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Today's Paper | November 22, 2024

Updated 17 Apr, 2023 03:55pm

Naila Kiani becomes first Pakistani woman to scale Nepal's Annapurna peak

Mountaineer Naila Kiani on Monday became the first Pakistani woman to climb the 8,091-metre tall Annapurna peak — the world's tenth-highest peak situated in Nepal.

She was accompanied by climber Shehroze Kashif — who has attained the title of being the youngest Pakistani mountaineer to ascend the peak — and Nepalese sherpas.

Both climbers and the Seven Summit Treks (SST) team successfully ascended the mountain between 6:30am and 7:30am earlier today. They had started the summit push of the peak on Sunday evening with the SST team.

In a social media post today, SST Director Chhang Dawa Sherpa said that a team of sherpas and climbing members successfully made the ascent of Mt Annapurna this morning, adding that three sherpas and three climbers stood on the top between 6:30am and 7:30am.

He also listed the six summiteers: Naila Kiani and Shehroze Kashif from Pakistan; Arjun Vajpai from India; and Lakpa Nurbu Sherpa, Tashi Sherpa, and Lakpa Sherpa from Nepal.

According to Alpine Club of Pakistan Secretary General Karar Haidri, Kiani is the first Pakistani woman climber to summit four peaks over 8,000m.

Kiani is a Dubai-based Pakistani banker, an amateur boxer and a mother of two daughters. She had first gained prominence after images of her wedding shoot at K2 Basecamp circulated on social media in 2018.

She has also summited Gasherbrum-II (8,035m) in 2021 and ascended Gasherbrum-I (8,068m) and K2 in July 2022.

Kiani had also climbed the world’s second tallest peak K2 shortly after Samina Baig, who was the first Pakistani woman to do so.

The 'Broad Boy'

Having scaled the Broad Peak (8051m) — the world's 12th-highest peak — at the age of 17, Kashif was termed "The Broad Boy". However, his mountain-climbing career had started long ago.

Kashif started climbing mountains at the age of 11 with Makra Peak being the first one, followed by Musa ka Musalla and Chembra Peak at 12, Mingli Sar in Shimshal at 13, Khurdopin Pass at 15, and Khosar Gang in alpine style at the age of 18.

The 21-year-old also became the youngest Pakistani to summit Mt Everest (8,849m) — the world's highest peak — on May 11, 2021. Following the feat, the Punjab Sports Board had made him the youth ambassador of Punjab.

He had become the world's youngest climber to summit K2 on July 27, 2021 at the age of 19.

On May 5, 2022, he also became the world's youngest climber and the first Pakistani to reach the summit of Kangchenjunga (8,586m) — the world's third-highest peak that lies in both Nepal and India.

On May 16, 2022, he summited the world's fourth-highest peak, Mt Lhotse (8,516m), in Nepal.

Kashif was recognised by the Guinness World Records for the year 2023 on Nov 1, 2022 for summitting Mt Everest and K2.

In July 2022, he and Fazal Ali went missing between Camp 4 and Camp 3 after successfully summiting Nanga Parbat but were recovered shortly after.

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