Seven Summits: Afghan mountain climber looking to become the first to complete the task

Mountain climbing offers Zabih Afzali even more joy than anything else nowadays. His take pleasure in for scaling peaks and exploring nature has taken him to 32 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces and resulted in nine successful summits up to now.

However now, the determined son, 22, has his sights set on a more ambitious task: becoming the first Afghan to complete the Seven Summits problem, which entails summitting the highest mountain on each of the seven continents.

'The wilderness is my home'

When Afzali isn't physically climbing a mountain, he's at least planning the next trip up into the clouds. Sleeping handbags, tents, backpacks and supplies cover the floor of any office where he talks to The National in Kabul, as Afzali and his good friends plan a four-day time mountain expedition in the central province Bamiyan. It really is two days before the start of Eid Al Fitr and the group of 13 plan to spend the holiday in the snow-capped mountains of Koh-i-Baba.

“Becoming in the mountains offers a freedom like nothing at all else,” says Afzali, who's at first from Herat, where he works an internet company company while also heading up his own clothing brand business from Afghanistan’s capital.

“My love for climbing mountains ensures that I don’t start to see the wilderness as a location to visit, it’s my residential.”

If at initial you don't succeed...

Despite Afghanistan’s status for draw-dropping mountains, climbing them is a hard hobby to get into because of a lack of experts in the country and access to climbing tools. Afzali was pressured to learn the hard approach - through learning from your errors, and some freezing cold experiences.

“The first mountain I ever really tried to climb with friends was in Panjshir, which includes an altitude of practically 6,000 metres,” he explains. "This is a peak that no person yet has were able to summit, so we made the decision we would try.

“When we attained the point where we were to start out the climb and found the size of the mountain, we realised we might have an impossible activity on our hands.”

However, they attempted it anyhow. Wearing completely unsuitable garments - T-shirts, basic jogging shoes, thin jackets no gloves or sleeping bags - they climbed to about 5,000 metres over four days.

It was at that point Afzali says he realised the value of training.

“A lot of the group decided they hardly ever wished to climb a mountain again, but I was motivated to keep going. I started buying climbing gear and learning about how precisely to climb. I then went to Bamiyan to get training.

“I enjoy everything in terms of getting on the mountains, even getting freezing cold. You are far away from the crowded towns, from the duty of work and everywhere is tidy of rubbish.”

From Afghanistan and beyond

Afzali’s first success account was on Mount Khavand, Kabul’s highest peak, that includes a elevation of 4,000 metres. It was one of is own toughest challenges to day.

“I was alone for three days and nights because nobody else had wished to climb with me. There have been moments that I concerned about staying targeted by bandits or staying attacked by wildlife, so I didn’t get much sleeping.”

He says so that it is to the very best was worth the obstacles he faced through the trip, however.

“It really is very emotional for a few persons to summit mountains because they’ve had to overcome as a result many challenges to get there.

“The best feeling for me personally is when you’re climbing straight down. For it to be a successful summit you must make it back off the mountain properly and one oversight can kill you. After summitting you possess an adrenalin rush and several accidents appear on the descent.”

The days he has failed have already been down to too little equipment or correct gear - due to inexperience in the first days and nights of his climbing, he admits. But, during the last five years, he offers learnt precious lessons and uses his skillset to mentor and help those new to the sport.

In August last year, Afzali and several friends summitted Mount Noshakh, the country’s tallest mountain, throughout a 23-day expedition. “There have been nine folks - three women and six males - who undertook the expedition up Mount Noshakh, which is definitely 7,492 metres high,” he says.

“We had the right gear, the proper clothing and enough meals. This is my longest trip up to now and it’s motivated me to look for new challenges.”

'I want to show anything is possible'

His most recent ascent was of Mount Shah Fuladi in Bamiyan, and after he and his friends returned they were invited to meet up Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The president advised the group they were an asset to the country and, to Afzali specifically, he said the government would support his objective to climb the Seven Summits, Afzali recalls.

“The meeting was great. We spoke a lot about rock climbing and he and the First of all Woman told us we had been taking positivity to the Afghan persons,” he says.

Since 2016, Afzali has built 16 attempts across 12 mountains and that's the reason he believes this is the time to venture beyond Afghanistan.

To complete the Seven Summits task, Afzali must climb Mount Everest found in Nepal, Aconcagua found in Argentina, Denali (also referred to as Mount McKinley) in Alaska, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Mount Elbrus found in Russia, Mount Vinson found in Antarctica and Puncak Jaya (generally known as Carstensz Pyramid) in Indonesia.

His first give up is Mount Kilimanjaro, which he intends to climb in June, having already secured $10,000 in funding.

“I want to display anything is possible while bringing just a little desire to Afghanistan amid the frequent barrage of negative news and conflict.”