Rihad, a student of the 2022-23 batch at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka, and captain of the IBA football team, has reached the summit of Island Peak (Imja Tse) in Nepal.

He reached the summit at 7:46am Nepal time, equivalent to 8:01am in Bangladesh. Standing at 6,189 metres, Island Peak is almost six times the height of Saka Haphong, commonly cited as Bangladesh’s highest peak at 1,063 metres.

The climb came just over a month after Rihad contracted dengue on 25 September. “Dengue is a deadly disease, but I was more concerned about whether I could go on this expedition which I had been planning for the last three to four months,” he said.

“Luckily, with the support of my friends and family, I recovered fast and decided to push ahead with the trip,” he added.

Rihad arrived in Kathmandu on 13 October and travelled by road via Salleri and Surke to Namche Bazaar, reaching the town on 17 October. After a day of acclimatisation, he continued through Pangboche to Dingboche, arriving on 20 October.

On 21 October, he climbed Nagarjun, which stands at 5,100 metres. Two days later, on 23 October, he reached Gorak Shep and continued to Everest Base Camp on the same day. He arrived at Island Peak Base Camp on 25 October.

He set out from base camp at 1:40am on 26 October. After approximately six hours of climbing, he reached the summit at 7:46am and returned to base camp by noon.

“Studying at DU IBA, not a lot of people have an interest in this kind of stuff, but it was my dream for a long time to reach a 6,000-metre peak before graduation. Alhamdulillah, I’ve achieved that. It was physically and mentally the most arduous thing I have ever accomplished,” Rihad said.