Sirbaz Khan becomes first-ever Pakistani to summit 13 8-thousanders

Pakistan’s ace mountaineer Sirbaz Khan Monday became the first-ever Pakistani to successfully summit 13 peaks of over 8,000m by scaling the 8,188 metres tall, Cho Oyu — the world’s sixth highest peak.

With this feat, Sirbaz is now just one climb away from completing his “mission 14”.

Imagine Nepal, the expedition organisers made the announcement regarding Khan's achievement Monday afternoon, stating that the mountaineer and others in the team, including climber Naila Kiani, reached the summit at 12:30pm Nepal Time.

Meanwhile, Sirbaz’s team also confirmed the expedition.

"We had been waiting for this day for so long. Finally, the green flag is raised for the first time on an 8,000m peak in Tibet. Sirbaz Khan summits Cho Oyu and leads the Pakistani mountaineering community to another milestone,” said Saad Munawar, Sirbaz's manager.

Speaking about Sirbaz's summit, Munawar said he began his summit push from c1 last night and reached it today in the afternoon without using supplementary oxygen.

"He has now become the first and only Pakistani to summit 13 8,000m peaks and the first and only Pakistani to summit 10 8,000m peaks without using supplementary oxygen," he added.

Sirbaz will now move to Shishapangma — which stands at 8,027m and is the world's 14th highest peak — to complete his mission of scaling all 14 peaks of over 8,000m.

Last month, Khan successfully summitted Gasherbrum-1, the 11th tallest mountain in the world.

The 8,080m high mountain took his total 8-thousander tally to 12. He had then aimed to climb Cho-Oyu and Shishapingma to complete his list of 14 eight-thousanders.

Earlier this year, Sirbaz had scaled Makalu (8,463m) and Kanchenjunga (8,586m).

"I am a native of Hunza and I take pride in where I come from, but the love and respect I received all across the country made me feel like a native of each and every province of our beautiful country. All your support has made me more aware of my responsibilities as well," he had said earlier.