Two young climbers also ski down the 6,050m high Mingligh Sar peak
In a first, two girls have set a new record perhaps the first in Pakistan’s mountaineering history, to ski down Minglik Sar peak at Shamshal Pass in the Karakoram ranges recently.
The two girls — Parveena and Maria — hail from Shimshal, known as the ‘valley of mountaineers’. Two other young climbers, Azam Baig and Naveed Ullah Spicher from the same valley also skied down successfully.
Although Maria could not make it to the top because of health issues, she skied down from 5,000m altitude.
Rise and Run Ski Expedition team ascending the 6050m high Mingligh Sar at Shimshal Pamir. Photo: Wasim Haidar
“ALHAMDULILLAH for the achievement. Spent some memorable time with the courageous and incredible team of Rise and Run Ski Expedition in the mountains of Shimshal Pamir,” wrote Wasim Haider, one of the members of the nine-climbers team, on his wall.
“So proud of my team for the very first ski descend from a 6,050m peak,” he further added.
“My warmest congratulations and best wishes to Parveena Ismail for being the first female skier of Pakistan to descend the 6,050m peak,” he wrote on his Facebook wall.
My warmest wishes to Maria Sufi for her future endeavours, he wrote.
“We spent some good days with our technical supervisor and mentor Aminullah Baig one of the accomplished mountaineers of Gilgit-Baltistan.
He extended his gratitude to him for supporting the idea and the team. He also thanked his fellow team members and their support.
Parveena Ismail and Maria Wafa with their family members after arrival at shimshal Village from their expedition. Photo: Wasim Haiadar
He also thanked the sponsors, NIKU Adventures, TacticalGears.pk, Climax Adventure Pakistan, Rock Valley Tours, Glacier Breeze for giving life to the expedition and making it happen.
He also acknowledged Naseer Iqbal for his financial and moral support.
“On international mountains day, it brings us immense pleasure to announce the successful accomplishment of the Rise and Run Ski Expedition on Mingligh Sar (6050m)”, wrote Nida Aziz.
We are extremely proud of the young energetic team from Shimshal that showed much resilience and strength despite the challenges they faced during this expedition.
Rise And Run Ski expedition was a local venture led by young ski mountaineers and supervised by the renowned technical climbers and 5×8000 achiever Aminullah Baig.
The team started their journey from Shimshal on November 22 and reached the base camp on November 28.
The team attempted Quz Sar a 5,700m high peak in Shimshal Pamir, a couple of days later, but had to retreat due to some medical complications with a female member just 50m below the summit.
After a day’s rest, the team geared up for setting high camp at Minglik Sar and rested at 5,239m altitude.
On December 3, the team started the summit push from high camp but soon faced an emergency again and three of the team members had to retreat to high camp.
The rest of the team including Jaffar Ullah (the technical support), Azam Baig and Naveed, Parveena Ismail, and Naveed Akhtar (the snowboarder) continued their mission and reached the summit of Mingligh Sar at 2pm.
The good weather and determination of the team led them to ski down the 6,050m peak.
Parveena Ismail, 15, successfully skied down the 6,050m peak, along with Azam Baig and Naveed Ullah Spicher.
A pre-medical student at the Government Girls Degree College, Karimabad, Parveena is probably the youngest girl in the world to ski down a 6,000 meters high peak.
She started skiing at an early age and has participated in various events.
Maria Wafa, 20, has been competing at the national level. She has represented Lahore University for Women in the skiing championships held at Naltar and has won a bronze medal.
Azam Baig, 22, who was the team leader, started skiing in 2015. He won a gold medal at the 5th Diamond Jubilee Sports Festival at Naltar. Apart from skiing, Azam teaches boys and girls skiing at different villages of Gojal.
Naveed Ullah, a climber and blogger, started skiing in 2018 and has now managed to ski down from the top of the Mingligh Sar.
Jafarullah, 24, was part of the expedition as a technical assistant. He has been climbing mountain passes since 2010 and has so far been able to climb many peaks and passes over 6,000 meters high.
Aminullah Baig, 39, who was the team’s technical supervisor, is an internationally known mountaineer. He has climbed all the 8,000 meters high peaks of Pakistan and has been a part of many expeditions. The team under his leadership has accomplished this feat.
Naveed Akhtar, 24, is a student of tourism and hospitality at KIU and is a snowboarder. In this expedition, he was the organizer and base camp manager.
Wasim Haider, a 29-year-old student of Development Studies at the KIU, was the administrator and base camp assistant.
After the successful skiing down, the team planned to attempt Walyo Sar, the second 6,000m peak on the list. But due to bad weather and time constraints, the team called off the expedition.
The team of the Rise and Run reached Shimshal on December 8 on a rousing welcome by the relatives and community members.
The theme of the expedition was gender equality, promoting winter and adventure sports in Pakistan.