Shehroze Kashif, 19, scaled Mount Everest on Tuesday, becoming the youngest ever Pakistani to climb the world’s tallest peak.
According to the Alpine Club of Pakistan, the country’s state-run mountaineering organization, Kashif “successfully” climbed the 8,849 meters high peak on Tuesday morning.
Karrar Haidri, the Secretary-General of Alpine Club, told Anadolu Agency that the young climber, who was part of a 35-member expedition, has started to descend together with his teammates.
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Hailing from northeastern Lahore city, Kashif is only the sixth Pakistani scale the Mount Everest. Among them, Samina Baig is the only woman climber to achieve this milestone in 2013.
Son of a local businessman, Kashif started climbing at the age of just 11, gradually scaling several peaks ranging from 3000 meters to 8000 meters before ascending Mount Everest.
He scaled 3,885 meters high Makra Peak, situated in Pakistan’s northwestern Mansehra district at the age of 11 in 2013.
Shehroze Kashif, 19, scaled Mount Everest on Tuesday, becoming the youngest ever Pakistani to climb the world's tallest peak. #Kudos https://t.co/z7BeiZ7cGg
— Dr Humma Saif (@HummaSaif) May 11, 2021
His expedition to 8,047 meters high Broad Peak, located in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, earned him the title “The Broad Boy” in 2019.
China to build border on Mount Everest
China will set up a “separation line” on the peak of Mount Everest to avoid possible Covid-19 infections by climbers from virus-hit Nepal, state media reported, after dozens were taken ill from the summit’s base camp.
While the virus first emerged in China in late 2019, it has largely been brought under control in the country through a series of strict lockdowns and border closures.
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Over 30 sick climbers were evacuated from base camp on the Nepalese side of the world’s highest peak in recent weeks as Nepal faces a deadly second wave, raising fears that the virus might ruin a bumper climbing season.
Mount Everest straddles the China-Nepal border, with the north slope belonging to China.
In the last three weeks, Nepal’s daily case trajectory has shot up with two out of five people tested now returning positive as infections spillover from neighbouring India’s deadly second wave.
Anadolu with additional input by GVS News Desk