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

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.

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.