“I am delighted for Sirbaz that he has now also completed the 14 eight-thousanders ‘topless’,” writes Ralf Dujmovits, Germany’s most successful high-altitude mountaineer. “My heartfelt congratulations to him.”
Sirbaz Khan has fulfilled his self-proclaimed “Mission 14”: On Sunday at 11.50 a.m. Nepalese time, the 37-year-old reached the summit of Kangchenjunga at 8,586 meters with the team from expedition operator Imagine Nepal. Sirbaz also scaled the third highest mountain on earth without a breathing mask. This makes him the first Pakistani to climb all 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen.
Second eight-thousander success this spring
Khan had already made Pakistani mountaineering history in October 2024 when he summited Shishapangma, becoming the first citizen of his country to complete his eight-thousander collection. But that was not enough for him. “Even though I have summited all 14×8000m peaks in the world, there is still something missing.” Sirbaz wrote on Instagram at the end of March after his arrival in Nepal. “When I first announced my project after summiting Nanga Parbat in 2017, my aim was simple: 14×8000m summits without using O2. Alhamdulilah (Thank God), I have summited 12 of the 14 without supplementary oxygen but on two peaks, Annapurna and Kangchenjunga, I had to use oxygen near the summit. And that’s why I am back here.”
On 7 April, he scaled the 8091-meter-high Annapurna I in western Nepal – together with German mountaineer Anja Blacha, who also did without bottled oxygen. And now Kangchenjunga in the east of the country.
From kitchen assistant to Pakistan’s most successful mountaineer
Sirbaz was born in the Hunza Valley in 1987 and grew up in the most humble of circumstances. His father was a carpenter. In 2004, Sirbaz’s first job as a porter took him to base camp of K2, the second highest mountain in the world. For more than a decade, he first worked as a kitchen assistant and later as a high altitude porter for expeditions – before he started climbing the highest peaks himself. In 2017, he summited Nanga Parbat, his first eight-thousander, together with Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of Imagine Nepal. Sirbaz stood on Mount Everest twice: 2021 with bottled oxygen, 2023 without.
Ralf Dujmovits, the only German mountaineer to have scaled all 14 eight-thousanders to date, knows Sirbaz Kahn from his time as a kitchen assistant in Pakistan’s base camps. “Hard work in often the harshest weather conditions, sometimes around the clock,” says the 63-year-old mountaineer from the German town of Bühl on the edge of the Black Forest. “On K2 almost twenty years ago, I got to know and appreciate his constant commitment and his always friendly, joking nature. The last time we were together en route was on Manaslu in fall 2022 as part of the Imagine Nepal team – when he had already matured into an experienced mountaineer and climbed most of the eight-thousanders.”
Muhammad Ali Sadpara and Mingma Gyalje Sherpa as mentors
Sirbaz describes his compatriot Muhammad Ali Sadpara, with whom he has been on four expeditions, as his mentor. Muhammad was the first Pakistani to scale eight of the 14 eight-thousanders. In 2016, he achieved the prestigious first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat with the Italian Simone Moro and the Spaniard Alex Txikon. In winter 2021, Muhammad Ali Sadpara died in the summit area of K2 while attempting to climb the second highest mountain on earth in the cold season without bottled oxygen.
Sirbaz owes his success “first and foremost to his tenacity and athletic ability”, but also to people like Imagine Nepal boss Mingma G and his friend and manager Saad Munawar,” says Ralf Dujmovits. “Mingma recognized his mountaineering talent early on and supported and encouraged him on the high mountains, including in Nepal and Tibet. His Hunza friend Saad took care of some of the organizational, media and financial challenges of the eight-thousander ascents and made it easier for Sirbaz to gain access to sponsors, who are not so easy to reach in Pakistan.”
Keeping his feet on the ground
“Completing all 14 eight-thousanders without oxygen is a monumental feat,” said Karrar Haidri, Secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, in a congratulatory message to Khan: “We, the entire mountaineering community of Pakistan, stand in awe of his perseverance, talent, and national spirit.”
Such hymns of praise, which will certainly be heard and read in abundance in the coming days, will certainly not go to the head of Pakistan’s most successful mountaineer, believes Ralf Dujmovits: “Despite all his successes in recent years, Sirbaz has remained down to earth and lovingly looks after his small family.” Khan and his wife have a daughter and a son.
P.S. Meanwhile, the summit wave on Mount Everest is still in full swing. On Sunday alone, 135 climbers reached the summit at 8,849 meters from the Nepalese south side, and summit successes were also reported from the Tibetan north side. Ang Dorjee (Chhuldim) Sherpa stood on the highest point on earth for the 24th time, the Briton Kenton Cool for the 19th time.
An Indian climber died on the descent from the summit of Lhotse, a Romanian climber died on the ascent to the fourth highest mountain on earth. These were the third and fourth deaths of the season above Everest Base Camp.
He is the best climber in Pakistan.