KHAPLU, GILGIT-BALTISTAN: Three Pakistani mountaineers on Friday summited the eleventh highest mountain in the world, Gasherbrum-I (G-I), located above 8,000 meters, breaking a couple of records in the process.
G-1 stands 8,080 meters above sea level and is located in Pakistan’s Karakorum mountain range, which spans the international boundaries of India, Pakistan and China.
Pakistan’s Shehroze Kashif, 20, summited the mountain early morning today, Friday. He became the youngest climber in the world and the first-ever Pakistani to summit all five peaks of the eight-thousanders—the 14 mountains in the world that stand above 8,000 feet—located in Pakistan.
“Alhamdulillah, today at 4:09 a.m. PST, #ShehrozeKashif has summited Gasherbrum I 8,080m,” Kashif’s account wrote on Twitter.
His father, Salman Kashif, told Arab News excitedly the mountaineer will leave Pakistan soon in his bid to summit all of the 14 tallest mountains in the world.
“Now, he will climb Mt Shishapangma (Tibet), Cho Oyu (Nepal), Annapurna (Nepal) and Dhaulagiri (Nepal) to complete his 14 peaks,” he added.
On Wednesday, Kashif became the youngest mountaineer in the world to scale Gasherbrum-II, the thirteenth highest mountain in the world.
Sirbaz Khan, who hails from Pakistan’s mountainous Hunza Valley in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, also summited G-I on Friday, becoming the first Pakistani to scale 12 of the world’s top 14 peaks.
Following Kashif, Khan also became the second Pakistani to scale all five peaks of the eight-thousanders located in Pakistan.
“Sirbaz summited the mountain without using supplementary oxygen. With this summit, Sirbaz has summited all 8,000 peaks in Pakistan and Nepal,” Saad Munawar, Khan’s manager, wrote on Facebook.
Meanwhile, Dubai-based Pakistani mountaineer Naila Kiani became the first female climber from Pakistan to summit G-I. She has so far summited three of the eight-thousanders.
“No doubt! It’s a very happy and proud movement for Pakistan as our three Pakistani [mountaineers] Shehroze Kashif, Naila Kiani and Sirbaz Khan, summited G-I today, setting new records,” Karrar Haidri, secretary general of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, told Arab News.
In July, Kiani added another feather to her cap when she became the first female Pakistani mountaineer to successfully climb the world’s thirteenth highest mountain, Gasherbrum-II.
Karrar said that for the first time ever, over 1,700 mountaineers and trekkers had arrived in Pakistan and over 160 summited K2 alone. “It’s a record in history,” he added.