Sirbaz’s successful expeditions bring honours, pride for the nation
Staff Reporter
Sirbaz Khan, who has become the first Pakistani mountaineer in history to summit 9 of the world’s highest 14 peaks measuring over 8000 metres was showered with praise at a reception organized in his honour by the Serena Hotels.
The mountaineering supernova has been on a prolific climbing streak this year, having summited four peaks namely Mt. Daulagiri (8196 m), Mt. Everest (8,848 m), Gasherbrum II (8,035 m) and Mt.
Annapurna (8,091 m) in quick succession. He has also summited Mt Lhotse, Manaslu, Nanga Parbat, K-2 and Broad Peak in the past.
Sirbaz is on a Mission 14, a quest to hoist Pakistan’s flag on all 14 highest peaks of the world.
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry was to be the Chief Guest at the reception but he couldn’t make it owing to some pressing engagements.
The reception featured the government and corporate heads, diplomats and media officials. “It is an honor and matter of great pride for the whole country that Sirbaz has raised the Pakist ani flag on some of the highest peaks of the world.
We wish him all the success on his Mission14 – he is an inspiration for the whole country,” said Mr Aziz A Boolani, CEO of Serena Hotels.
While thanking the organizers of the reception, Sirbaz said, ”Making an international name in mountaineering will help uplift and bring development to the remote parts of the Northern Areas.
I dedicate my success to the support of the whole team including the high and low altitude porters, cooks, helpers and everyone from mountaineering community.”
Serena Hotels has been supporting Sirbaz’s expeditions under its Adventure Diplomacy initiative, that aims to foster adventure sports in the country and provide a supportive environment for the nation’s talented sports people to flourish.
“Pakistan has tremendous talent, and Serena Hotels believes in giving these talented people a platform for recognition and support so they may unlock the potential,” said CEO of the hotels.
Mr. Boolani drew attention to the fact that the Northern Areas of Pakistan are blessed with some of the highest mountains of the world as well as beautiful Alpine terrain, that draws hundreds of mountaineers around the world, yet it is lamentable that Pakistan doesn’t have any training institute for mountain careers.
He said Pakistan needs to set up a mountain careers training institutes that are affiliated with international bodies.
“Serena Hotels would like to explore the possibility of creating an Adventure Diplomacy Group, with Sirbaz at the forefront, to help Pakistan train internationally certified Mountaineering Guides with the support of stakeholders,” he said.
