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Two Pakistanis summit 8,463m Mt Makalu in Nepal

Faizan Lakhani
Sunday, May 29, 2022

KARACHI: Pakistani mountaineers Sirbaz Ali and Shehroze Kashif achieved another landmark on Saturday morning when the duo summited 8,463m Mt Makalu in Nepal, the fifth highest peak in the world.

They reached the summit at around 7am after starting the final summit push on Friday evening. Sirbaz has now 11 peaks of over 8,000m under his belt and he’s the first Pakistani to reach this milestone.

20-year-old Shehroze Kashif also entered the record books by becoming the youngest climber in the world to summit five highest peaks - Everest, K2, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse and Makalu. He has now collectively seven climbs of over 8,000m peaks.

Confirming the summit by 33-year-old Sirbaz Ali Khan, his expedition manager Saad Munawar said the Hunzaite scaled Mt. Makalu without use of supplementary oxygen. "Alhamdulilah, another historic achievement as Sirbaz Khan raises the green flag on a record 11th 8000-meter summit as he summited Mt Makalu, the 5th highest mountain in the world, today at 8am (local time). Sirbaz summited the mountain in his usual style without using supplementary oxygen," he said, adding that there won't be any extravagant celebrations for this success in respect of Apo Ali Raza's tragic demise on Friday and announced dedicating this summit to Apo Ali.

“You haven't seen any statement from Sirbaz because I did not tell him about Apo's death. He was very close to Apo and I did not think that he should get this heartbreaking news while he is still in the death zone. I'll only share it with him once he is back at the base camp,” he said. “With the summit of Mt Makalu, we conclude our time in Nepal with 2 successful expeditions. Alhamdulilah! This summit also means that Sirbaz has now summited all 8000-meter peaks inside Nepal,” he concluded.

Sirbaz will now aim to climb Gasherbrum I later in the year before planning on dates to climb two other remaining 8-thousanders – 8,188m Cho Oyu and 8,027m Shishapangma.

On the other hand, 20-year-old Shehroze Kashif’s father confirmed that the young mountaineer from Lahore reached the top at around 6:55am. Shehroze sent two small communications from the top via satellite messenger device, confirming his summit, saying "top" and “project completed”.

He was on “Mission 3, 4, 5” on this trip of Nepal, targeting to summit Kanchenjunga, Lhotse and Makalu. He did so in a span of 23 days to become the youngest to climb top 5 peaks of the world. He is also the only Pakistani to scale three peaks of above 8,000m in this short period of 23 days. This was collectively his 7th peak of over 8,000m, making him only the third Pakistani to reach this feat after Sirbaz Ali (11) and the late Mohammad Ali Sadpara (8).

The mountaineer from Lahore is also known as a broad boy for his achievement of being the youngest to climb the Broad Peak, he has also summited Everest, K2 and Manaslu peaks.

Confirming Shehroze's summit, Karar Haideri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said that "today 28 May 2022 at 6:56am, Shehroze Kashif has summitted Makalu 8,463m - the 5th highest mountain in the world.”

Meanwhile, Shehroze Kashif’s father confirmed that he returned to the base camp on Saturday evening.