ISLAMABAD: Two Pakistanis on Thursday successfully climbed Broad Peak, the world’s 12th tallest mountain, with Sajid Ali Sadpara achieving the feat without using supplemental oxygen or porter assistance and Naila Kiani becoming the first Pakistani woman to conquer the summit.
Broad Peak stands as one of the 14 independent mountains on Earth, collectively known as the "8,000-ers," owing to their elevation surpassing 8,000 meters (26,247 ft) above sea level. These majestic peaks are situated in the Karakoram and Himalaya ranges, spanning across Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan, Nepal, and China's Xinjiang province.
“Broad Peak summited without the use of supplemental oxygen and assistance,” Sadpara announced in a Twitter post on Wednesday evening.
Sadpara, the son of Pakistan’s late iconic high-altitude climber Muhammad Ali Sadpara, earlier became the first Pakistani to scale Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and personal sherpa. Prior to that, he had twice summited K2 (8,611 meters) and scaled several other treacherous peaks including Mount Manaslu (8,163 meters) and Mt Annapurna (8,091 meters) in Nepal.
Kiani, meanwhile, is a Dubai-based Pakistani climber who also became the first woman from her country to climb eight 8,000-ers after successfully summitting Broad Peak.
“Naila has successfully ascended Pakistan’s fifth and final 8,000-meter peak at 2:03 AM today (Thursday),” the Secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP), Karrar Haidri, said in a statement.
“She is the first Pakistani woman to ascend Broad Peak, complete the climb of all five 8,000-meter peaks in Pakistan, and scale eight 8,000-meter peaks worldwide,” he added.
