 2012 |
The mountain and the route were always on my mind. Few news echoed during the past ten years but I had no intention to return to the mountain, as I was extremely busy with seven summits project and youth outdoor programs.
Planning:
During the pandemic, to kill some time and interact with people, I started weekly or sometimes monthly instagram live session. In one of those sessions, I met Aanif Zia Taimuri, a fantastic young energetic software developer. He would participate in the live sessions and ask many questions. I was really impressed by his passion for mountains and his interest to learn more about the outdoor, mountains and our journey.
While locked for 40 days inside my house. I looked through images of my mountaineering expeditions, and posted with a caption, "Who would like to join one of my nearby expedition once the pandemic is over?". Upon I posted this many people showed interest however Aanif was the first person to confirm his participation.
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| Photo from 2012 |
It was too early, during this time, I had two international expedition with my German friend, Felix Berg, of Summit Climb in August. We climbed two unnamed and unclimbed peaks in Maidur valley, Shimshal. Breaking the fear of COVID-19 and bringing foreign tourists to Pakistan was a great start towards promoting tourism. This paved more openness of tourism as the government opened international borders and allowed international flight operation. Felix arrived two days prior to the clients, in order to check, if all is well and everything was perfect. This first foreign expedition in Pakistan boosted the confidence and more international expeditions started heading to Pakistan.
During this time Aanif was unsure if we would be able to go through with our expedition as we had discussed. But I always kept my promises and I assured him that our expedition will go as per our plan. He confirmed participation along with two other people, for the expedition. One of them, named Hashir Rafique, belongs to Multan. He works in Honda motors as a mechanical engineer, while the other member, named Dr. Ahmed Ali, belongs to Lahore and is thoracic surgeon. Dates were finalised "18th - 28th September 2020".
Team: Malika Parbat Expedition 2020
• Mirza Ali , Expedition leader
• Arshad Karim , Climbing Leader
• Dr. Ahmed Ali
• Aanif Zia Taimuri
• Ahmed Baig
• Hashir Rafique
. Hasrat Ullah Baig (Chef)
.Sher Zaman (Asistant)
Background of Malika Parbat
Since Saif-ul-Maluk lake and this Mountain have mysterious stories, thousands of tourists every year visit this Lake. Few story tellers will blow you out, with their stories. Similarly we had also heard and read such stories before, even a number of videos on various social media are available which revolve around Jinn and fairies. We were also warned about the mountain. The story of 1998 expedition was exceptional unique. Late Rahid Butt's and his companion Omar Aziz's climb and accident adds more to the story. It was controversial story of first ascent. From the book of Afzal Sherazi ,the route he marked are of two narrow valleys that lead to camp 1 and Camp 2, then a traverse towards the crest. The accident of late Rahid Butt most likely happened due to rock fall, looking the region or route. There are many stories to read and hear from a number of People. Some locals believe, the jinns threw (late) Rahid Butt on the descend from the peak. Many similar stories can be heard by the locals of Naran. Even one person was heard saying, "There were 6 army officers who died on the mountain, the Jinaath threw them from the peak" , this was a hilarious story. 
The 1998, Pakistani attempt by late Rahid Butt and Omar Aziz was considered successful ,however there aren't many proofs that they reached the main summit. The book written by Mr.Afzal Sherazie and the route he marked ,shows that the duo traversed below the main peak towards the Crest. Before our expedition, an argument started weather Malika Parbat is a virgin peak or not. Some peopled asked for Mr. Sherazie's opinion. Mr.Afzal Sherazie on his book's facebook page posted, "Main summit of Malika Parbat South (main Peak) was not reached ,for unknown reason", but later on Mr. Sherazie deleted his post from the Facebook page. Mr. Omar Aziz can verify the true summit, as he is alive, as neutral mountaineering expert.
Getting to the base camp
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| Loading up the loader jeeps with the equipment |
NOC "Non objection Certificate" Saga
The police at the checkpoint told us to show NOC from DC Masehra, otherwise we won't be allowed to camp or climb the peak. He repeated the same old mythical stories. He even mentioned that, last night they saw a leopard, and that the wild animals will attack us, also he said there is no permission for camping. We explained the purpose of the expedition and introduced ourselves, but the police and wild life people clearly refused and asked us to go back and get the NOC from DC Mensehra or call the in-charge of the police in Naran for permission.
