Shehroze, Naila plan to summit Mount Everest in April

Shehroze Kashif, 20-year-old, is the youngest mountaineer in the world to summit 10 peaks of over 8,000m

March 12, 2023
Naila Kiani (L), who is also a boxer, a rock climber and a mountaineer, summited K2 in first attempt — Facebook/Naila Kiani

LAHORE: Shehroze Kashif and Naila Kiani have announced plans to scale Mount Everest in Nepal during mid-April with an aim of raising the Pakistani flag at the 8,000 meters peak.

Sharing their views during a media interaction with a selected group of journalists here at Bard Foundation office, Shehroze (virtually) and Naila (in presence), along with Bilquis and Abdul Razzak Dawood (BARD) Foundation founder Abdul Razzaq Dawood and Bard officials, said: “The month of April and May are the best time for mountaineering and that’s why we have preferred mid-April to scale Mount Everest, one of the highest mountains of the world.”

“We are grateful to our sponsors BARD Foundation for their all-out support for us, and we promise, in return, we will hold aloft Pakistani flag at Mount Everest that will also present a soft and positive image of Pakistan across the globe.”

Paying gratitude to BARD Foundation, Shehroze and Naila said: “We are grateful for their support in the tough times and it was just because of their all-out help that gave us more courage and motivation to pursue our targets and earn distinctions for our beloved country. We are now keen to do something big and fruitful for Pakistan that may help portray its softer image to the world.”

Shehroze Kashif, 20-year-old, is the youngest mountaineer in the world to summit 10 peaks of over 8,000m.

He has scaled all five eight-thousanders in Pakistan. He surpassed Britain's Adriana Brownlee's record of being the youngest climber to achieve the feat just 12 days after her achieving it.

A passionate climber, Shehroze first started climbing at the age of 11, summiting the Makra Peak (3,885m).

Moving on from there, he aced Musa ka Massalah (4,080m), aged 12, followed by the Chembra Peak (4,600m).

This was followed by Minglik Sar Shimshal (6,050m) at age 13, the K2 Gondogoro La K2 Base Camp (5,585m) at age 14 and Khurdopin Pass (5,890m) at age 15.

At the age of 17, he climbed Broad peak (8,047m) earning the title 'The Broad Boy' and reached the peak of Khusar Gang-Alpine Style (6,050m) at 18 years of age. At the age of 19, he conquered Mount Everest, the world's highest peak at 8849m, becoming one of the youngest in the country to do so.

Replying to a query, Shehroze said: "Pakistan is a very rich country as far as tourism and mountaineering is concerned. The dire need of the hour is to provide the best facilities in this regard as it will attract more and more foreigners to come and scale Pakistan’s 5 big 8000ers mountains and this will boost Pakistan’s tourism and economy and also create ample opportunities of livelihood for the people of northern areas.”

Shehroze also urged the government and Alpine Club of Pakistan to help and support the Pakistani mountaineers in scaling big mountains in and outside the country as it will help them present the positive image of the country to the entire world. “Through proper patronage of the government and federation, tourism and mountaineering in

Pakistan will rapidly flourish and help in strengthening the economy of Pakistan.”

Naila Kiani, who is also a boxer, a rock climber and a mountaineer, has summited K2 in first attempt and has also scaled Gasherbrum-I and Gasherbrum-II and now geared up to scale Mount Everest in mid-April.

“I started doing research on the five 8,000 meters plus peaks and it took me two years to thoroughly study them and to make my mind up to finally start climbing them.

I became the first Pakistani woman to summit an 8,000m peak in Pakistan. After climbing Mount Everest, I have planned to scale the remaining two 8,000 meters plus peaks, including Nanga Parbat and Broad Peak, for which I am geared up and waiting for the right time,” she added.

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