Sirbaz Khan has scaled the heights of mountaineering, becoming the only Pakistani to climb nine peaks over 8,000 meters (26,247 feet) tall.
Hailing from the picturesque Hunza Valley of the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, near the China border, Khan hopes to summit all of the world’s 14 mountains with an altitude of over 8,000 meters by the end of 2023 to join a small club of mountaineers who have achieved the feat. The 33-year-old climber, who began his professional climbing career mere five years ago in 2016, has developed a taste for only the highest mountains.
“I’ve never tried to touch mountains below 8,000 meters in my professional career. My aim is to scale all the 14 peaks that are over 8,000 meters,” Khan said. Below 8,000 meters isn’t my taste,” Khan, also known as “8,000-meter boy,” said with a smile. In 2019, he became the first Pakistani to summit Mount Lhotse in Nepal, which stands at 8,516 meters (27,939 feet) and is the world’s fourth-highest mountain. Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak, Manaslu, Anapurna, and Gasherbrum-II are among his other 8,000-meter expeditions.
Out of five peaks in Pakistan over the 8,000 mark, Khan has already scaled four mountains, including the world’s two tallest mountains, Everest and the mighty K2, leaving only Gasherbrum-I, which he plans to summit next year. Khan accompanied iconic mountaineer Pakistan Muhammad Ali Sadpara on four of his 8,000-meter peaks expeditions. Sadly, Sadpara died this February while attempting to ascend K2 without supplementary oxygen.
It was 2004 when mountaineers from across the world gathered in Gilgit-Baltistan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of K2’s conquest, that gave Khan an opportunity to join an Italian team planning to scale the world’s second-tallest peak.
