‘The overwhelming love and support for the 'national hero Ali Sadpara' has given immense strength to me, my younger brothers, my sister, and my mother. When I returned to Skardu and met the media, I said they went missing in the death zone and chances of their survival are minimal and more lives must not be placed in danger during the search.’ Sajid Sadpara
Rest In Peace my dear friends. 💔
The unsung heroes behind Ali, John and Sajid’s expedition. Meet Mohsin and Shahid, the backbone and foundation of the Iceland/Pakistan expedition. You can learn a lot about a man by the way those who loved him respond to his absence.
Lakpa Dendi, on the mighty K2. Full write up in my blog. Lakpa was the last person to see Bulgarian climber Atanas Skatov alive. These photographs were taken on our descent, hours before John, Ali and JP were reported missing.
He was so excited about this image and continuously said: when I summit K2, I see this image on a billboard at the Iceland airport.
We filmed a touching scene before the summit push of John speaking softly and lovingly about his family. He showed me the text messages his children sent him cheering him on. Emojis of all kinds, 
‘s and 
. I was deeply moved by the love and support from his incredible family that he spoke so highly of.
Pasang Kaji and I were only with Ali, John and Sajid for 3 weeks, but what was evident was the respect and love these men had for one another. There was no employer / employee relationship - they were a team. They were equal. They cared deeply for one another and respected each other tremendously.
I was here to tell one story and in the end, a very different one unfolded in front of my lens.
John and I hit it off and it was non stop flow ever since. Pk and I never really got off the rollercoaster. Two ‘summit pushes’ for us, an ambitious plan to follow three of the strongest climbers while filming, mostly unacclimatized, minus one support HAP. We just did what we had to do to support these three great men.
It was an emotional arrival just after dark as Sajid, who turned back at the bottleneck due to an oxygen failure, returned alive after a monumental descent to basecamp without his Father Ali. Imtiaz and and Akbar are heading up K2 today, boots on the hill, by their own will, to see if they can possibly locate John, Ali and JP.
Yesterday, I embarked on one of the SAR missions with the pilots who identified a few potential leads that synced up with the yellow and red down suits that John and Ali were wearing. From a great distance, it proved to be a solid lead, but unfortunately with a telephoto lens, close fly by and expanded view later on a laptop showed that these leads unfortunately turned out to be a similarly coloured tent, mat and sleeping bag.
John Snorri and Ali Sadpara have not been seen or heard from since the morning of the 5th.
PK, Fazel and I (minus Jalal) made a push from basecamp to camp 3 over 3 days after being here for 2.5 weeks. We suffered, but kept pushing upwards, loaded like mules again, gathering footage, trying to catch up with John, Ali and Sajid. We intersected with them at camp 2. The plan was to follow/film them as far as we could if we were strong enough from camp 3. We are praying for a miracle over here.
Pasang Kaji Sherpa and I are far behind everyone else on the mountain in terms of acclimatization so we’re setting very realistic expectations about how high we will climb. We’ve put together a plan to try to move as high as possible to ideally have our ascent intersect with John, Ali and Sajid’s. At the end of the day: our mission is to gather as much footage as possible.
I sat and listed to him tell incredible stories of combatting -60c temperatures in winter while attempting and succeeding on 8000’ers over the years. Ali’s life is the mountains and I hope that his profile is raised even higher, beyond the realm of the great mountaineers who are all familiar with his reputation as one of the greats mountaineers of our time.
After shooting hero shots of each of our team members with the epic K2 backdrop just after twilight, Shahid, who always makes a comedic appearance into the dining tent, often with just his head appearing through a small gap via the tent zipper, emerged in the sub-zero weather and I encouraged him to pose in front of K2. I absolutely love that his instinct was to put on a big smile with two thumbs up, reminding the rest of us not to take ourselves so seriously.
It was incredible to watch them almost effortlessly climb direct to camp 3 in one push from basecamp to position themselves for the narrow summit window. With weather conditions being as brutal and brief as they are in winter, I’m learning K2 in winter requires this type of bold, intelligent, strategic aggression in order to make use of the tiny weather window opportunities.I took this photo at the base of K2 after their attempt on the summit on the 25th.
The real talk behind this film project and expedition is that it has been the most difficult logistical / producing challenge I’ve ever undertaken. Mostly because of the last minute nature of the filming efforts. Every single day since we began planning has been filled with obstacles and problems we needed to resolve. Our expedition was shut down twice for various reasons and we figured, we were so deep into it that regardless of being late, we might as well give it a shot. And here we are.
Jalal and Fazel Ali, our Pakistani support climbers, are tough as nails. They’re everything I’ve read and heard about: strong, resilient and kind -very tough exteriors contrasted with very warm interiors.
On the 23rd of January, John Snorri, Ali and Sajid Sadpara received a weather report that there was a tiny summit window. We climbed for over 24 hrs straight and reached a point where we decided to pack it in.
We spent a brutal night in a tent like sardines in a can. I couldn’t help but laugh at the image of 4 men piled into a small tent. The next morning, we assumed John, Ali and Sajid had made the summit. For us, it was over, but we felt good having made the effort.
Ali’s reputation speaks for itself. His experience is vast on 8000m, both in summer and winter. His accomplishments are legendary including a first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat.
John Snorri from Iceland, having a bit of fun during a good weather window at K2 basecamp.
Meet Sajid Sadpara, Ali Sadpara’s son. He’s attempting K2 with his father and fellow teammate, John Snorri from Iceland.
And there she is, towering high above, K2.
I’m thrilled to be accompanied by my climbing partner and dear friend Pasang Kaji Sherpa. We’re both excited to be storytelling around Pakistan’s local climbing hero Mohammed Ali Sadpara, his son Sajid and Iceland’s John Snorri.
