Sajid Sadpara added another feather to his cap when he reached the roof of the world at 8.02am on Sunday (May 14) and made Pakistan proud by scaling Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen.
Also, he did not take the help of Sherpas while conquering the world's highest mountain (8,849 metre).
Sajid is the son of Ali Sadpara, the first Pakistani mountaineer to scale Manaslu and Annapurna. Ali has also done K2 twice, scaled K2 in winter, done Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I in 4 days.
The 22-year-old mountaineer aims to climb all the 14 8,000ers that too without oxygen. Like his father, the Pakistani climber has already done K2 (8,611m), Gasherbrum-I (8,080m), and Gasherbrum-II (8,035m) in Pakistan and Manaslu (8,163m) in Nepal, without supplemental oxygen.
His team member Naila Kiani became the second woman from Pakistan to summit the Everest at 8.02 am Sunday (May 14). Kiani is the first non-Nepalese mountaineer to scale Everest this season. Samina Baig is the first Pakistani woman to achieve the feat in 2013.
Other members then followed: Jessica Rae Wedel of the US with Ang Mingma Sherpa, Peter Prize with Pasang Dawa Sherpa, Lianhui Cui of China with Thundu Sherpa, and a second Pakistani woman, Nadia Azad.
Notably, American climber Wedel has become the first ovarian cancer survivor to reach the Everest pinnacle at 8.38am. She became the season's second international woman Everest climber.
Congratulating Kiani on becoming an Everester, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted, “Adding yet another feather to her cap, Naila Kiani has made Pakistan proud by summiting Mount Everest. Through her passion for mountaineering and amazing achievements to her credit, she has reinforced the notion that our women are capable of achieving anything. Heartiest congratulations to her and best wishes for her future plans.”
A mother of two, a boxer, and a banker in Dubai, Kiana has to her credit five 8,000ers, including the mighty Everest in two years, Annapurna I in Nepal, K2, Gasherbrum I & II in Pakistan. She plans to do Lhotse (8,516m) in Nepal. She shot to fame in 2018 when her wedding photoshoot pictures at K2 Basecamp went viral on social media.