On mountains, loosing a single hour matters, let aside a day. After argument, we decided to go to the single point where we could get a few bars of cell phone signal and call the relevant person for permission. From the response of police, it looked impossible to get the permission immediately, as it was Saturday .Dr. Ali, Aanif and I, went to the cell reception point and we tried calling various people, but the signals at that point near the lake were weak and were unable to make contact. We drove even further down to a point where cell reception was a little better.
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| Dr.Ali and me Trying to make phone calls at the cell phone reception point. |
The news were not encouraging, so we decided to send Dr.Ahmed back to the lake and Aanif and I drove to Naran to try other sources and luck. The police also didn't allow the remaining members to camp near the lake. Only option was to camp in the compound of a hotel by the lake. We decided that the team should stay and camp at the hotel rather going back to Naran. Aanif and I went to Demanchi hotel, the owner's son Asfand is a friend of Hashir, a nice young man. We met his father and both father and son tried their best to assist us in getting the permission. Both I and Aanif tried various officials but due to weekend, things didn’t work timely at this stage.
Mr.Yousaf Khawaja remain very helpful, constantly kept contact with us and update us on every move. He introduce us to DSP Balakot, shared his contact .I called him and he was very positive, helpful and good person. he advices to visit Police check point in the morning and meet the in-charge.
Around 10am on Sunday 21st September, we visited the check point. We were told to wait, after some good two hours, In-charge of the check point of Naran came. We introduced ourselves and informed his about DSP phone call. He called the DSP himself and had some discussion. I also spoke to the DSP again and assured him, that we will be safe and responsible for our actions even for any mishap. Aanif and I signed a blank Paper along our details on the advice of the in charge. This was not good but we were desperate for the goal to climb Malika Parbat; for this we didn’t want to loose a single hour even at the cost of anything. The in-charge singed a small chit for the police check point at lake Sailful Maluk, mentioning that we are on our own. We were given NOC to camp and climb the peak. The driver who drove us to the lake again repeated the same story, he again mentioned that, six army personal also died on the mountain and said, he was with the army team when the incident happened, this was terrible lies that we had to bear with. We had no knowledge of the army personal incident, as we did our research. I was sure, that this was a clear lie.
Off to the base camp
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| The spot we chose to set up the base camp |
We set up our kitchen, member tents and then our dining tent. Everyone was happy, the weather was wonderful and not a single cloud in the sky. Tea was prepared and biscuit and tea were served, every one looked excited and positive .Ziyam (my son) who accompanied us, was completely unstoppable! The sky was blue so we decided to have a rest day with some practice.
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| Base camp set up in progress, while camp Ziyam keeps an eye on the progress |
Route assessment
Next day, it was decided that Arshad and Ahmed Baig will climb carrying some rope and hardware in order to access the route, the plan was to take the ridge instead the gullies. Arshad and Ahmed Baig left the camp around 10;30 am, the weather was perfect, by 5am Arshad and Ahmed radio that they are at the base of the ice field, the route took them around 7 hours. Dr.Ali, Hashir went on their own for acclimatisation with Aanif they did some practice as well, by 2 pm the returned to Base camp .
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| A small training session on the lower slopes of Malika Parbat |
it was around 6pm, already getting dark and the duo didn’t arrive. Everyone got concern but in the last radio with Arshad, he mentioned that, they are descending the last difficult part ,the headlamps got nearer, and finally they arrived at base camp. The return climb for Ahmed and Arshad took around 9 hours, sounds a lot but never approached routes usually takes time, the images of the route were amazing as well as worrying, as the steep and extremely loose rock could be fatal. Two sections of the ridge looked very challenging, especially the middle wall, which later we named Ahmed Baig wall. Arshad said, the route is ok but the problem is loose rock. They mentioned how they found an ice axe, worn out sweater and shirt.
