https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUs3OuaAw8A&t=6s
By Faran Rafi
Young Salena Khawaja stepped out of her kitchen holding her favourite breakfast – buttered toast and mango milkshake. She was recuperating after her return from her recent expedition in the mountains. She summitted the 7027 meter high Spantik Peak, also known as the Golden Peak, becoming the youngest person in the world to reach the peak of a 7000-meter-high mountain.
Ten-year-old Salena, lives in Abbottabad with her father. Their house is attached to a massive gym owned by father – Yousaf Khawaja. Selena gave our team a tour of the gym, which housed more than a 100 different machines for various exercises.
One wall of her house is made of glass. You can see the hilly surroundings of Abbottabad – a famous tourist hub in Pakistan. Selena points to the tallest mountain on the horizon and says, “that’s the Miranjani peak, my father and I used to go for leisure trips to the mountain and that’s how I developed interest for mountaineering.”
Yousaf, Salena’s father, is a fitness instructor by profession. “She was fit from childhood but I did not know what kind of sport she would be into,” he said, adding, “When I took her for trekking in the mountains, she performed much better than my expectations and I realised she could be fit enough to climb even Mount Everest.”
Apart from training on the Miranjani peak, Salena has also undertaken a level one basic mountaineering course as well. “In the gym, I use the treadmill, cycle, elliptical, stepper. Cardio is important for what I do, but I also do strength training,” she says, talking about how she keeps herself fit for mountaineering.
She took us on a hiking trail on the mountains surrounding her small hometown. Running up the hill, she talked about the dangers of mountaineering, she said, “there are avalanches and crevices that you have to watch out for, there could also be a storm which could blow away your things.”
Reminiscing about her expedition up the mountain, she recalls, “when we were at camp 1, there was a big wind storm, my mittens and jacket blew away. We had to leave for the next push at 1am and I felt really cold, my hands were freezing and I wanted to give up, but then my father reminded me that sun will come up in a few hours and I will be okay.” She went to say that she doesn’t get scared of these things anymore and is well prepared for such adventures in the future.
“When you’re looking at the peaks from the base-camp, there is snow on the top. It turns into a really nice scene, especially when the sun is about to set and the mountains turns lightly golden.”
Talking about her naysayer, she said “Some people used to say you are too young for these kinds of activities, maybe you can wait till you grow up. I used to say, no I have the training for this and I am fit enough and I can do it.”
Having broken the record for being the youngest mountaineer in the world to climb a 7000 meter mountain, Selena had no plans to stop anytime in the near future. She says she is planning to make an attempt for the Mount Everest next year.
Currently the record of youngest person to summit Mount Everest is held by Jordan Romero of United States, who summitted the Everest at the age of 13 years and 10 months. The youngest female to summit the Everest is Malavath Purna, who summitted the Everest at the age of 13 years and 11 months. Salena, who will be 11 years old next year, will break both of their records by more than two years.
Yousaf Khawaja has high hopes for his daughter, but he says this trip to Everest is dependent on whether they can arrange for the funds or not.
Originally published in BBC Urdu
FARAN RAFI 