News Desk |
Selena Khawaja, a Pakistani girl only 10 years of age has become the youngest mountaineer in history to reach the summit of a 7000 meter mountain.
She accomplished the feat by successful scaling the Spantik peak which stands tall at 7027 meters. The Spantik or Golden Peak is a mountain in Spantik-Sosbun mountain sub range of Karakoram in Nagar Valley. The mountain’s northwest face is known as the ‘Golden Pillar’ and is an exceptionally dangerous and difficult climb.
#SummitAlert#Pakistan 's 10 years old Selena Khawaja became the #youngest person ever to stand on top of #Spantik peak (7,027m) this morning. This record also holds special value as this makes her the youngest #climber ever to #summit a #7000er anywhere in the world#karakoram pic.twitter.com/t0sMTbzTcl
— The Karakoram Club (@KarakoramClub) July 17, 2019
However, 10 year old Selena who hails from Abottabad got the honor of being the youngest person to climb the peak on July 17. She started training to become a professional climber at 8 years of age, in the Miranjani and Makra mountains.
“I have scaled Miranjani at least 45 times. It is nearly 3,000 meters high,” Selena had told newspapers last year. She also said she has climbed the 4000 meter high Makra mountain at least 3 times.
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Selena is already being referred to as the Mountain Princess in Pakistan, and with good reason. She already has a number of accolades and records to her name including being the youngest in the world to climb a 6000 meter peak when she scaled Mingli Sar (6050m) last month.
She also holds the record for being the youngest person ever to climb a peak 5000 meter peak. Selena accomplished this by climbing 5,765-metre Quz Sar Peak in 2018.
After concerns were raised about the health and safety of such a young kid climbing dangerously high peaks, Selena’s father was quick to point out that the concerns were unfounded.
“At age nine, she is way more fit than a casual 20-year-old,” he had said last year. Her father, as a professional fitness trainer has been taking special care of her diet and exercise.
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10 year old Selena isn’t stopping at this record. She now aims to become the youngest person to climb an 8000 meter peak, and has set her sights on Broad Peak. She also hopes to become the youngest person ever to climb Mountain Everest one day.