Sirbaz Ali Khan scaled on August 12, 2022, Gasherbrum-I, the 11th highest mountain in the world, and the 12th on the list of his target of scaling all 14 peaks
News Desk
Internationally acclaimed mountaineer Sirbaz Ali Khan Friday (August 12) put another feather in his cap by scaling Gasharbrum-I the 11th highest mountain in the world.
With the summit of the 8,080m G-I, the climber took the 12th notch on his belt inching closer to his target of becoming the first Pakistani to summit all 14 peaks over 8,000 meters high.
The 34 years old climber from Hunza District of Gilgit-Baltistan now needs to climb Shishapingma and Cho-Oyu to complete his list of 14 peaks.
“We continue the mission of raising the green flag on top of all 14 highest peaks in the world. Alhamdulilah, earlier this year, I became the first Pakistani ever to summit 11 8,000-meter peaks. Now, it’s time for the 12th one: Gasherbrum 1,” he had said ahead of his expedition on G-1.
His summit manager, Saad Munawar confirmed on his social media account that Sirbaz had reached the top at around 7:30am without supplementary oxygen.
“Alhamdulilah, another historic achievement as Sirbaz Khan raises the green flag on a record 12th 8,000-meter summit as he summits Gasherbrum-1, today at 7.30am (local time). Sirbaz summited the mountain without using supplementary oxygen. With this summit, Sirbaz has now summited all 8000-metre peaks in Pakistan and Nepal,” he said.
“Sirbaz also led a three-member Pakistani team that helped Sohail Sakhi reach his first 8,000-meter peak without extra oxygen,” Saad said.
Earlier this year, Sirbaz had scaled Makalu (8,463m) and Kanchenjunga (8,586m).
“I am a native of Hunza and I take pride in where I come from, but the love and respect I received all across the country made me feel like a native of each and every province of our beautiful country. All your support has made me more aware of my responsibilities as well,” he had said earlier.
“Mission Summit 14 might have started as a personal goal, but now there is so much more attached to it and I am fully committed to winning honour and pride for my country, my people, and especially the underprivileged mountaineering community of Pakistan,” he had said earlier this year.
Sirbaz kicked off his 14-peak summit mission by scaling Nanga Parbat in the autumn of 2017 and then moved on to climb K2 in the summer of 2018. In 2019, he scaled Lhotse, Broad Peak, and Manaslu.
The COVID-19 pandemic did not allow Sirbaz to attempt any peak in 2020, but he returned to the mountains and reached the top of Everest, the world’s highest mountain on earth on May 12, 2021, before returning to Pakistan to summit Gasherbrum-II in the summer of 2021.
He scaled Everest in 26 days after scaling Mount Annapurna on April 16, along with Abdul Joshi, another fellow climber from Shimshal Valley of Hunza District.
Meanwhile, Sajid Sadpara and Imtiaz Sadpara from Baltistan also scaled Gasherbrum-I on Friday (Aug 12).
Both Sajid and Imtiaz achieved the feat without the use of supplementary oxygen.
G-II
Earlier Sajid, Imtiaz and Shehroze Kashif and nine international climbers had reached the summit of Gasherbrum-II (8,035m), the world’s 13th highest peak on Wednesday (August 9, 2022).
They began the summit push of neighbouring Gasherbrum-I (8,080m), known as Hidden Peak. They reached the summit of the world’s 11th highest mountain on Friday (August 12).
Shehroze Kashif, aka ‘Broadboy’, has become the world’s youngest mountaineer to summit nine 8,000ers.
On August 8, Kristin Harila of Norway, Liliya Ianovskaia of Canada, Dawa Ongju Sherpa, Pasdawa, and Pema Chhiring Sherpa of Nepal summited Gasherbrum-II.
It was Ms Harila’s tenth 8,000m peak in 102 days and her sixth in six months.
G-I and G-II peaks are close to each other and the climbers attempted to scale both peaks in a single weather window.
“After summiting G-II in challenging conditions, Summit Push tonight for G-I,” said Sajid Sadpara, son of legendary mountaineer late Muhammad Ali Sadpara, in a Twitter post. — with additional inputs from Geo TV