Islamabad (Web Desk): Pakistani mountaineers Sirbaz Khan and Naila Kiani on Monday summited the sixth highest mountain in the world, Cho Oyu , according to the statement by non-governmental sports organisation Alpine Club of Pakistan.
Sirbaz Khan has achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first Pakistani to summit 13 peaks exceeding 8,000 meters. Another interesting fact about his unique feat is that he climbed Cho Oyu without oxygen.
Cho Oyu standing at 8,188 meters, is located on the Nepalese-Chinese border about 20 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of Mount Everest
According to Imagine Nepal, a trekking organization and peak climbing based in Nepal , it took both mountaineers 28 hours to summit the treacherous mountain amid challenging conditions.
Khan’s latest feat makes him the only Pakistani climber who has summited 13 out of a total of 14 “eight-thousanders”, all located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges situated across Nepal, China and Pakistan.
This summit brings Sirbaz Khan to his ambition of achieving "mission 14." The announcement of his triumph was made by Imagine Nepal, the expedition organizers, this afternoon, adding that Khan and his team, including another Pakistani climber Naila Kiani, reached the summit at 12:30pm Nepal Time.
Sirbaz will now move to Shishapangma, which stands at 8,027m and is the world's 14th highest peak, with aim to complete his mission of summiting all 14 8-thosanders.
Last month, Khan successfully summitted Gasherbrum-1, the 11th tallest mountain in the world and then aimed to climb Cho-Oyu and Shishapingma to complete his list of 14 8-thousanders.
Kiani’s X (formerly known as twitter) account, in a post, updated her followers with her achievement, saying that she became the first Pakistani woman to summit Cho Oyu.
Kiani, Khan and mountaineer Shehroze Kashif summited Mount Manaslu in Nepal last month, which is the eighth-highest mountain in the world.