Bangladeshi mountaineer Wasfia Nazreen became the first person from Bangladesh to scale Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second highest mountain.
Wasfia was part of a team of mountaineers called Elite Exped, who announced the news in a Facebook post on Friday. “100 percent success rate! This season has been awesome. Our incredible team for our K2 expedition has all accomplished their goal,” the post said.
The team consisted of 21 mountaineers, including some of the most renowned climbers in the world like Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, Mingma David Sherpa, and Nirmal Purja.
Wasfia, who is known for being the first and only Bangladeshi to climb the Seven Summits —the highest mountains of every continent, was sponsored by Renata Limited.
Her ascent began on July 17 and the 39-year-old reached the top of the mountain at an 8,611m (28,251ft) peak on early Friday (22 July).
The K2, located at 8,611 metres above sea level, is the second-highest mountain on Earth. It is not only more technically difficult to climb than Mount Everest, but it is also home to terribly volatile temperatures, and has only been scaled by 20 women since 1954.
Earlier on Friday, Samina Baig had become the first Pakistani woman to climb K2, arriving the summit at around 7 AM. Three hours later, Dubai-based Pakistani Naila Kiani became the second Pakistani woman to scale the mountain, reaching there at around 10 AM.
