Mirza Ali becomes first Pakistani to scale seven summits

ISLAMABAD: High-altitude mountaineer Mirza Ali became the first Pakistani man to achieve the milestone of scaling seven summits in seven continents after successfully climbing Mount Everest on Wednesday.

“Ali achieved the feat after ascending world’s highest peak today at 2:16am.

He is the first Pakistani man to climb seven summits in seven continents,” Karrar Haidri, secretary Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) told APP on Wednesday.

The Seven Summits are composed of each of the tallest mountain peaks of each of the seven continents.

Ascending all these peaks is regarded as a mountaineering challenge.

America’s Richard Bass was the first climber to achieve the feat on April 30, 1985.The 35-year-old Ali is the brother of Samina Baig, the first Pakistani woman, who climbed Mount Everest in in 2013 and then all Seven Summits by 2014.“It is a great achievement for the country as Mirza Ali and Samina are also the world’s first siblings to accomplish this feat,” Karrar said.

Other Pakistanis who successfully scaled Mount Everest are Nazir Sabir, Hassan Sadpara and Col (retd) Abdul Jabbar Bhatti.

Barring Bhatti, who is from Punjab all others climbers belong to Gilgit-Baltistan.

Nazir climbed Mount Everest in 2000 to become the first Pakistani to do so.

While Hassan Sadapara, who passed away in 2016 was the second Pakistan to scale the highest peak in 2011. Samina is the third Pakistani, while Col (retd) Abdul Jabbar is the fourth Pakistani to successfully achieve the feat in May 2017