Sirbaz Khan becomes 1st Pakistani to climb 10 of the world's tallest peaks

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – With his latest feat, Sirbaz Khan on Saturday became the first Pakistani to have climbed 10 of the world's 14 summits taller than 8,000 meters (26,247 feet).

"Khan stood atop the summit of 8,586-m (28,169-ft) Kunchenjunga (Kangchenjunga), the world’s third-highest peak, at 7 am (local time) on Saturday (0115GMT) with other members of a team," the Alpine Club of Pakistan, the country's state-run mountaineering body, said in a statement. The peak lies on the Indian-Nepalese border.

Hailing from the scenic Hunza valley of the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, which borders neighboring China, Khan, 32, only began his climbing career in 2016.

In 2019, he became the first Pakistani to summit Mount Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest mountain at 8,516 m (27,940 ft), from Nepal without using supplementary oxygen.

Moreover, he summited the 8,125-m (26,657-ft) Nanga Parbat in 2017, the 8,611-m (28,251-ft) K2 in 2018, and in 2019, Broad Peak, which boasts a height of 8,163 m (26,782 ft).

Earlier this year, he climbed the 8,091-m (26,545-ft) Mount Anapurna, and the 8,035-m (26,362-ft) Gasherbrum II, and the 8,848-m (29,029-ft) Mount Everest – the world’s tallest peak.

Khan hopes to become the first Pakistani to climb all 14 of the world’s highest peaks. This summer he plans to climb Mount Makalu (on the border between Nepal and China’s Tibet region) and Gasherbrum-1 (in Pakistani-administered Kashmir).