After years of training and climbing various mountains, Indian-American Jafar Ismail, a resident of Leonia, New Jersey, completed scaling the world's tallest peak, Mount Everest, which stands at 29,032 feet.
“It has been a childhood dream for me to stand on the summit of Mount Everest. On May.19, 2024, 7.24 am Nepal time I finally stood on the summit of my Mount Everest,” 59-year-old Ismail said in a post on LinkedIn.
Jai Hind
— Capt Sanjay Prashar (@PrasharSdp) May 22, 2024
Marine Engineer Jafar Ismail from DMET at Everest Summit, 19 May 24 pic.twitter.com/rQ7pmD4jRI
As part of his Everest training, he completed a practice climb on Lobuche (20,075 feet). Following that, he underwent "rotations," during which climbers ascend to higher camps, like Camp 3, before returning to base camp. Following this, Ismail and his team hiked to Pumori high camp at 18,600 feet elevation over the course of the expedition. As part of his quest, Ismail also completed the NYC Marathon in November 2023 and participated in several other half marathons.
“Happy and exhilarated, but exhausted after an 11 and 1/2 hour climb. Return from the summit, was the bigger ordeal as my vision had become blurry due to snow blindness, and mild frostbite. Navigating the descent from the Hillary step, and then the South Summit was the scariest part of my day. It took me about nine hours to return to camp 4. A journey that should have typically taken 4 to 5 hours,” Ismail added.
“The journey to Everest and back has been the most physically daunting and mentally challenging expedition of my life. But it was worth it. I am glad that I followed my dream, and I am now an Everester!” he continued.
Jafar graduated from Marine Engineering College, Kolkata (DMET), and also holds a graduate degree in Computer Science from Iona University, NY.
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