GILGIT: Four climbers, including two Pakistani mountaineers, scaled Nanga Parbat (8,125 metres), on Tuesday.

According to Alpine Club of Pakistan secretary Karar Haidri, four members of the Seven Summits Nanga Parbat expedition team — Lhakpa Temba Sherpa and Pemba Sherpa from Nepal, and Dilawar Hussain and Fida Ali from Pakistan — successfully reached the peak at 5:45pm on Tuesday.

Other members of the expedition are currently at Camp 4 and will attempt the summit on Wednesday. Many other climbers are on the way to scale Nanga Parbat.

The Seven Summits Treks said: “And here we come with the successful ascent of Nanga Parbat, the first 8,000er of the season in Pakistan.

“Our team tirelessly and incredibly reached the top of Nanga Parbat (8,125m) today (17:45 local time) while fixing the summit lines.”

This is the first successful summit of an 8,000er peak in Gilgit-Baltistan this summer season. More than 2,000 foreign and local climbers are attempting to summit 8,000er peaks in Gilgit-Baltistan, including the world’s second-highest peak, K2, Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak, Gasher­brum-I, and Gasher­brum-II peaks, as well as 7,000m and 6,000m peaks across GB.

Iqbal Qadiri, a tour operator, told Dawn that hundreds of climbers were attempting to scale K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum-I, and Gasherbrum-II. He said expedition team members were on rotation, and Camp 3 had been established at 8,000er peaks. He said the weather forecast was good for climbing over the next 10 days.

According to the GB tourism department, over 1,700 permits have been issued to foreign tourists

to climb peaks in the region, while 175 permits have been issued to scale K2 (8,611m).

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2024