ISLAMABAD: After submitting Pakistan’s Broad Peak as the ninth mountain in her quest, a Norwegian woman said on Instagram that she is still on track to climb the world’s 14 “super peaks” in the quickest time ever.
Five of the world’s 14 super peaks, or peaks higher than 8,000 metres, are found in Pakistan (26,246 feet). Mountaineers view ascending them all as the pinnacle of success.
The record set by Nepali adventurer Nirmal Purja in 2019 for climbing all 14 peaks in six months and six days is being challenged by Kristin Harila.
According to a post on her Instagram page, she scaled Broad Peak, the twelfth-highest peak, on Thursday, day 76 of her pursuit.
Although representatives from the Pakistani Alpine Club were not immediately available to confirm the 36-year-most old’s recent accomplishment, they had earlier reported that she had summited K2, the second-highest mountain in the world.
She has now descended to base camp and is moving toward Gasherbrum I and II, the final two mountains in this project’s second phase, according to the Instagram post.
While a record number of climbers are taking on Pakistan’s peaks this year, the mountains have taken their toll, leaving six people, including four foreign climbers, missing and presumed dead since the season started in June.
Officials from the Gilgit-Baltistan tourism department reported that Canadian Richard Cartier, Australian Matthew Eakin, Afghan Ali Akbar, and Pakistani Sharif Sadpara are believed dead on K2.
Gordon Henderson, a British climber who got lost while ascending Broad Peak, and Pakistani Iman Karim on Gasherbrum II.
Ordinarily, Pakistani authorities wait until the bodies of missing climbers have been found before declaring them dead.
The Alpine Club reports that this year’s summiting of the 8,611-meter K2 by over 140 people, including 20 women, broke previous records on Pakistan’s mountains.
Until this year, it had been scaled just 425 times, whereas Everest — the world’s highest — has been conquered by more than 6,000 people since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reached the top in 1953.
After ascending Gasherbrum II last week, Sanu Sherpa of Nepal became the first person to successfully double-summit all 14 superpeaks.
