Tazeen Akhtar / Camera : Raja Ghulam Fareed
Vietnam’s first mountaineer climbed Pakistan’s tallest as well as complex and extremely dangerous peak K-2 in a recent expedition. He hoisted the flag of his great country and allured more mountaineers and tourists of his country toward Pakistan. He is young Medical Doctor Plastic Surgeon Dr. Ngo Hai Son. He started the expedition from Skardu on June 24 and returned on August 2, 2024.
Dr. Ngo Hai Son is the first climber from Vietnam to summit K-2. The Embassy of Vietnam in Islamabad held an interaction with him on his successful return from the life risky expedition few days ago. Dr Hai Son shared his experience with the journalists in this get togeather. Ambassador designate H.E Phan Anh Tuan, DHM Truong Van Thang were also present.
Dr Hai Son trekked for 5 days in a distance of 100 km from Skoli to Base Camp of K-2. He covered the distance from base camp to bottle neck (last end 8200m) in 52 days.
Sharing the details of his expedition, Dr Hai Son said, “The weather was very bad, the initial reports about wind, clouds and snow turned out to be completely wrong. Our several attempts failed. It was very difficult to prepare oxygen and install safety ropes.
He said, ” We had to wait for 4-5 hours at the last end which is very dangerous and located in dead zone. By summit day, no one had reached Camp 3 (7300m) due to bad weather.
Unpredictable weather conditions make K2 extremely dangerous and difficult to summit. At the bottle neck, the sun was shining , yet we were bathed in snow falling from the sky like heavy rain.
Dr Hai Son is highly impressed by the beauty of Pakistan and Gilgit Baltistan. He said, “Pakistan is a beautiful country, people are nice, Hunza is wonderful.
He expressed his gratitude to all departments and relevant authorities. He said that local officials and people cooperated with us during every step towards our destination.
This scribe asked him about his future adventure about Mount Everest. Dr Hai Son replied , ” I wish to continue my upward journey and Mount Everest is the next in this way. I travel when I am free annually or biannually only. I need vacation for my next adventure.”
To a question about the similarities or differences between the mountains of Vietnam and Pakistan, he answered, ” Vietnam’s mountains are not so high. Their altitude is maximum about 3 thousand meters.”
Dr Hai Son wishes to again visit Pakistan because he has developed memories and fascinations with different cities and sites of this country like Hunza , Skardu and Islamabad.
He wanted to buy shirts from Skardu with pictures of K2 on them but due to short time he could not go to market. He plans an international tour when he finds some days off from his busy schedule of Plastic Surgery in his country. Lets see when he is done with his clients next time and when we can see him again in Islamabad.
