Sport & people

Bangladeshi paths to Everest

Musa Ibrahim, M. A. Muhit, Nishat Mazumder and Wasfia Nazreen helped bring Himalayan mountaineering into Bangladesh's public imagination.

For a country better known for rivers than high peaks, Everest offered an unfamiliar sporting horizon. Musa Ibrahim reached the summit in May 2010 and is widely recognised as the first Bangladeshi to do so. His ascent brought mountaineering into conversations far beyond the small circles already training for Himalayan expeditions. M. A. Muhit climbed Everest in 2011 and returned to its summit in 2012. On 19 May 2012, Nishat Mazumder became the first Bangladeshi woman to reach the top, climbing alongside Muhit. Wasfia Nazreen followed later that month. Their achievements challenged assumptions about who could attempt an expedition of this scale. The summit photograph records only a moment. Acclimatisation, weather decisions, finance and the work of Sherpa guides and other expedition staff shape the journey. These climbs are best understood as individual achievements supported by teams, not solitary victories over a mountain. They also gave aspiring Bangladeshi climbers visible examples of a path they might pursue.