In a first, Pakistani woman athlete snowboards Europe's highest peak

Pakistan adventure athlete Samar Khan has achieved another feat after summiting Mount Elbrus — the highest peak in Europe — and descended the 5,642-metre peak by snowboarding.

Hailing from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Dir, Samar reached the top 10am local time and hoisted Pakistan's flag. She is the first Pakistani woman to snowboard down Mount Elbrus.

"I'm pleased to announce that I have successfully climbed Europe's highest peak, Mt. Elbrus, and snowboarded down, becoming the first Pakistani to pioneer this feat in the world of action sports," she wrote on Instagram.

"I set out for the summit push around 3am and reached the top by 10am with a green flag, followed by an exhilarating snowboarding descent from Elbrus," she added by thanking everyone for the support.

It must be noted that Samar is the first woman in the world to have cycled on the third-largest non-polar glacial system, Biafo Glacier and Godwin Austen Glacier, in the Karakoram mountains of Gilgit Baltistan.

She is also the first Pakistani to have cycled on the roof of Africa, Kilimanjaro, in 2017. When her sports endeavours were not recognised in her own country, the ESPNW Global Sports Mentoring Program selected her to be mentored by top sports executives in the United States. 

After being mentored by Burton Snowboards in Vermont, she not only excelled as a snowboarder but also founded her initiative, ‘Samar Camp’, through which she offers sports camps like mountain biking, backpacking, and snowboarding for girls and women in Pakistan.

Samar Khan won a silver medal in the Sadia Khan Championship in 2022 and emerged as the winner of the Red Bull Homerun snowboarding category in 2021.

She also summited an unclimbed peak of 5610m in Shimshal, Gilgit Baltistan, with a snowboarding descent. The mountain was later named after her as ‘Ghar e Samar’ (Pashto).