PESHAWAR: The two Japanese mountaineers summited 7,708-meter high Tirich Mir, the highest peak of the Hindukush mountain range in Chitral, after a gap of seven years of its last climbing.
Mohammad Saad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tourism Authority spokesperson, said that the Tirich Mir was last scaled by two French engineers in 2019. Two Japanese climbers including forty-four-year-old Kazuya Hiraide and thirty-eight-year-old Henro Nakajima earlier attempted to summit this peak in 2019 but failed.
This year both the mountaineers managed to scale the summit of Tirich Mir and received a warm welcome from the local residents as well as the tourism authority on their success, said Saad, adding that both the climbers were awarded honorary shields.
He said that Tirich Mir is the highest mountain in the Hindukush range and it was first scaled in 1950 by an expedition from Norway which was led by Arne Naess, the renowned philosopher. He was accompanied by H. Berg and P. Kvern Berg.
The last time it was climbed by two French engineers was in 2016 and since then no other climbers could reach the summit.
The spokesperson said that both the mountaineers after reaching the base camp at an altitude of fifty-two hundred meters from Shagrom, the last village of Tirich Valley, commenced their journey towards the summit.
Japanese Mountaineers Take New Route
Climbing continuously for 6 days, fortunately, the weather was very favorable and the climbers reached the summit. They took a completely new route above the base camp and left their landmark for the coming climbers.
Both the mountaineers have planned to climb Noshaq and Asturnal, the other summits in Chitral of the Hindukush, Saad said.
He added that they have already occupied a record of scaling Rakaposhi in 2019, Shaspar in 2017, Deran in 2013, and Spantec in 2004.
