Copyright © 2011 Pakistan Youth Outreach  All rights reserved.

Pakistan Youth Outreach

A Youth Mountaineering Education Program


Current News & Updates

Dear PYO members, we are glad to tell you that Samina Baig was filmed & interviewed for "I am proud Pakistan", a promotional ad for TV channels in Pakistan.


Just got back from Shimshal after a very good filming and interviews.  Now in Hunza.  Samina will go back to Islamabad and I will continue to Skardu  tomorrow.


Samina & I are supposed to go to Shimshal (our village ) for five days with a TV team to make 12 minutes documentary/Ad.


11.11.11 turned out to be an amazing day for me and for my sister Samina Baig!  We received our first award from  “Voice America  - Urdu Service" for "What is the Good News"


The Gender Equality Expedition trip report is now available here.


Its with great pleasure to share with our friends that our Gender Equality expedition to an unnamed, unclimbed peak was very much successful.  The team consisted of 6 people including Samina Baig, Malgosia Skowronska (Poland), Chris Nettekoven (Germany), Jens Franke (Germany), Arshad Karim, and myself, Mirza Ali.  The mountain was named Kohi Brobar (Mt. Equality).   The peak is 6008m.


We have arrived in Hunza.  We will be departing for Shimshal soon.  Wish us luck!

Leaving for Hunza for the next gender equality documentary making expedition.


Dear friends, my training session with Georg Kronthaler & Dr. Helmut was amazing.  It was indeed a great time for me and for all the people that took part in the mountain rescue training!  To my knowledge, it was the top best training.  We are pleased to share that with the help of Georg Kronthaler, the "Pakistan Rescue Organization" has been formed and that I, Mirza, have been selected as the vice president of the organization!


Leaving for Hunza for mountain rescue training.


Due to huge snow at Kaghan, the road was blocked between Kaghan and Naran.  The Jeep driver refused to drive us to Naran.  At Kaghan, there was 1 1/2 ft snow after 3 hours of snowing and it is still snowing so we are going back to Islamabad.


We are finally at Balakot.  The weather is pretty cloudy.  The locals are amazed to see us going up to Malika Parbat.  We are the first to visit in the winter.  They say there is almost 4 ft of snow up at base camp!


We have reached Mansehra.  Planning to leave for Naran Valley.  The weather is pretty bad...it rained all last night.


Dear friends, we are just about to leave for Mansehra, then on to Malika Parbat, 5334m, which has no official, successful summits so far. Everything is packed & we are having a cup of tea before we leave! Please wish us luck.


It is almost too late to leave for Mansehra today, to go on the Malika Parbat climb, so we are leaving tomorrow in the morning and will straight go to Naran Valley and then on to the base camp. It’s cloudy here and light rain, in the high mountains it’s snowing!  Arshad and Arif are waiting for us in Mansehra; they came all the way from Shimshal.


The meeting has been set with the sports minister tomorrow at 1300 hours; right after the meeting will leave for Mansehra where we will catch up with other two friends to face Malika Parbat, officially unclimbed!


The interview for Voice of America was amazing! We have been waiting to get a meeting with the sports minister along with the UIAA youth mission head Anne Arran some time soon but they are being slow about it.


It has been snowing for three days in Mansehra but the plan is to leave tomorrow.  The snow at the lower plain of Naran Valley of the Hazara Division has been reported as 3 feet snow and at the higher elevations where Malika Parbat is situated, it is expected up to 5 to 6 feet snow so this will be a challenge!


The necessary shopping has been done and Arshad, my climbing partner, and Arif Baig are on their way to Mansehra.  We will catch up with them in Mansehra and then leave for the peak!


The mountain is called Seran One.  If we find time after climbing Malika Parbat, we will also climb it! The peak is 5200m and also unclimbed!

The new president of the Alpine Club greeted me warmly and with lots of talks! I got an Alpine Club membership and will get the certificates soon!  My climbing partner, Arshad, is on his way to Mansehra from where we will go to Malika Parbat, Samina and I will leave for Mansehra on 4th of Feb! There is no record at Alpine club that the peak has been successfully summitted!


The Alpine Club of Pakistan has been written us that they will give us the first summit certificate tomorrow for Chaskin Sar (Samina Peak)! They have also offered an honorary membership!


The meeting has been fixed with Sports Minister along with the UIAA youth mission president, Anne Arran.  The Danish Embassy will be facilitating the meeting!

I am planning to climb this peak sometime around the end of January or early Feb! I am currently looking for logistics. The mountain is called Malika Parbat, "Queen of Mountains”.  For anyone interested, this peak is 17500ft/ 5290m above sea level and is the highest mountain in the Hazara Division! As per the information on website, Trekearth, it is stated that locals have said the mountain is so far unconquered!


“A Quest Beyond Limits Part II” Project report has been posted and can be found here.