Wasfia Nazreen, First Bangladeshi up 7 Summits, Has Coronavirus

Wasfia Nazreen, the first Bangladeshi and first Bengali to complete the Seven Summits, is battling the novel coronavirus covid-19. The accomplished mountaineer was a National Geographic adventurer of the year in 2015.

She’s been updating her social media followers with her symptoms over the past few weeks. She said in her latest post below: “Our first priority now is to come out of this with a 100% intact lungs. There have been several cases of COVID19 recoveries with almost 40-60% damage to the lungs. So if you could pls send your energy to my lungs, respiratory system and heart (so it can pump the nutrients to the max) I’d be ever grateful.”

She was named by Outside as one of 40 women in the last 40 years who have advanced and challenged the outdoor world through their leadership, innovation, and athletic feats, and by Men’s Journal as one of the 25 most adventurous women of the past 25 years.

Nazreen spent time in the Canadian Rockies while training with Pat Morrow and Sharon Wood for her attempt to complete the Seven Summits back in 2014. I had the pleasure of getting out for a day in the mountains with the legendary climbers.

Over the past week, Parks Canada has closed to vehicle visitors, the Olympics were postponed to 2021, the number of covid-19 cases in Canada has more than doubled and life as we know it has changed dramatically.

That’s why it’s important for everyone to stay close to home (get out for exercise) and to let healthcare workers prepare for the crest of the outbreak. According to health officials, the true impact of covid-19 on Canadians might still be a few weeks or months away.

I’ve been seeing a lot of selfishness on social media from climbers and skiers I never expected it from. It’s time to step up and help where and when you can. Need to post on Instagram that badly? Share some old stories about the partners and experiences that you most appreciate. Get well soon, Wasfia!

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Get well soon @wasfianazreen! This was one of the coolest days out in the mountains close to Canmore because instead of taking the trail, @pat_morrow_photo took us up some sneaky rock steps and @sharonwood671 shared her tips on big mountain climbing. Wasfia, who went to become the first climber from Bangladesh to climb the seven summits, was in town to learn from the two legends. I had just done a podcast with Pat and Wasfia and was invited for the romp. Wasfia is currently battling coronavirus, something you can read about on her Facebook page. Hope everyone is staying close to home so we can get back to the mountains sooner rather than later. #stayhome #climbing #mountains #covid_19

A post shared by Brandon Pullan (@brandonpullan) on Mar 25, 2020 at 6:15am PDT