Shehroz Kashif, a Pakistani mountaineer, faces extreme weather in her attempt to conquer the world’s highest mountain, but her biggest challenge is securing the necessary funding.
Kashif, at 21, was aiming to become the youngest person to summit all peaks above 8,000 meters in Pakistan and Asia this year. Everest alone cost him about $60,000, and summiting all 14 “super peaks” could require tens of thousands of dollars.
This task becomes more difficult in countries facing economic crisis. Despite these challenges, the young climber is determined to achieve his record-breaking summit attempt.
“My father sold my car and a piece of land… that’s how I did Everest,” Kashif told AFP from his home in Lahore, the sub-tropical, low-altitude city where he was born.
Only 50 people are believed to have climbed the 14 Super Peaks, the youngest being Nepal’s Mingma Gabu “David” Sherpa, who climbed all of them at the age of 30.
To break this record, Kashif still has three mountains to conquer: Shishapangma in China, and Cho Oyu and Manaslu in Nepal, to be re-climbed later in 2021 when a new, higher peak is officially recognized.
Hot on Kashif’s heels is Adriana Brownlee, a 22-year-old British-Spanish climber who is in the running to become the youngest 8,000 climber.
Kashif describes Brownlee the youngest woman to climb the world’s second-highest peak, K2 as “sharing the same stage.”
But unlike Brownlee, who climbed 10-8,000, Kashif lacks international patronage and says he is struggling to get supporters even in Pakistan.
Brownlee would have to re-climb Manaslu, in what would be his third attempt to scale the summit since his first ascent.
“I think he’s actually waiting for me (to do it),” Kashif said with a laugh. Kashif first became interested in climbing at the age of 11, when most Pakistani boys his age developed their cricketing skills.
Instead, he climbed the 3,885-meter Himalayan peak Shikhar Makra in northern Pakistan. Since then he has racked up a string of records, his Twitter bio has little room to list them all. Kashif is the youngest person to climb K2 and the youngest to climb the world’s two highest peaks.
He is the youngest person to climb Pakistan’s Broad Peak, the world’s 12th highest peak, and his first eight thousand – a feat that earned him the nickname “Broad Boy”. “It’s not just about climbing the mountain. It’s about the energy you absorb from the mountain,” says Kashif.
“Every mountain has its own charm. It has its own aura… danger, adventure and happiness.” With the commemorative plaque on the Eight-Thousand Mountain, Kashif is aware of the dangers he pursues.
“These guys were here with the same potential, the same passion, the same enthusiasm, the same determination and the same resilience (as me),” he said.
Kashif’s most dangerous climb in July 2022 was Nanga Parbat, the world’s ninth-highest peak. He and his climbing partner Fazal Ali got lost in bad weather after reaching the summit and soon ran out of oxygen, food and water.
“I started hallucinating,” Kashif said. “My head was working (but) the rest of my body was completely numb.” When Kashif awoke from hibernation, he was surprised to be alive and determined to survive. After six hours of trekking, the pair reached one of the mountain base camps.
“The thing I was most afraid of was that I didn’t want to die without knowing what my body was capable of.”
