On Friday (1st October), mountaineer Sirbaz Khan became the first Pakistani to climb nine of the world’s fourteen tallest peaks, each of which stands at above 8,000 meters.
The 32-year-old accomplished this accomplishment by acclimating to the 8,167-meter Dhaulagiri peak in Nepal on Friday morning. At around 6:00 PST, Sirbaz reached the summit of Dhaulagiri.
Sirbaz was born in the Aliabad district of Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan, and began climbing in 2016. He is also the first Pakistani to reach the summit of Dhaulagiri and the first Pakistani to lead a team up the mountain.
Khan has summited nine of the world’s 14 8000m summits, but he still has five more to conquer before joining an exclusive group of 44 mountaineers who have summited all 14 8000m peaks.
Before pushing for the summit, he said “Going for the ninth 8000m summit has a special meaning to me and all my brothers and sisters from the Pakistani mountaineering fraternity. With your prayers, I’ll do everything in my capacity to make this dream come true.”
Furthermore, he said “It is not purely about getting in the record books anymore. It is about the pride of the country. Most importantly, it is about earning respect and honor for the extraordinary, yet unsung mountaineering community of Pakistan. When I climb on these mountains where no Pakistani has ever climbed before me, it is not just me climbing alone, it is Pakistan climbing with me.”
He had earlier summited:
- Nanga Parbat.
- K2.
- Lhotse.
- Broad Peak.
- Manaslu.
- Annapurna.
- Mount Everest.
- Gasherbrum-II.
Sirbaz had previously achieved the distinction of being the first Pakistani to summit Lhotse and Annapurna before climbing Dhaulagiri.
Sajid Ali Sadpara, the son of the late great mountaineer Mohammad Ali Sadpara and a climber himself, took to Twitter to congratulate Sirbaz Khan. He said, “Lots of congratulations to Sirbaz Khan to climb Dhaulagiri. After climbing Daulaghiri he is the first Pakistani to summit nine 8000 mountains.”
