Another Pakistani mountaineer, Sultana Bibi, has scaled K2, the world's second highest mountain, inscribing her name among the few women in the country to have managed to reach the summit of this wild mountain.
Upon completing her climb this morning (Monday), Sultana became only the third female climber from Pakistan to achieve the feat.
Before Sultana, Samina Baig and Niala Kiani were the first two women to reach the 8,611-metre summit. The former became the first woman in the country to climb K2 in July 2022 and the latter became the first woman in the country to do so within hours.
Sultana had set out from Skardu in June with two teams of climbers in an attempt to scale the precarious mountain that straddles the border between Pakistan and China.
Sultana's team consisted entirely of six female climbers from Pakistan, while the other team was a joint expedition of Pakistani and Italian climbers.
The climber was guided by renowned Pakistani mountaineer Sirbaz Ali to the world's second highest peak.
K2 is popularly known as the “savage mountain” in honour of the words of mountaineer George Bell: “It is a savage mountain that tries to kill you.”
The mountain's death zone is extremely dangerous for climbers, with a mortality rate of around 23 deaths per 100 climbers, as reported by The ultimate Kilimanjaro.
The mountain's particularly unpredictable weather, the abundance of avalanches and rock falls, and the difficult routes to reach the summit make it a real threat to climbers.
