Sirbaz Khan becomes first Pakistani to climb all 14 highest peaks without oxygen

Sirbaz is now among a select group of around 70 climbers globally to have summited all 14 peaks.


News Desk May 18, 2025
Photo: FILE

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Pakistani mountaineer Sirbaz Khan has made history by becoming the first Pakistani to summit all of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks without the use of supplemental oxygen.

Sirbaz Khan, who hails from Hunza Valley, reached the top of Kangchenjunga (8,586 metres) on Sunday, completing a years-long campaign across the world’s highest and most dangerous mountains.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Sirbaz_Mission14 (@sirbazkhan_mission14)

While he had previously climbed all 14 peaks by 2024, two of his earlier summits had been made using bottled oxygen. In April 2025, he re-climbed Annapurna, and now Kangchenjunga, both without artificial oxygen, to accomplish the feat under pure alpine style.

Sirbaz Khan is now among a select group of around 70 climbers globally to have summited all 14 peaks. Fewer than 25 have done so entirely without supplemental oxygen, a demanding feat that involves climbing in the so-called "death zone", where oxygen levels are critically low.

His journey began in 2017 with a successful ascent of Nanga Parbat (8,126m), one of the world’s most treacherous mountains. He went on to climb K2 in 2018, Lhotse in 2019 — becoming the first Pakistani to summit it — and Broad Peak without oxygen that same year.

In subsequent years, Sirbaz Khan added Manaslu, Annapurna, Everest, Gasherbrum I and II, Dhaulagiri, Makalu, Cho Oyu, and Shishapangma to his record, often as the first Pakistani to do so.

Earlier, Sajid Ali Sadpara successfully scaled Dhaulagiri, the world’s seventh-highest mountain at 8,167 metres, without the use of supplemental oxygen.

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