Dubai: Sirbaz Khan has etched his name in history, becoming the first Pakistani to summit all 14 of the world’s highest mountains, each standing over 8,000 meters.
His final victory came on Thursday with the ascent of Tibet’s Shishapangma (8,027m), placing him among the elite few to ever achieve this mountaineering milestone.
The feat of scaling all 14 “eight-thousanders” is one of the toughest challenges in mountaineering. Khan’s climb, organized by Imagine Nepal, saw him and a team of climbers reach the Shishapangma summit at 4:06 p.m. local time. Five team members completed the 14-peak challenge, including Mingma G, who did so without supplemental oxygen.
“History has been made,” celebrated Pakistani climber Naila Kiani wrote in a post, while the Alpine Club of Pakistan's Karrar Haidri praised Khan for “breaking boundaries” and proving the power of determination.
Starting out as a porter from Hunza’s Aliabad village 11 years ago, Khan has risen to legendary status, having also summited 11 of the peaks without oxygen and scaled Everest twice.
It is pertinent to note that another Pakistani, who is currently accompanying Sirbaz, Shehroze Kashif, is poised to climb the mountain to now become the second Pakistani to climb all 14 mountains which are over 8,000 metres tall. Nicknamed as 'Broadboy' for having summitted the 8,051 metre Broad Peak in 2019 as the youngest Pakistani to do so, Kashif's efforts to climb Shishapangma would make him the youngest Pakistani to do so and to complete the set of having climbed all 14 mountains.