Celebrating independence atop Everest

The Nepal Tourism Board hosted a press meet for Bangladeshi social activist-turned mountaineer Wasfia Nazreen on Sunday to announce the beginning of her Everest Expedition which coincides with the 41st anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence on March 26.

Nazreen’s Bangladesh on Seven Summits campaign—under which she aims to climb the tallest summits in each of the seven continents—has brought her to Nepal exactly a year after its inception. Before this, she has reached the summits of Kilimanjaro in Africa and Aconcagua in South America.

The press meet saw several Bangladeshis who are supporting Nazreen’s campaign. Akku Chowdhury, Bangladeshi freedom fighter and Trustee at the Liberation War Museum of Bangladesh, talked of the “incredible bravery” with which Nazreen was beginning her Everest expedition, likening her to the women freedom fighters of the Liberation War. “Wasfia is showing the way that women are not only good, but better than us men,” he proclaimed.

Among other climbers present at the meet was Shailee Basnet, the first female Nepali journalist to scale Everest and coordinator of the Everest Women 7 Summits Eco-Action, who said she was proud to see Nazreen finally attempting this very special mission. “When a person climbs Everest,” she spoke before presenting Nazreen with the flag of Nepal, “it is never about the individual…it is much more than that.”

Upon successful completion of the expedition, Nazreen will be the first Bangladeshi woman to have climbed Everest.