4 women climbers summit world's 2nd-tallest mountain

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Four women climbers hailing from several different countries on Friday reached the top of the world's second-tallest mountain, K2.

The mountaineers include Samina Baig, Nelly Attar, and Afsaneh Hesamifard, who became the first Pakistani, Arab, and Iranian women, respectively, to climb the 8,611-meter (28,251-foot) peak, according to Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.

Baig was the first to reach the top of K2 at 7.42 a.m. (0242GMT) followed by her countrywoman Naila Kiani, along with Hesamifard from Iran, and Attar, who is ethnically Lebanese but was born and raised in Saudi Arabia.

Baig, who comes from the remote village of Shimshal in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, in 2013 also became the only Pakistani woman to climb the world's tallest peak, Mount Everest. She also holds the unique record of being the first Pakistani to climb the seven tallest summits on seven continents.

Kiani, for her part, became the first Pakistani mother to summit K2. A banker by profession, she currently lives in the United Arab Emirates.

The daunting K2, also known as the "savage mountain" due to its treacherous terrain, had never been scaled in the winter until last July, when a 10-member Nepali team performed the feat.

It is the last peak of the 8,000-m (26,246-ft) club to have been climbed in winter, 41 years after Everest, which was scaled in 1980 during the winter.

Some 300 mountaineers have made it to the top before, but all took up the challenge in either the summer or spring.

Even in relatively better weather conditions, 86 climbers have lost their lives trying to scale the mountain, which towers over Shigar in Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir, home to six peaks with altitudes of over 8,000 m, including K2.