'Never stop': Naila Kiani on journey to mountains

KARACHI: Naila Kiani, once a banker in Dubai, has imprinted her name in Pakistan's mountaineering history by becoming the first-ever female climber from the country to scale all five 8-thousanders (peaks of over 8,000m).

In total, she has eight climbs of over 8,000m and she is the first and only Pakistani woman to do so. Naila recently scaled the Nanga Parbat and Broad Peak to complete her feat of scaling all five highest peaks in the Pakistani territory.

The mother of two started her journey only two years back when she became the first Pakistani woman to climb the 8,035m tall Gasherbrum II — the world’s 13th highest mountain.

And what she attempted just as an experiment became her passion and since then she never looked back.

“Though I was always into sport, I never aimed to be a mountaineer,” Naila told Geo News in an exclusive interview.

“The first thought came when I went to the K2 basecamp for trekking where I saw some mountaineers, I wanted to feel how it is to climb a mountain and what it takes to be on top.”

“I picked Gasherbrum II as my first peak, I wasn’t even sure if I will be able to make it on top, but it went successful and I kept on trying one peak after another,” Naila said.

Since climbing G-II in 2021, Naila has climbed K2, Gasherbrum I, Annapurna, Mount Everest, Lhotse, Nanga Parbat, and Broad Peak.

She was the first Pakistani woman to be on top of six out of eight of her climbs. Samina Baig — who hails from Hunza — was a couple of hours ahead of Naila at K2. Samina also climbed Everest in 2013.

However, now Naila is undisputedly the most successful female mountaineer in the country.

“It seems so unbelievable to me, sometimes I wonder how did I manage to do all this, how did this all happened,” she said.

“It is an honour for me to be the first Pakistani female to climb so many mountains,” Naila added.

Kiani said that the journey wasn’t easy and she had to deal with so many challenges, but she always believed that there’s nothing that can’t be achieved.

She added that it is always difficult to leave behind her daughters – aged two and four.

“It is difficult, especially when I plan my expedition and to think that I am leaving them behind and going on mountains, but when I am on the mountains, whenever I am on a challenging path, thoughts about my daughters become a great source of energy for me,” she said.

Naila further highlighted that the mountaineers in Pakistan do not get enough support from the public sector and the infrastructure needs to be improved if authorities are serious about mountaineering in Pakistan. She also stressed improving rescue facilities in Pakistani mountains.

She is now hopeful of climbing the remaining six eight-thousanders and becoming the first Pakistani woman to scale all 14 peaks of over 8,000m.

“I want to climb as soon and as much as possible,” she said.

Naila also aims to set an example for her daughters. “I want to give them a message that there’s nothing impossible in this world, everything can be achieved.”

In her message to aspiring female mountaineers, Kiani said they must always keep their goals alive and go for high targets.

"Never stop because there’s no obstacle that can’t be cleared in this world,” she said.