Pakistan: Nepalese sets record, twice scales 14 top peaks

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Nepalese climber on Thursday set a new mountaineering record, after having scaled twice each of the 14 of the world’s highest mountains, a Pakistani mountaineering official said.

The announcement by Karrar Haidri, the chief official at the Pakistan Alpine Club, came hours after Sanu Sherpa, 47, scaled Gasherbrum 2 — the 13th highest mountain in the world at 8,035 meters (26,362 feet) in the Karakorum range in the western Himalayas.

Haidri offered his congratulations and said the Nepalese climber had made “mountaineering history with his latest achievement."

He told The Associated Press that Sherpa had already scaled the world's other highest mountains, including Mount Everest, K2, and Nanga Parbat, known as “Killer Mountain” because of its dangerous conditions.

Every year, hundreds of climbers try to scale the world’s highest mountains in Pakistan and elsewhere despite the difficulties attached to the expeditions, which can become dangerous when the weather suddenly worsens.