Rest Day, Jummaring Practice and planning
Arshad and Ahmed Baig had deposited ropes and climbing hardware just below the snowfield the previous day. They fixed rope at two dangerous and difficult sections on the ridge. 22nd September was rest day for Arshad and Ahmed Baig, while Dr.Ali, Hashir and Aanif did some basic practice with Ahmed and Arshad on the rocks near base camp. Jumaring and Abseiling. Throughout the day, we discussed the possibilities, we were all suppose to move to Camp 1 in single push while the second day for the summit. We wanted to avail the good weather window and gaining around 1300 to 1500 meters with weight in single push, but that seemed difficult yet achievable
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| The glowing base camp meeting tent and dining tent . |
Team meeting and Summit plans
The team was acclimated and did some basic practice, through out the day, I kept calculating and planning the ridge and summit push. we took a number of things in consideration, looking at the images and footages of Arshad and Ahmed we concluded that the ridge climb is going to be tough and long with heavy weight for us, since there was no porters it would be better to split the group in two, the second point were to establish camp 1 and camp 2 likewise to make it easier for both teams. It would be good for the team to move faster to camp 2 from camp 1 and avoid long single push, and to reserve the energy for the summit push which is ultimately going to be tough and long. During dinner, we had discussion about the possibility of making two groups. the first team consisting of Arshad, Ahmed Baig, Mirza Ali, and the second team consist of Dr. Ahmed Ali, Hashir Rafique and Aanif Zia Taimuri. Apart from establishing camp 1 and 2, the team would also fix rope. After successful summit, the team A would meet Team B at the ridge and move back to Camp 2. The rough calculation from Camp 1 of Team A to the summit would be maximum 6 to 7 hours climb , by 10 or 11AM team A would meet Team B and head back to Camp 2 of Team B. The idea was well received and appreciated by the team and everyone agreed on the said plan. Every one was happy and excited, the weather was clear and calm.
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Night before the summit push, preparing the equipment |
The Summit Push 23rd September
The lower part of the mountain was dry but piled up with extremely loose rock, thousand tons of rocks are sitting on each other in a cascade formation. One wrong move and it could collapse the entire ridge and can burry you In a split of second. The bags were packed. Dr. Ali prepared some emergency medicines, so did I. The team were excited and ready to move.. Since there were two camps to establish, the team decided to leave late in the morning. By 11:56 am both team left base camp for the Summit push. With team B, Sherzaman our assistant cook, carried some equipment and followed the central ridge, while team A, moved more to the left and followed the middle line to the main ridge. It was going slow, as the rocks were not easy to walk with packs. Arriving at the ridge through an extremely rock fall prone region was not wise, though it was the quickest access to the main ridge, after putting on the Harness, helmets, the team started the rock climb through rough and lose rocks, negotiating various moves across boulders and cracks, the team arrived at the crux of the entire route. The 50 Meters extremely dangerous and steep wall, which Ahmed Baig and Arshad over came and fixed a 60 meters rope, with heavy packs.
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| A section of Ahmed Baig wall on Malika Parbat |
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| Team right before the final summit push |
By now the clouds were building up, I was worried, if it started snowing or raining, it could be fatal. The lose rocks would tumble down the face. The darkness was getting over the mountain. We had to take our headlamps and start the climb. Through three more pinnacles and similar lose rocks, by 7:30 PM we arrived at the Camp spot. Ahmed and Arshad levelled the ridge by removing the rocks and made a nice spot for the camp. The altitude was 4565meters. The clouds were still there but not low. We didn’t carry the fly of the tent, it was just the inner, thus we had to cook inside the tent. We feared the rain or snow would pass though the inner and make us wet. I had some left over water in my bottle. We start warming it up to make some tea. Arshad and Ahmed went to bring some ice to melt too.
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Sheer slopes with loose unstable rocks (Ahmed Baig Rock Wall) |
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Ahmed Baig descending t |
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| C1 of team A , a night shot from Base camp ( 4565meters) |
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| Camp One Team B at approximately 4100 meters |
The tea was ready, we cooked some nice chicken and soup. The belly were happy so were we. We radio with Team B at their Camp 1, at 4100meters, they were all good and were preparing to sleep. We looked up at the sky and the sky was crystal blue. The lights in lake saiful Maluk was beautiful. You could see one light on the Kashmir side. We got in our sleeping bags and slept well.
