GILGIT: Three climbers from Pakistan, have successfully made to the camp during two separate attempts to summit the Manaslu peak in Nepal, which stands at 8,136 metres.
Naila Kiani and Sirbaz Khan, who were a part of the Imagine Nepal expedition team, have reached base camp one, while Shehroze Kashif, who is part of the Seven Summit Trek, has reached base camp three.
Ms Kiani told Dawn that they anticipate reaching the summit on Sept 21.
If everything proceeds as planned, this will mark her 9th successful ascent of an 8,000m peak. So far, she has ascended eight of the 14 eight-thousanders, including Everest, K2, Nanga Parbat, Lhotse, Annapurna, Gasherbrum-I, Gasherbrum-II and Broad Peak.
Mr Khan, 32, who hails from the Aliabad area of Hunza, began his climbing career in 2016. He climbed 12 peaks out of 14 eight-thousanders. In 2019, he became the first Pakistani to summit Mount Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest mountain at 8,516m in Nepal, without the use of supplementary oxygen.
Moreover, Mr Khan summited the 8,125m-high Nanga Parbat in 2017, 8,611m-high K-2 in 2018 and Broad Peak, which has a height of 8,163m, in 2019. Earlier this year, he climbed the 8,091m-high Anapurna mountain, 8,848m-high Everest and 8,035m-high Gasherbrum II.
In a separate expedition, Mr Kashif, the youngest climber hailing from Lahore, is embarking on a re-summit of Manaslu. He plans to ascend the peak on Sept 20 (today).
Mr Kashif, 19, reached the summit on Sept 25. However, it became known two days later that the summit point was not the true summit; the “actual summit” was located 10 metres further ahead and, therefore he decided to re-summit.
Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2023
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