Pakistan’s Naila Kiani scales world’s third-highest peak

Pakistan’s top female mountaineer, Naila Kiani, has achieved another major milestone by successfully summiting the world’s third-highest mountain, Kangchenjunga, at 8,586 metres.

On Thursday evening, Naila began her final climb from Camp Four and reached the summit early Friday at 6 a.m., proudly raising the Pakistani flag atop the towering peak.

Kangchenjunga is located at the border between Nepal and India and is the highest mountain in India.

"Climbing Kangchenjunga is not just a personal milestone," she said after achieving her feat. "It is a message for all women in Pakistan that they are stronger than they think."

With this success, Naila has now scaled 12 of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 metres, making her the first and only Pakistani woman to reach this milestone. Her next targets are Shishapangma and Dhaulagiri.

Naila began her mountaineering journey in 2021 with Gasherbrum II. This was followed by the summit of K2, the world’s second-highest peak, in July 2022, and then Gasherbrum I a month later.

In 2023, she successfully climbed Annapurna, Mount Everest, Lhotse, Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak, and Cho Oyu.

In May 2024, she climbed Makalu, the world’s fifth-highest mountain.

Now, with only two 8,000-metre giants remaining, Naila Kiani is close to completing one of high-altitude mountaineering’s most elite challenges.