Pakistani mountaineer Naila Kiani has become the first Pakistani woman to climb the Annapurna peak, the tenth-highest peak in the world located in Nepal. Kiani was accompanied by fellow Pakistani climber Shehroze Kashif, who is the youngest Pakistani mountaineer to ascend the peak, and Nepalese sherpas. The team successfully ascended the mountain between 6:30am and 7:30am on Monday. They had started the summit push on Sunday evening with the Seven Summit Treks (SST) team. The SST Director, Chhang Dawa Sherpa, announced the successful climb in a social media post today, listing the six summiteers: Naila Kiani and Shehroze Kashif from Pakistan, Arjun Vajpai from India, and Lakpa Nurbu Sherpa, Tashi Sherpa, and Lakpa Sherpa from Nepal.
According to the Alpine Club of Pakistan Secretary General Karar Haidri, Kiani has now climbed four peaks over 8,000m, making her the first Pakistani woman climber to achieve this feat. Naila Kiani is a Dubai-based Pakistani banker, an amateur boxer, and a mother of two daughters. She gained prominence in 2018 after images of her wedding shoot at K2 Basecamp went viral on social media. She also summited Gasherbrum-II (8,035m) in 2021 and ascended Gasherbrum-I (8,068m) and K2 in July 2022.
Kashif, who was dubbed “The Broad Boy” after scaling the Broad Peak (8051m) at the age of 17, became the youngest Pakistani to summit Mt Everest (8,849m) in May 2021, and K2 in July 2021, making him the youngest climber to do so. He was also recognised by Guinness World Records for the year 2023 for summitting Mt Everest and K2. In May 2022, he became the world’s youngest climber and the first Pakistani to reach the summit of Kangchenjunga (8,586m) and Mt Lhotse (8,516m) in Nepal. Kashif and Fazal Ali went missing between Camp 4 and Camp 3 after successfully summiting Nanga Parbat in July 2022 but were recovered shortly after.
