Shehroze and Naila make Pakistan proud, again

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani climbers Shehroze Kashif and Naila Kiani made the nation proud again when on Monday they hoisted the country’s flag on Mt. Annapurna 1 (8,091 metres), the world’s 10th highest mountain situated in Gandaki province of Nepal.

“Shehroze and Naila and other members of the Seven Summit Treks team have successfully ascended Annapurna this morning between 6:30 to 7:30 am,” Karrar Haidri, secretary of Alpine Club of Pakistan, told the national news agency.

“Shehroze has now become the youngest mountaineer in the world to summit 11 peaks above 8,000 metres, while Naila has become the first Pakistani woman to climb Annapurna, he said. “Naila is also now the first Pakistani woman climber to summit four peaks above 8,000 metres.”

On Saturday, Sajid Ali Sadpara successfully ascended Annapurna without oxygen. “That is his fourth 8,000’er summit, all of them climbed without oxygen,” Haidri said. “It is heartening to see Pakistani climbers setting new records in mountaineering,” he added.

According to Haidri, the three Pakistani climbers were initially together at the base camp. However, Naila and Shehroze, who were climbing with supplemental oxygen, chose a different schedule to attempt the peak.

Born on March 11, 2002, Shehroze made history by becoming the youngest climber in the world to summit K2 on July 27, 2021. He also became the youngest Pakistani to summit Mount Everest on May 11, 2021. After the successful summit of Mount Everest, the Sports Board of Punjab made him the youth ambassador of Punjab. He summited Broad Peak at the age of 17, after which he was called ‘The Broad Boy’.

He 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 18 years of age.

Shehroze currently holds two Guinness World Records for being the youngest to climb K2 and the youngest to climb Broad Peak. On May 5, 2022, he became the youngest in the world and the first Pakistani to reach the summit of Kangchenjunga — the third-highest peak in the world.

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

On November 1, 2022, Shehroze was recognised by Guinness World Records for the year 2023 for summiting Mount Everest and K2. In July 2022, Shehroze and Fazal Ali went missing between Camp 4 and Camp 3, after successfully summiting Nanga Parbat. However, the duo was discovered shortly after.

Naila, a mother of two, is a Dubai-based Pakistani banker and an amateur boxer. She rose to prominence after images of her wedding shoot at K2 basecamp in 2018 circulated on social media. She summited Gasherbrum-II (8035m), in 2021, and Gasherbrum-I (8068m) and K2 (8,611), the world’s second-highest mountain in July 2022.

She climbed K2 shortly after Samina Baig’s feat, who is the first Pakistani woman to do so.

Sajid Sadpara, the son of late mountaineer Ali Sadpara, has already summited K2, Gasherbrum-I and Gasherbrum-II in Pakistan and Manaslu (8,163m) in Nepal without supplementary oxygen. He aims to climb all of the world’s 14 eight-thousanders without supplemental oxygen.

He has made a name for himself in the Alpine community with his summits of the most daunting peaks at a young age. He climbed K2 twice, one time without supplemental oxygen. In 2022, he summited the Manaslu Peak without supplemental oxygen, becoming the first Pakistani to do that.

Earlier, he also set records when he scaled both Gasherbrum-I and Gasherbrum-II in three days and 18 hours without supplemental oxygen.