Khafiz recalls life-threatening experience climbing Mount K2

SEPANG - Mohd Khafiz Bachok, who became the second Malaysian to conquer the second highest mountain in the world Mount K2 in Pakistan says he experienced life-threatening situations in his journey to reach the peak of the mountain.

The 45-year old mountain climber from Pontian, Johor said he however managed to go through the difficulties he had encountered.

“Given the fact that the weather condition was extremely poor during the climb, we were able to reach the top in just one day. Once I reached the highest point, I called my family and friends.

“The most difficult challenge that we have faced was the weather before reaching the top. There was no suitable weather to reach the peak except for on July 27 and we were only able to reach the peak on that day.

“The second challenge was when we reached the 'bottleneck' area when a climber fell and died. We had to stand and wait for the victim to be rescued for two hours before we continued our journey," he said.

Khafiz said this in an interview upon his arrival back to the country at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), here, yesterday.

He said as they were coming back to the ground, the weather condition was as terrible and he felt like his eyes and face were frozen throughout the journey back down.

"The wind was blowing at 80 to 100 kilometres per hour on the day I went down. My face, my eyes were frozen until I reached the ground. Thankfully, I made it to the Base Camp on the same day," he said.

He said he also faced a near death experience when his Sherpa fell down on that day describing his survival as a miracle.

Khafiz started his ascent from Skardu and it took eight days to reach the Base Camp.

However, due to bad weather conditions, the process of acclimatisation to high altitude rotations only started on July 12.

Before returning to the Main Camp, he completed the acclimatisation process to Camp 2 while the actual climb started on July 22.

He then reached Camp 3 on July 25, which was situated at a height of 7,254m above sea level.

The climb to the peak began on July 26 at 5.40 pm, local time.

Ever since he began his climb, Khafiz said he never stopped praying for a smooth journey.

“I prayed that if my journey was something good for me, my family, religion and my country, please make it easy for me.

"When I reached the top, I thanked Allah for the sustenance he has given me," he said.

Khafiz successfully reached the peak of the mountain regarded as the most dangerous and most difficult in the world, at 1.52am local time (2.52pm Malaysia time) on July 27 (Thursday), accomplihing his dream of 25 years.

As he landed in KLIA, he received a warm welcome from his family and friends who were overjoyed to see him.

They also sang iconic song 'Standing in the Eyes of the World' originally sung by Malaysia’s popular rock singer, Ella while waving the Malaysian flag, holding a banner of him and showered him with gifts.

Khazif said he was thankful for his family, especially his wife for the sacrifices they made for him to be able to complete the expedition.

"My family's life has changed as a result of my participation in this expedition and thank you to all of my friends who are willing to help me reach K2, this year.

"I am attempting to develop high altitude mountaineering in Malaysia and I hope that it will continue to grow in the country," he added.

He said he had established an academy called ZEROTO8000 to train climbers in Malaysia so that they can grow all over the world.

Besides K2, Khafiz has also climbed the Carstensz Pyramid (4,884m) in Papua, Kilimanjaro (5,895m) in Tanzania, Mount Aconcagua (6,961m) in Argentina as well as other mountains in Indonesia and Malaysia.

It was reported that he sourced for funds needed for the mission which amounted to RM500,000 by selling his house and ZEROTO8000 products as well as by organising mountain climbing expeditions to other countries.

His K2 climb was part of his ZEROTO8000 goals to encourage Malaysia's spirit of self-reliance.

In July 2022, T. Ravichandran, better known as Ravi Everest, created history by becoming the first Malaysian to conquer Mount K2.