Norwegian woman climber to attempt Pak’s 8000 m peaks to beat the world record

News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Norwegian female climber Kristin Harila has arrived in Pakistan as part of her campaign to beat the time record of ascending the world’s all 14 above 8000-metre peaks in just six months.

If she meets her target it will be a monumental feat as she will become the first woman in history and the second person ever to climb all the eight-thousands in such a short span of time [in six months], said Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) secretary Karrar Haidri on Wednesday.

The 36-year-old Kristin climbed Makalu, last month. That was her sixth 8,000m summit in just 29 days, beating out Nepali adventurer Nirmal Purja’s 31 days in 2019 for the fastest time to summit that many 8,000m peaks. Now, she aims to match or surpass Nirmal and his groundbreaking 2019 record of six months and six days.

Five of the 14 above 8000m peaks in the world, including the world’s second highest peak K2 (8,611m), Nanga Parbat (8,126m), Gasherbrum I (8080m), Broad Peak (8051m), Gasherbrum II (8,035m) are located in Pakistan.

“This is the second phase of her campaign wherein she will be attempting to summit Pakistan’s all the above 8000-metre peaks in two months,” Haidri said.

Haidri said Kristin along with nine other members of her team, seven Nepalese and one each from China and Japan departed from Islamabad on Wednesday to scale Nanga Parbat.

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