Summit of Solidarity: Samina Baig Makes History on Mount Everest

High in the Karakoram of northern Pakistan lies the isolated village of Shimshal. For centuries, the people of Shimshal have lived in deep intimacy with high mountain passes, glaciated valleys, and unforgiving winters. While Shimshali men earned legendary reputations as high-altitude porters and climbing guides, traditional cultural norms largely excluded young women from participating in high-altitude mountaineering.

Samina Khayal Baig was determined to change that paradigm. Born in Shimshal in 1990, she grew up watching expeditions march toward the great peaks. Supported and trained by her older brother Mirza Ali, Baig took to the mountains with fierce determination. In 2010, the siblings established the Pakistan Youth Outreach Programme, with an explicit mission to challenge gender inequality through mountaineering. After scoring first ascents on unclimbed 6,000-meter peaks in her homeland, Baig set her sights on the ultimate arena: Mount Everest (8,848m).

The Khumbu Odyssey

In April 2013, twenty-two-year-old Samina arrived at Everest Base Camp in Nepal. The expedition was operating under the banner of the First Pakistan Women Everest Expedition. Funding had been scarce, secured through grassroots support and international well-wishers who believed in Baig’s message of female empowerment.

Ascending the mountain via the classic South Col Route, Baig faced the terrifying labyrinth of the Khumbu Icefall. Moving across aluminum ladders strung over bottomless glacial crevasses and under towering seracs that groaned in the morning sun, she demonstrated cool composure. Over several weeks of rotations to Camp II and Camp III on the icy slopes of the Lhotse Face, Baig proved that her mountain upbringing in Shimshal had gifted her with natural acclimatization and high-altitude fortitude.

A Historic Alliance at 8,000 Meters

Upon reaching the wind-blasted plateau of the South Col at 7,900 meters, Baig and her brother teamed up with twin Indian mountaineering sisters Tashi and Nungshi Malik. In a region often divided by geopolitical tension, the young women chose to unite. They resolved to climb the final summit pyramid side by side, transforming their ascent into a shared statement of peace, regional solidarity, and gender equity across South Asia.

Leaving the South Col at 10:00 PM on May 18, 2013, the climbers stepped into the sub-zero darkness of the Death Zone. Breathing bottled oxygen through their masks, they navigated the steep triangular snow face leading to the Balcony at 8,400 meters. The night was bitterly cold, with biting gusts whipping off the Kangshung Face.

Standing on the Top of the World

As the first crimson rays of sunrise spilled across the curvature of the Earth, illuminating the jagged horizon of Tibet and Nepal, Baig approached the South Summit. Ahead lay the perilous traverse across the razor-sharp snow knife-edge and the technical rock problem of the Hillary Step. Scaling the rock cliff with surefooted confidence, Baig pushed up the final gentle snow slopes.

At 7:40 AM on May 19, 2013, Samina Baig stepped onto the 8,848-meter summit of Mount Everest. She stood at the apex of the planet as the first Pakistani woman and the youngest Muslim woman in human history to conquer Everest. Reaching into her down suit, she unfurled the green-and-white national flag of Pakistan, tears freezing against her cheeks. Alongside the Malik sisters, who hoisted the Indian tricolor, Baig demonstrated that high mountains transcend national borders.

Returning safely down the mountain, Samina Baig became an instant national hero and an international ambassador for women in sports. Her historic climb paved the way for a new generation of Pakistani female athletes and proved that the women of the high valleys belong on the highest stages on Earth.