Meet mountain biker Samar Khan, the first Pakistani to summit Mount Kilimanjaro
- 23 Feb 2021
Jabeen Adil, Gulf Today
Samar Khan, a mountain biker and extreme sports athlete from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, shared a video on her Instagram while riding on the snow slope in Naltar valley near Gilgit Baltistan. She captioned the video with a heartwarming message, “Riding on the snow slope anywhere in Pakistan for the first time was thrilling and fun.
“Pushing the bike uphill was another story though. For any big goal, we have to start from somewhere, right?
“Be it snowboarding, mountain biking or any other thing (which is larger than life for you).
And no average mind or couch potato understands that journey, but it's OK.
You carry on!! Like I do!! “
Samar Khan is the first Pakistani to summit Mount Kilimanjaro and the Biafo Glaciers in the Karakoram Range on a bike.
In July 2016, she became the first woman in the world to cycle atop the 4,500-metre-high Biafo Glacier in the Karakoram Mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan. She cycled all the way to the Pak-China border, Khunjerab from Islamabad and rode over 4,693 metres in -5˚C to set a national record.
The Biafo Glacier is the world's third longest glacier outside the Polar Regions. In December 2017, Khan reached the summit of Africa’s highest peak and became the first Pakistani woman to summit Mount Kilimanjaro. Samar, who hails from Khas Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, holds a master's degree in physics from Federal Urdu University. She also registered in the Pakistan Book of Records.
She signed up as a Goodwill Ambassador for World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in September 2019.
She earlier shared a photo to spread awareness about snow sports races. She even spotlighted the hardscrabble existence of many athletes who turned out with hard-won laurels.