Aliakbar turned 34 years old in June 2022. He was a loving father to three boys and a devoted husband to his supportive wife, Karima. Originally from Dushi, Baghlan, he was an IT expert and CEO of his IT consultation company. Aliakbar was heavily involved in charitable and humanitarian projects throughout his adult life. He founded HikeVentures Afghanistan in 2017 to help others develop skills in mountaineering, climbing, and trekking, and to enable people to safely enjoy Afghanistan’s unparalleled natural beauty. He was at the forefront of raising funds for underprivileged communities during the COVID-19 pandemic and collected and distributed aid to victims of natural and manmade disasters.

Aliakbar climbed throughout Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush and Kuhi Baba mountain ranges and summitted some of its notable peaks.

His most noteworthy mountaineering achievements are:

• Noshaq (7,492 meters / 24,580 feet), Badakhshan

• Shah Fuladi (around 5,100 meters / around 16,700 feet), Bamyan

• Mir Samir (5,809 meters / 19,058 feet), Panjshir – Aliakbar and the HikeVentures team reached around 5,680 meters / 18,635 feet.

Before his death on July 21 between K2 camps 2 and 3 during a push to the summit, Aliakbar had more than 10 years of experience mountaineering, mountain climbing, hiking, trekking, and rock climbing in summer and winter. His training for K2 began in late 2020 and lasted 18 months. In Afghanistan, his daily routine consisted of physically training for mountaineering, and he continued that regimen in Pakistan in the months preceding his expedition with an established Pakistani expedition operator.

K2 is a notoriously dangerous mountain. Though it’s the world’s second tallest mountain (8,611 meters / 28,251 feet) after Nepal’s Mount Everest, it’s more deadly than Everest, claiming the life of 25% of those who attempt to reach its summit. Conflicting reports from other climbers, the expedition company, and Aliakbar’s own videos leave his family and closest friends still unclear about the facts around his death at around 7,000 meters (around 22,900 feet), though it’s generally accepted that he ultimately perished due to effects of high altitude sickness, lack of oxygen, and exposure after being stuck between camps overnight in a storm. 

In announcing his death, HikeVentures board members said that Aliakbar’s goal for his K2 mission was to create a stimulating narrative for Afghanistan: that despite war and poverty and so many difficulties, Afghans can still achieve great things. HikeVentures says the loss of Aliakbar is a great setback for Afghanistan as a country. The first Afghan to attempt to climb K2, after conquering Noshaq, Afghanistan’s tallest peak, with an all-Afghan team, Aliakbar’s achievements and efforts for Afghan mountaineers and adventurers are irreplaceable and historic. Afghan youth have lost an inspirational figure and mentor, a committed athlete, and an advocate for the sport who was dedicated to raising up new generations of skilled mountaineers.

During the days in base camp awaiting the weather window for attempting K2’s summit, Aliakbar’s friendliness and easy joking made him a favorite among this mountaineering community. They knew about his important quest to be the first Afghan to summit the so-called Savage Mountain.

In early August, Karima learned that one of these new colleagues, Iranian mountaineer Iman Ahmadpour, had collected one of Aliakbar’s precious multicolored Afghan flags, the flags of the Afghanistan from before August 2021’s change of administration, from his body and carried it with him to the summit, planting it there in memory of his friend. Iman posted a video on social media of this flag atop K2 as he declared in Persian, “Long live Afghanistan. Long live the Persian-speaking people of Afghanistan. Aliakbar Sakhi is always alive.”