Pakistan’s tallest peaks attract record number of foreign mountaineers

Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, told Gulf News that nearly 400 climbers would attempt to scale the 8611-metres K2, the second-highest peak in the world. “This is the highest number of international mountaineers the country has seen in nearly two decades,” he said.

As many as 200 climbers will attempt to scale the 8,051-metre Broad Peak and a similar number will try to scale Gasherbrum-I (8,080 metres) and Gasherbrum-II (8,035 metres). Around 100 adventurists have set their eyes on Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest peak in the world, which is known as the ‘Killer Mountain’.

Along with a large number of Pakistani mountaineers, climbers from Saudi Arabia, UAE, United States, Japan, Russia, Norway, Italy, Bangladesh, and Iran are already in the country to make their marks and get their names in the history books. More than a hundred women mountaineers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Taiwan, and Iran are also attempting to climb the world’s tallest and treacherous snow-covered peaks.

The female mountaineers include Samina Baig (Pakistan), Naila Kiani (UAE-based Pakistani), Wasfia Nazreen (Bangladesh), Nelly Attar (Saudi Arabia), Adriana Brownlee (UK) and Kristin Harila (Norway), Stefi Troguet (Andorra), Afsaneh Hesamifard (Iran) and Grace Tseng (Taiwan) among others.

14 peaks challenge

Kristin Harila is a 36-year-old professional athlete from Norway who set a world record in May 2021 by becoming the fastest woman to climb Mount Everest and Lhotse in less than 12 hours. Her success in previous expeditions has inspired her to embark upon the ‘Bremont 14 Peaks’ challenge to become the first woman in history and the second person ever to climb all 14 peaks above 8,000m in just six months. Only 44 people have reached the top of all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks, according to the mountaineers.

Nazreen aims to become first Bangladeshi on K2

Wasfia Nazreen, 40, is widely known as the only Bangladeshi and first Bengali in the world to climb the seven highest mountains on every continent. This year, Nazreen is on a mission to become the first Bangladeshi to summit K2. Her team will include some of the world’s most famous mountaineers including Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, Mingma David Sherpa and Nirmal Purja, who climbed the world’s 14 highest mountains in 189 days.

British climber set to summit all 8000-meter peaks

Adriana Brownlee, the youngest woman to summit two of the world’s toughest peaks (Annapurna and Kanchenjunga) within just one week, is also in Pakistan currently to set new records. Brownlee scaled Nanga Parbat on July 2 and is on a mission to become the youngest climber to summit all 8000-meter peaks. “We did it! Nanga Parbat. Summit number 8. This was the hardest one so far” she wrote in an Instagram post, describing the journey as “the most dangerous” ever. Brownlee, who was accompanied by Gelje Sherpa, said that the summit would be unthinkable without him.

Arab mountaineer in Pakistan

Nelly Attar, a Lebanese mountaineer born and raised in Saudi Arabia, began her 50-day journey in mid-June to become the first Arab women to reach the top of K2. Attar said she wanted to inspire women across the Middle East by summiting the world’s second-highest mountain.

Pakistan’s Shehroze Kashif youngest to climb Nanga Parbat

The 20-year-old Pakistani mountaineer Shehroze Kashif set another record in July 2022 by becoming the youngest climber in the world to summit the mighty Nanga Parbat. Nanga Parbat was his eighth summit of an eight-thousander (above 8000m). Kashif aims to become the youngest mountaineer in the world to summit all 14 8000ers.

At the age of 17, he climbed the 8,051-metre Broad peak, the 12th highest mountain in the world, which earned him the title ‘The Broad Boy’. He was 19 when he became the youngest Pakistani to scale Everest — the world’s highest peak. In 2021, Shehroze Kashif has achieved the Guinness World Record title for the world’s youngest person to climb the world’s top two tallest mountains in the same year within three months. He also holds the record for being the youngest person to have climbed K2.