French climbers scale 25,289-feet high Tirich Mir

CHITRAL: Two French climbers scaled the 25,289 feet high (7,708 metres) Tirich Mir mountain peak in the remote Mulkow Valley in Chitral district.

Talking to reporters in the Chitral town, Quillet Thomas and Jerome Chazelas said mountaineering was their hobby. They said that they had established four camps on the way after the base camp before reaching the top. “From the last camp it took us six hours to reach the summit,” Quillet Thomas said.

The mountaineers, who are electrical engineers by profession, said that reaching the top from the last camp was dangerous as a snow storm was creating hurdles for them.“At one time we were about to decide to abandon the mission and return,” Jerome Chazelas said. However, he added that they resumed climbing after the weather cleared.

They said that they had to travel on foot for a few days to reach the Tirich Valley in Mulkow, adding, the construction of a road to the valley would facilitate and attract more tourists to the area. They added that scaling the Tirich Mir gave them a sense of satisfaction after having earlier climbed a mountain peak in Bolivia. The majestic Tirich Mir is the highest mountain of the Hindu Kush range. It is also the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayan-Karakoram range. 

Commenting on their visit to Pakistan, they said they found the country’s image regarding lawlessness exaggerated. “We travelled to Tirich Mir from Islamabad without any problem,” said Quillet Thomas, adding, they were impressed by the friendliness of the people of Chitral. He expressed the hope that they along with other friends from France would visit the region again. They said the Meteorological Office in Islamabad provided them daily updates about the weather through text messages on their satellite phone.Tirich Mir was first scaled by a Swiss mountaineer in 1956. An Italian climber had scaled it in 2001.