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Naila Kiani: Scaling Peaks and Defying Limits

Ishrat Saleem Naila Kiani, the first Pakistani mountaineer to climb 11 8000-metre peaks in less than three years, was on maternity leave when she went on her first expedition to conquer Gasherbrum II. She made the difficult decision to leave her six-month-old daughter with her husband, mother, and parents-in-law because she wouldn’t have gotten time to go on such an adventure after she resumed her full-time job as associate vice president of HSBC Bank in Dubai. This reflects the essence of her spirit as a mountaineer, a professional, a devoted mother, a leader and, most of all, a role model for the youth of Pakistan.
Sitting at the confluence of three majestic mountain ranges – Hindukush, Karakoram and Himalayas – Pakistan boasts some of the world's highest peaks and the largest number of glaciers outside the polar regions. Yet, only a few have ventured into mountaineering as a profession.
Talking to SPARK over a Zoom call while travelling in Armenia with her family, Naila reflected on her journey. Unlike her predecessor Samina Baig, the first female Pakistani mountaineer who grew up in Hunza at the foot of the Himalayas, Naila grew up in a conservative family in Rawalpindi and studied at local schools and colleges. She secured admission to the BEng programme at the Queen Mary University of London in 2009 on her mother's encouragement. This was her first step outside a protected home environment, where she learned to navigate life independently, balancing her studies with full-time work.
In London, Naila discovered her passion for sports, becoming an amateur boxer and competing on prestigious platforms. After earning her degree, she worked in engineering for five years before switching to banking to reduce her five-hour daily commute and spend more time with her family. By this time, she had married a media professional based in Dubai in a simple ceremony. To celebrate her wedding, she made the unusual trip to the K2 base camp in 2018. A video of her in a bridal dress at the base camp went viral.
In 2020, a reshared video of her base camp trip caught the attention of an expedition team who invited her to join their climb of the 7,027-metre Spantik in Gilgit-Baltistan. Though Naila loved mountains, she was expecting her first daughter then. When she explained this, they asked her to join them after the baby’s birth, planting the seed of an idea that was hard to shake off.
Naila had her first daughter in 2020 and her second in 2021, but the idea never left her. “I kept bugging my husband to let me try it until he agreed. I put together a plan for my maternity leave in July 2021.” Despite being an unknown figure in the mountaineering world, Naila reached the summit of Gasherbrum II, becoming the first Pakistani woman to climb an 8,000-metre peak within Pakistan. “Nobody believed that a new mother could achieve this until I came down and showed them my pictures,” she said. There was no going back after that.
Over the next three years, Naila summited 11 eight-thousanders – a term used for peaks above 8,000 metres. “It’s a significant number because, above 8,000 metres, the oxygen level is so low that it’s called the death zone. One cannot survive in this atmosphere for long,” Naila explained. In 2022, she conquered K2, the second-highest and one of the most dangerous mountains in the world, and Gasherbrum I in a daring doubleheader. However, not everyone was convinced of her mountaineering prowess and speculated she might have been carried to the peaks by her porters. Disappointed at first, she chose to silence her critics through her performance. “Even if you have 20 porters, none will carry you on their back. A mountaineer must climb on their own,” she says. Naila’s success did not come without challenges. High-altitude climbing is expensive, with costs ranging from $20,000 to 30,000 per peak. While Naila initially used her savings, the Lahore-based BARD Foundation sponsored nine subsequent expeditions. “I was lucky because securing funding is the biggest hurdle for a climber.” She also faced hurdles in importing gear due to Pakistan’s lack of a local mountaineering industry. Most significantly, she endured scepticism as a woman in a male-dominated field. “There were many moments when I questioned if it was worth it, but I had the mental strength to persist,” she shared.
In 2023, she summited seven peaks in less than six months, joining an elite group of ten mountaineers worldwide to achieve this distinction. Her most recent triumph was climbing the 8,485m Makalu in 2024, making her the first Pakistani woman and third Pakistani overall to scale 11 of the world’s 14 highest peaks.
In recognition of her extraordinary achievements, the president of Pakistan conferred on her Pakistan’s highest civil honour, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, in March 2024. She was appointed the national goodwill ambassador for girls' education by the Ministry of Federal Education in May 2024. Talking to SPARK over the phone, Secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, Karar Haidri, stated, "In a country where girls have limited opportunities for healthy activities, Naila Kiani serves as a true role model for our youth."
Beyond mountaineering, Naila proved herself as an environmentalist, humanitarian, and leader. News of piling trash on K2 has been circulating in the media since 2022. In July 2024, Naila led a clean-up operation with support from Mashreq Bank, clearing litter from the K2 base camp up to camp 3, located at a height of 7,300 metres. She believes that to sustain the effort, strict anti-littering guidelines must be enforced. “Local authorities should weigh each climber before and after the climb and fine those who leave their trash up in the mountains,” she says.
In 2024, Naila also organized a mission to recover the body of a 32-year-old Pakistani porter, Muhammad Hassan Shigri, who had died a year earlier during his maiden attempt to summit K2, and whose body could not be brought down. When Hassan’s family approached Naila, she wasted no time in securing funding and putting together a team of climbers who retrieved Hassan’s body from K2’s bottleneck at a height of 8,200 metres, bringing closure to the grieving family. Naila admits that all her achievements were not possible without the support of her family, particularly her husband who was very hands-on with their young children. “He even used to change our children’s diapers at night and refused to hand them over to their grandparents.”
Naila has built a large following on her social media from the worldwide mountaineering community. When Pakistan’s government announced that it would establish a world-class mountaineering school in Gilgit-Baltistan to promote sustainable climbing in the country, mountaineers from Europe and the Americas reached out to her offering collaboration and support.
Naila sees great potential in developing this sector in Pakistan. “We are the home ground for mountaineering. Five of 14 eight-metre peaks are in Pakistan and we have more than 100 peaks above 7,000 metres. With proper infrastructure and training local talent, we can attract a large number of mountaineering expeditions and earn precious foreign exchange like Nepal, which earned $844 million from mountain tourism in 2023.”
Karar Haidri agrees that mountaineering has great potential in Pakistan. “Unlike Nepal, which boasts nearly 100 certified guides trusted worldwide, Pakistan lacks such trained professionals. Proper training and certification in climbing, language, and technical skills will enhance the credibility of local guides and porters, making them a reliable source of income for their families.” He emphasized the need for a welfare fund for those in the industry, addressing retirement, injury, or death. Additionally, he highlighted that by promoting allied industries to produce world-class equipment, Pakistan can transform its vast natural assets into a sustainable source of significant income.
Currently, Naila is developing AIYAH – a tech startup based in Saudi Arabia. In 2025, she plans to attempt the remaining three eight-thousanders.
Her advice to young Pakistanis is to dream big, maintain a positive mindset, and work hard to overcome challenges. “Success may not come exactly as planned, but perseverance will always lead to accomplishments,” she encouraged.
Ishrat Saleem is the managing editor at SPARK.
Pull quote: “Success may not come exactly as planned, but perseverance will always lead to accomplishments,” Naila says.

Want to become a mountaineer?
Go hike in nearby areas
Plan a trip to hiking trails if you live far from hills
Join a hiking club in your city
Enroll in a mountaineering course (Google it)
Try trekking, which can involve multiple days of walking, hiking and sleeping in a camp
Start climbing smaller mountains