The final Push to the summit
At 4 am I woke up Ahmed up and he start melting the ice. If its snow, melting is easy but melting ice takes longer. It took us two hours to melt water. Since the season was late and the water was already frozen due to cold temperatures in the mountain. After tea and some breakfast, we packed our essential tools, geared up and start the climb. Above the camp, loose rock were slowing the progress. We carried the hardware from the previous deposit. We climbed within two hours to the foot of the glacier. Everything looked nice and the snow was getting brighter and lower. We had a clear and beautiful sky that day. Arshad started lead climbing, while Ahmed belayed him. He continued to second pitch and then to the middle rocks.
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Team A right before the summit push |
The first section was almost 250 meters. After joining three ropes together and establishing a proper anchor, Ahmed reached as well , I continued behind them. I was slow. Ahmed continued beyond the rocks, placing snow picket, and then a main anchored. He placed rock piton and friend through out the pitch. This section was over 200meters. Arshad joined the last ridge to the notch or shoulder. the view was getting wider and bigger. we could see now the south summit. The fierce wind of north west blew off the snow on the ridge, made it a very fragile crones. It could easily break, if you are not focused or make any wrong calculation. The slope was between 45 to 80 degrees at this stage. We kept on placing rock piton on the ridge. The deep snow was interesting, the lose rocks were held firmly by the hard snow. The snow conditions after a week long good weather was excellent.
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The ridge leading to the south summit "Ahmed Baig leading " My progress was really slow. When we reached the ridge, it had already taken longer than expected. So I made the hard decision, to turn around, because the climb was taking longer than normal and due to severe chronic acid reflux I've had recently, I was having breathing issue since my last climb in Shimshal. I turned around from 4996 meters. I didn’t want to slow Ahmed and Arshad progress, since we had words and commitment with team B to meet at the ridge and the climb was taking longer than expected I wanted both of them go faster. |
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| Ahmed Baig on the Knife edge Summit (Main summit) |
At 4996 meters almost 5000 meters, the north east side was spectacular you could see the valley just below you; the drop was over 1000 meters. I told Ahmed and Arshad to be fast and careful on the ridge, both of them are top strong and budding beasts. They had only 60meters 7mm rope with them. They continued while I descended. Both of them followed the ridge to the south summit, where Ubaid Ur Rehman took their photo from base camp. On the radio they talked with base camp and then descended some 10-15 meters from south summit and headed to the main summit ridge. The main summit is knife edge, both of them could hardly stand atop. Ahmed and Arshad took photos and video of the surrounding. In the back ground you could see, the Siren peak and hardly visible, the north peak.
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Arshad Jon and Ahmed Baig on the summit of Malika Parbat South (main peak) |
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Worried members of team B in Camp 1 Quickly I rappelled down to the last anchor. The last 70 meter slop had no rope. I struggled for almost 40 minutes. I was exhausted and tired. I felt as I was not very well trained and acclimatised. My reflux made things worst and I felt very frail, with no ice axe or ice hammer, as I had handed them over to Arshad and forgot to get them back. I tried to climb back foot on the steep slop, but I was not confident. If I were to encounter a fall, the drop was deadly. I had two ice screws, and a safety rope of almost 1 meter. After long wait and gaining the strength I started placing the ice screws, and descending. After an hour I was at the snow field. After resting for another hour, I could see Arshad and Ahmed descending. Within next 4 minutes, removing the ropes and extracting the anchors, they descended to the snow field. We hugged with great joy and had some water. |
We collect the ropes and folded them properly. We climbed the lose rocks to our camp. Made some tea and then immediately radioed team B, it was already 2pm and we were four hours behind our fixed time to meet team B. Arshad forgot the small radio set that we used to communicate with Team B in our tent pocket, thus team B was very worried for not having contact with team A. Immediately we spoke to them and told them, its just 3 pm and we are back to our camp. We took the tent down as the weather turned bad. The snow flakes start coming down. We decided to stay at camp 1, but getting there in snow fall made us change the plan. we packed our bags, deposit tent, gas and food on the ridge to climb back when the weather improves. Aanif and Dr. Ali had started to descent from the ridge towards the base, while Hashir and Sherzaman were waiting. I told them the weather is bad, so we'll try again if the weather gets better. The climb down was slow. We abseiled the main rock wall and then to the ridge, where we found our lunch, that Sherzman and Hashir left, After having some food, we started the same route for descend. It is steep and slippery and prone to rock fall. It was getting dark. We had to take out our headlamps. By 8 pm we arrived at our base camp. Aanif, Dr.Ali, Hashir, Hasrat, Sherzaman greeted us with hugs and congratulations, the hard climb was finished. The climb definitely was one of the toughest due to lose rock and steepness. We shared images, videos and discussed why it took so long then expected. We had deposit ropes on the lower ridges and camp at our campsite at 4565meters. We were to return for second attempt with team B.
