Shehroze Kashif, a young Pakistani mountaineer, has won yet another award after scaling the 8,080-meter-high Gasha Broom-I mountain and becoming the youngest mountaineer to reach the summits of the world’s ten highest mountains, breaking the record set by Adriana Brownlee of the United Kingdom.
Shehroze, 20, is the second Pakistani mountaineer to have climbed ten peaks over 8,000 metres in height.
A Norwegian woman climber is on course to break the super peaks’ record.
After successfully summiting Pakistan’s Gasherbrum I, Norwegian climber Kristin Harila now has only three mountains left in her bid to climb the world’s 14 “super peaks” in record time.
Nepali Nirmal Purja holds the world record for climbing mountains 8,000 metres or higher (26,000 feet) in six months and six days, but Harila now has until early November to complete her quest and beat his time.
Karrar Hadri, secretary of Pakistan’s Alpine Club, confirmed Harila’s latest successful summit on her official social media pages.
“The second phase in Pakistan was very difficult and dangerous: ever-changing weather conditions, being hit by a rock, illness, and a very tight schedule,” Harila wrote on Instagram.
“However, here we are, with only three peaks remaining.”
Pakistan has five of the 14 super peaks, including K2, the world’s second highest mountain, and the country has had a record-breaking climbing season this year.
Sajid Hussain, head of the tourism department in Gilgit Baltistan, told AFP that approximately 1,780 permits for the highest peaks had been issued.
“It has increased our tourism and our foreign exchange,” he said.
Only about 40 people have ever summited all 14 super peaks, but none have come close to Purja’s 2019 expedition.
He broke Poland’s Jerzy Kukuczka’s 1980s record of seven years, 11 months, and 14 days for completing the feat with supplemental oxygen.
Harila, 36, told AFP earlier this year that she was inspired to show that women were just as capable as men of achieving great mountaineering feats.
“Throughout history and until now, strong macho men have gone out climbing mountains,” she explained.
“People who are not involved in this sport believe that men are more capable than women… If we are to change, we must attract attention and demonstrate that women are just as capable as men.”
Harila’s three remaining peaks are Cho Oyu (the sixth highest peak in Nepal/China), Manaslu (the eighth highest in Nepal), and Shishapangma (14th, China).