‘The overwhelming love and support for the 'national hero Ali Sadpara' has given immense strength to me, my younger brothers, my sister, and my mother. When I returned to Skardu and met the media, I said they went missing in the death zone and chances of their survival are minimal and more lives must not be placed in danger during the search.’ Sajid Sadpara
Rest In Peace my dear friends. 💔
The unsung heroes behind Ali, John and Sajid’s expedition. Meet Mohsin and Shahid, the backbone and foundation of the Iceland/Pakistan expedition. You can learn a lot about a man by the way those who loved him respond to his absence.
Lakpa Dendi, on the mighty K2. Full write up in my blog. Lakpa was the last person to see Bulgarian climber Atanas Skatov alive. These photographs were taken on our descent, hours before John, Ali and JP were reported missing.
He was so excited about this image and continuously said: when I summit K2, I see this image on a billboard at the Iceland airport.
We filmed a touching scene before the summit push of John speaking softly and lovingly about his family. He showed me the text messages his children sent him cheering him on. Emojis of all kinds, ‘s and . I was deeply moved by the love and support from his incredible family that he spoke so highly of.
Pasang Kaji and I were only with Ali, John and Sajid for 3 weeks, but what was evident was the respect and love these men had for one another. There was no employer / employee relationship - they were a team. They were equal. They cared deeply for one another and respected each other tremendously.
I was here to tell one story and in the end, a very different one unfolded in front of my lens.
John and I hit it off and it was non stop flow ever since. Pk and I never really got off the rollercoaster. Two ‘summit pushes’ for us, an ambitious plan to follow three of the strongest climbers while filming, mostly unacclimatized, minus one support HAP. We just did what we had to do to support these three great men.
It was an emotional arrival just after dark as Sajid, who turned back at the bottleneck due to an oxygen failure, returned alive after a monumental descent to basecamp without his Father Ali. Imtiaz and and Akbar are heading up K2 today, boots on the hill, by their own will, to see if they can possibly locate John, Ali and JP.
Yesterday, I embarked on one of the SAR missions with the pilots who identified a few potential leads that synced up with the yellow and red down suits that John and Ali were wearing. From a great distance, it proved to be a solid lead, but unfortunately with a telephoto lens, close fly by and expanded view later on a laptop showed that these leads unfortunately turned out to be a similarly coloured tent, mat and sleeping bag.
John Snorri and Ali Sadpara have not been seen or heard from since the morning of the 5th.
PK, Fazel and I (minus Jalal) made a push from basecamp to camp 3 over 3 days after being here for 2.5 weeks. We suffered, but kept pushing upwards, loaded like mules again, gathering footage, trying to catch up with John, Ali and Sajid. We intersected with them at camp 2. The plan was to follow/film them as far as we could if we were strong enough from camp 3. We are praying for a miracle over here.
Pasang Kaji Sherpa and I are far behind everyone else on the mountain in terms of acclimatization so we’re setting very realistic expectations about how high we will climb. We’ve put together a plan to try to move as high as possible to ideally have our ascent intersect with John, Ali and Sajid’s. At the end of the day: our mission is to gather as much footage as possible.
I sat and listed to him tell incredible stories of combatting -60c temperatures in winter while attempting and succeeding on 8000’ers over the years. Ali’s life is the mountains and I hope that his profile is raised even higher, beyond the realm of the great mountaineers who are all familiar with his reputation as one of the greats mountaineers of our time.
After shooting hero shots of each of our team members with the epic K2 backdrop just after twilight, Shahid, who always makes a comedic appearance into the dining tent, often with just his head appearing through a small gap via the tent zipper, emerged in the sub-zero weather and I encouraged him to pose in front of K2. I absolutely love that his instinct was to put on a big smile with two thumbs up, reminding the rest of us not to take ourselves so seriously.
It was incredible to watch them almost effortlessly climb direct to camp 3 in one push from basecamp to position themselves for the narrow summit window. With weather conditions being as brutal and brief as they are in winter, I’m learning K2 in winter requires this type of bold, intelligent, strategic aggression in order to make use of the tiny weather window opportunities.I took this photo at the base of K2 after their attempt on the summit on the 25th.
The real talk behind this film project and expedition is that it has been the most difficult logistical / producing challenge I’ve ever undertaken. Mostly because of the last minute nature of the filming efforts. Every single day since we began planning has been filled with obstacles and problems we needed to resolve. Our expedition was shut down twice for various reasons and we figured, we were so deep into it that regardless of being late, we might as well give it a shot. And here we are.
Jalal and Fazel Ali, our Pakistani support climbers, are tough as nails. They’re everything I’ve read and heard about: strong, resilient and kind -very tough exteriors contrasted with very warm interiors.
On the 23rd of January, John Snorri, Ali and Sajid Sadpara received a weather report that there was a tiny summit window. We climbed for over 24 hrs straight and reached a point where we decided to pack it in.
We spent a brutal night in a tent like sardines in a can. I couldn’t help but laugh at the image of 4 men piled into a small tent. The next morning, we assumed John, Ali and Sajid had made the summit. For us, it was over, but we felt good having made the effort.
Ali’s reputation speaks for itself. His experience is vast on 8000m, both in summer and winter. His accomplishments are legendary including a first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat.
John Snorri from Iceland, having a bit of fun during a good weather window at K2 basecamp.
Meet Sajid Sadpara, Ali Sadpara’s son. He’s attempting K2 with his father and fellow teammate, John Snorri from Iceland.
And there she is, towering high above, K2.
I’m thrilled to be accompanied by my climbing partner and dear friend Pasang Kaji Sherpa. We’re both excited to be storytelling around Pakistan’s local climbing hero Mohammed Ali Sadpara, his son Sajid and Iceland’s John Snorri.
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