KHAPLU, GILGIT BALTISTAN: Dubai-based mountaineer Naila Kiani has become the first woman from Pakistan to summit Mount Makalu, the fifth-highest mountain in the world, the country’s leading non-governmental organization promoting mountaineering said on Sunday.

Mount Makalu is located in the Mahalangur range of the Nepal Himalayas, southeast of Mount Everest. The imposing mountain stands at 8,485 meters (27,838 feet) high. Kiani’s latest achievement makes her the first and only Pakistani woman to summit eleven peaks higher than 8,000 meters. 

She has previously summited Broad Peak (8,047 meters), Annapurna (8,091 meters), K2 (8,611 meters), Lhotse (8,516 meters), Gasherbrum 1 (8,068 meters), Gasherbrum II (8,035 meters), Nanga Parbat (8,125 meters), Mount Everest (8,849 meters), Manaslu (8,156 meters) and Cho Oyu (8,201 meters). 

“Congratulations, Nail Kiani has summited Makalu,” Karrar Haidri, the secretary general of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, told Arab News over the phone.

“So far out of 14 eight-thousanders, she has completed the 11th peak. She summited the peak at 8:50 am local time,” he added.

The Alpine Club said in a separate statement that Naila was grateful for all the prayers and wishes she had received from people, thanking Sherpa Gelgen Dai from Imagine Nepal, a company that promotes mountain trekking and peak climbing in Nepal. 

“This latest success highlights her exceptional endurance and determination,” the statement said. “She now holds the record as the fastest Pakistani, both male and female, to have summited 11 of the 8,000-meter peaks, accomplished in under 3 years.” 

Kiani is a Pakistani banker living in Dubai and a mother of two. She garnered fame in 2018 after her wedding photos from K2 basecamp were widely shared on social media. The Pakistani climber received the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, Pakistan’s third-highest civilian award, in March this year for climbing Mount Everest. 

“We are proud of the inspiration created by Naila, not only for her daughters and wider family but across the nation from every household,” Khalid Raja, Kiani’s husband, told Arab News over the phone.

Supporting his wife’s expeditions, Raja said it gets challenging for him at times to look after their children when Kiani is away. 

“If Naila completes 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks, then we hope she can reduce the levels of time that she is away from her family and we can build together from there,” he said. 

“Then who knows, maybe I can do a few expeditions of my own.”