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Lake Saif-ul-Malook Visible from the final snow slope of Malika Parbat |
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final snow section to the Fore summit "Ahmed Baig on the top of the ridge", Malika Parbat. One of the climber can be seen standing at the fore summit photo taken from Base camp |
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| Arshad Karim heading towards the summit |
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Arshad descending 10-15meters down to the V from fore summit towards Main summit, Arshad leading towards main summit, this section is knife edge and extremely loose rocks |
Rest day waiting for weather and second attempt
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After summit Bad weather came in, start snow flakes |
We had discussion about, what should we name the route. Dr. Ali suggested, we should name them after my children, Ziyam Ali Baig and Yamsheen Mirza. 2 years old and 4 months old respectively. Though after discussing it with Arshad and Ahmed, they suggest it should be named Shimshali route Malika Parbat. They worked hard on it. So I couldn’t say no to it. The treacherous 50 meter wall in the middle of the ridge the crux of the entire route, was named Ahmed Baig rock Wall, while the crazy knife ridge right by the summit ,I named Arshad ridge.
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Route taken by team A side view. PC Hassan's Photography" |
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Route taken by team A front view. |
Jubilation and denial
The people at the lake were amused and happy. Many of them didn’t believe that the peak was climbed successfully. They wanted to look at the photographs, which we showed on the mobile phone to satisfy them. Some people denied by saying that the Pakistani flag is not visible placed on the summit. While many congratulated on the success and hoped more people will come to attempt the peak as it has opened new vista’s for locals
Description of ascent:
Summit push started at 6:00 from the Camp 1. From about 4564m a rock wall and then snow field led into the steepening left couloir. After a wide face (70° hard ice), 45-80° slopes followed, partly covered with jagged firm and lose over hanging rocks. At the end of the ridge the team crossed the ridge into the ice-field below the south summit) between the south summits and main summit, there is a knife edge ridge following a 15meters steep drop and then gain to the summit ridge “Main summit”. The right main The main summit (5178m ) was reached between 11:00 and 11:30. The descent was mainly done by abseiling down the central main couloir to the glacier
Controversies
Some of people claim that 1998 Pakistani expedition had successfully reached the main summit of south peak, however from the photographs, their summit shows a wide dome shaped summit and lots of snow. From the summit, the North Peak is clearly visible. In Mr. Afzal Sherazi's book, he marked the route on the main gullies leading to camp 2, the traverse marked leads to the crest instead main summit or snow field. In his last post Mr.Afzal Sherazi mentioned that the main summit of Malika Parbat south was not reached. However for some unknown reason he deleted the post. There are several comments that the 1998 Pakistan expedition ,of Late Rashid Butt and Omar Aziz didn’t make to the main summit, however only Omar Aziz can verify it via his photographs.
There is no any intention to disrespect or disregard people those who preciously attempted the peak. it is only matter of professional facts that the summit photos need to be verified by experts at the alpine club of Pakistan or other international mountaineers by analysing the summit photos and video. if Omar Aziz can’t give his version, this would be considered the first ascent of Malika Parbat main summit.
